The Sugar Land Skeeters are going from being an independent league team to a AAA team, per reports coming out today. Sugar Land is a Houston suburb — Constellation Field, where the Skeeters play, is 22 miles from Minute Maid Park — and thus the expectation is that the Astros will have Sugar Land as their AAA affiliate.
This is part of a huge shuffle in affiliations this offseason, which is taking place as MLB looks to eliminate the short season non-complex leagues. While many cities are losing their minor league teams (or seeing them go to summer wood bat college league teams or independent league teams), other cities are seeing their teams change levels.