MLB Invites 120 Teams To Join Minor Leagues In 2021

Multiple sources tell Baseball America that Major League Baseball has sent invitations to 120 teams it is inviting to be part of its MLB-developed minor league system.

So why did one minor league team make it onto Major League Baseball’s list of 120 invited teams while another nearby team did not?

The answer can be boiled down to four factors: caliber of stadium facilities, geography, the desires of major league teams and political considerations.

All four of those factors played roles in the structure of the 120 teams that have been invited. But often those four factors were in tension with each other, which explains why the 120 invitations sent out do not always meet all of those criteria. (The 120th invitation is pending MLB's discussions with the city of Fresno and the Fresno Grizzlies).

And at the end of the day, the desires of the MLB teams largely trumped the other considerations if the factors were in conflict.