The Distance Between Us
One of the vital functions a Triple-A ballclub serves is the holding tank for their big brother club – a parking lot to store close at hand the 15 men who didn’t quite make the 25-man roster, plus extra backups and prospects. For that reason, it’s always seemed to me that it’s most advantageous for the AAA-affiliate to be located within a relatively short drive of the Big Boy Club — so guys can be called into action on a moment’s notice– but also ideally just far enough away that the lure of that same Big Boy Club doesn’t kill off attendance at the minor league ballpark.
After noticing the Marlins AAA-affiliate is on the other side of the country in Albuquerque (!), Piney61 took a look at the driving distances from each major league club to its Triple A team (via Google Maps), out of curiosity’s sake.
The Mariners clock in with the quickest drive time (though the Sox are not far behind) — and as expected, the Marlins are by far the furthest away from their AAA affiliate.
Pawtucket, RI to Boston, MA (Red Sox): 57 minutes
Toledo, OH to Detroit, MI (Tigers): 1 hour 4 minutes
Allentown, PA to Philadelphia, PA (Phillies): 1 hour 18 minutes
Colorado Springs, CO to Denver, CO (Rockies): 1 hour 26 minutes
West Sacramento, CA to Oakland, CA (Athletics): 1 hour 30 minutes
Louisville, KY to Cincinnati, OH (Reds): 1 hour 41 minutes
Tuscon, AZ to Phoenix, AZ (Diamondbacks): 1 hour 46 minutes
Moosic, PA to New York City, NY (Yankees): 2 hours 16 minutes
Omaha, NB to Kansas City, MO (Royals): 2 hours 54 minutes
Round Rock, TX to Houston, TX (Astros): 3 hours 4 minutes
Buffalo, NY to Cleveland, OH (Indians): 3 hours 8 minutes
Fresno, CA to San Francisco, CA (Giants): 3 hours 10 minutes
Oklahoma City, OK to Arlington, TX (Rangers): 3 hours 21 minutes
Syracuse, NY to Toronto, ON (Blue Jays): 4 hours 1 minute
Norfolk, VA to Baltimore, MD (Orioles): 4 hours 4 minutes
Las Vegas, NV to Los Angeles, CA (Dodgers): 4 hours 10 minutes
Memphis, TN to St. Louis, MO (Cardinals): 4 hours 16 minutes
Des Moines, IA to Chicago, IL (Cubs): 5 hours 27 minutes
Indianapolis, IN to Pittsburgh, PA (Pirates): 5 hours 49 minutes
Columbus, OH to Washington, DC (Nationals): 6 hours 54 minutes
Richmond, VA to Atlanta, GA (Braves): 8 hours 33 minutes
Nashville, TN to Milwaukee, WI (Brewers): 9 hours 8 minutes
Salt Lake City, UT to Anaheim, CA (Angels): 9 hours 51 minutes
Durham, NC to St. Petersburg, FL (Rays): 10 hours 52 minutes
Fort Mill, SC to Chicago IL (White Sox): 12 hours 27 minutes
Rochester, NY to Minneapolis, MN (Twins): 16 hours 8 minutes
Portland, OR to San Diego, CA (Padres): 16 hours 39 minutes
Metairie, LA to New York City, NY (Mets): 20 hours 38 minutes
Albuquerque, NM to Miami, FL (Marlins): 1 day, 6 hours
I don’t know how that’s workable for the Mets and Marlins to be so far away from the nearest available source of backup talent. At least the Padres’ club is in the same time zone. I’d think the ideal distance would be somewhere around a 3-hour drive time, with four hours being an outside limit. Anything past that seems like it would be unwieldy.
The Phillies have possibly the best setup of all- their AAA and AA clubs are both situated right near Philadelphia, in Allentown and Reading (respectively). Moving players around and up and down would be a snap with that setup – and no matter what park they’re playing in, the guys would never need to worry about finding new housing.
We have the A’s AAA club here in Sacramento (technically West Sacramento, but they’re right on the other side of the river). Great fun! I love the cheap lawn seats (instead of bleaches). Reminds me of the Alabama song, “Cheap Seats.”
AAA ball is a great way to get a fix.
TG-Until this past season Norfolk (Norfolk, VA) was the triple A affiliate for the Mets at about 5 hours 30 minutes by car. (Recall that David Wright was called up from the Tides by the Mets, and also in the too distant past, Lastings Milledge.) The Tides, however, felt that the Mets had treated them pretty poorly over the years and so last year was the first year the Tides were the triple A affiliate of the Orioles.
Most of them I did from stadium to stadium(there’s a couple which didn’t have an address for the minor league ballpark) but regardless, it’s an interesting look. Also Cleveland has a pretty good situation as well with all their teams basically within a respectable distance(though I still think that Buffalo should be Toronto’s AAA affiliate) but I still think the Phillies are probably the best.
Actually the Braves AAA affiliate is being moved from Richmond, VA to Gwinett (suburb of Atlanta). I think they will be the closest ones of all now.
Rachel C: Yep, they will be the quickest with about 35 minutes from what I calculated on Google Maps(I did it up on my entry but only in the PS part)