But enough about Elon Musk.
I’m proud I secured a commitment from the @Nationals to ensure new Major League affiliate for Rochester Red Wings to keep Red Wings ‘safe at home’.
There’s no doubt @RocRedWings will keep knocking it out of the park for fans throughout the Rochester Finger Lakes region.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) November 19, 2020
Setting aside this was about as much a secret as Rudy Giuliani’s dye job or that the decision was MLB’s not the Nats’, or that Sen. Schumer had as much to do with this as you or I did, the first of the two biggest questions for the 2021 Nationals affiliation has apparently been answered.
Before I continue, let’s pause for a minute to celebrate that we now have a bat dog in our midst, as Milo (pictured above) introduced himself to the Natmosphere.
With the AAA problem solved, we turn to the next biggest question: Which team will be the fourth, joining the ‘burgs?
You’ll note that I didn’t specify which level. For those who don’t follow the comments, the formation of a new High-A league – the Mid-Atlantic League, but I’m offering up the name of The EZ-PASS league – complicates matters because there are several plausible scenarios in which the Carolina League drops its teams north of the Carolinas. Here’s one from frequent commenter SaoMagnifico:
MID-ATLANTIC LEAGUE: Brooklyn, Hudson Valley, Lowell, Jersey Shore, Aberdeen, Wilmington
CAROLINA LEAGUE: Rome, Greenville, Asheville, Hickory, Winston-Salem, Greensboro
SOUTH ATLANTIC LEAGUE: Augusta, Columbia, Charleston, Myrtle Beach, Kannapolis, Fayetteville, Down East, Carolina, Salem, Lynchburg, Fredericksburg, Frederick
In this scenario, Wilmington is the most logical fit, given that it’s all-but-certain that Brooklyn (NYM), Hudson Valley (NYY), Lowell (BOS), Jersey Shore (PHI), and Aberdeen (BAL) will retain their pre-2020 relationships with their respective parent clubs.
Unfortunately, we have to hearken back to the word “several” (that’s why I bolded it) and remind ourselves that MLB is making the decisions.