International League
The International League is a minor league baseball in the U.S. sports. It is next to the Mexican League and the Pacific Coast League, one of three leagues that are members of the Triple -A class.
The league was founded in 1884 by a merger of several baseball leagues. Got its name the league since their belonging from the beginning, to 2008, Canadian teams. Meanwhile, there was also a team from Cuba and one from Puerto Rico, but relocated to the U.S. after a short time. Meanwhile, there is a league of fourteen teams, which are all located in the eastern United States.
Mode
In the International League has 14 teams, divided into three different divisions. There is a North, West and a South Division. The West and South Division are each assigned to four teams, while there are six teams in the North Division. The International League season starts in April and ends with the final of the Governors' Cup in September or October. Each team must first deny the 140 regular season games and meets every team in the league several times in the season. The winners of each division will qualify at the end of the regular season for the play- offs. In addition every time a wildcard team, namely the best runner-up from all divisions, with the highest win rate. In the play-offs then meets the winner of the West Division on the winner of the South Division. The winner of the North Division competes against the wild card team. These teams carry then a best- of-five series against each other. Then the winners of those series meet in the final of the Governors' Cup.
History
The league was founded in 1885 by the merger of the New York State League and the Ontario League, the International League. Two years later, the league took two teams in the Eastern League, which had set the game mode on. Since the Eastern League was founded in 1884, this year is given as the founding year of the International League. The first years of the new league then went quite turbulent. So initially constantly new teams were added, while others dropped out of the league. This constant changing of participating teams meant that the League in 1890 briefly disbanded. However, they formed relatively quickly re- adopted in 1891 again on the game mode. Nevertheless, the financial position of the League remained tense. This did not change with time and the beginning of the 20th century saw the league a boost. There new ballparks have been built anywhere in the country and also increased the interest in the International League. However, the team did not have enough money to keep top players, and so had to sell baseball example, the Baltimore Orioles their star player Babe Ruth to the Boston Red Sox of Major League.
When the United States in 1918 entered the First World War, the International League had to regroup and limit the catchment area of the participating teams. It succeeded the League at that time still to discharge only one in the minor league system, the season 1918. In the 1920s, the Baltimore Orioles and the Rochester Red Wings were the first dynasties in the league. At the end of this decade the league again fell into financial trouble, which was mainly due to the Great Depression. These difficulties lay in the year 1933, when the general manager of the Montreal Royals, Frank Shaughnessy, the playoff system introduced in the League, which still exists today. After quiet times came to the league, both financially and in terms of the teams.
1946 attracted the Montreal Royals again a great stir, as they committed with Jackie Robinson the first time a dark-skinned players. Thus, Robinson was the first black player in the International League and this was also a year later in the MLB. Eight years later, the league made its name and adopted the Havana Sugar Kings from Cuba in the league, so there were now a total of three teams from different countries. The Kings then stayed until 1960 in the league, before the team was relocated to the United States because of political unrest in Cuba. Overall, there were in the 1960s many relocation of teams within the league. As part of this, there was also briefly a team in the Puerto Rican capital of San Juan.
In the 1970s it was again largely quiet around the International League before she made in the 1981 season for a great sensation. Because on April 18, 1981, the longest professional baseball game in history took place in McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket between the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Rochester Red Wings, with a total of 32 innings without a winner instead. The 33rd inning was then played out a few days later and succeeded in Pawtucket then directly to achieve a run that led to a victory of 3-2. Such marathon games at that time were not uncommon and so in 1988 the Triple -A system has been revamped. This system was in force until 1991, said that each team had during the regular season 42 so-called Inter League games against teams of that other triple-A league, the American Association, unsubscribe. This was the team of the International League not benefit as it the least of them still managed to achieve a positive balance. Therefore, the system was to be discontinued after 1991.
The Major League Baseball strike in 1994 resulted in the International League such a large media presence like never reached before. So it happened that even regular season games for the International League were broadcast nationwide on ESPN or TNT. However, this presence again ended quickly after the end of the season 1994. Three years after the baseball minor leagues were so advised in the foreground, the American Association disbanded. Therefore, the International League took with Buffalo, Indianapolis, and Louisville three teams in this league. Four years later, took place the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001, was this also the International League not immune, and so the best-of -five series to the Governors' Cup was canceled after only one game and the winner of the first game, the Louisville Bats have been declared the winner of the series. In the years 2008 and 2009, the League was at its last team moves. First, the Ottawa Lynx attracted to and thus were the last team from Canada, that was represented in the league. The last move to date was 2009, and as the Richmond Braves moved to Lawrenceville in Gwinnett County.