In a sport where young talent was on display across the country, baseball suffered a massive loss recently. With Major League Baseball’s contraction of 42 minor league baseball affiliates, towns across America lost their greatest point of connection to the big leagues. For the Washington Nationals, that means a team like Class-A Short Season Auburn Doubledays are looking for some type of resolution, a sentiment common among low level minor league clubs.
In the Appalachian League, which consisted mostly of teams in or around the Tri-Cities area, a combination of three cities on the Tennessee and Virginia border, uncharted territory is ahead.