There is reportedly a proposal under consideration by Major League Baseball that would eliminate roughly 40 minor league teams after the 2020 season, with the logic being that the elimination of those teams would lead to improvements -- including regarding ballparks -- throughout the minors.

If the proposal, first reported by Baseball America, comes to fruition, the number of minor league teams affiliated with Major League Baseball would drop from 160 to roughly 120.

Two of the teams that could be impacted are Mets affiliates -- the Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies and the Short-Season A-ball Brooklyn Cyclones.

Under the proposal, reported by Bill Madden of the Daily News, the Cyclones in their current iteration as a New York Penn League team would be eliminated, and they would become the Mets' Double-A affiliate, which currently plays in Binghamton.

According to Baseball America, the proposal would "completely reorganize" the full-season minor leagues, with the four highest levels -- Triple-A, Double-A, High-A, and Low-A, reworked to make those leagues "more geographically compact."

The above could leave many teams in the lower levels of the minors -- including the entire New York Penn League -- in danger of being relocated or having their ties with major league baseball severed.

The Cyclones have been playing in Brooklyn as the Mets' New York Penn League affiliate since 2001, while the Rumble Ponies (whose name changed in 2017) have been playing in Binghamton as the Mets' Double-A affiliate since 1992.

CERRONE: 5 free agents Mets could turn to for 3B upgrade >> Read More

Popular in the Community