Quote:
Originally Posted by hmatthias
Each minor league (right now) is a one division league. That seems to be how the early minors were set up.
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By far the most common alignment in minor league baseball history is that of an eight team league arranged in a single division. Second place would belong to a six team league arranged into a single division. Third place would be a tie between four team and ten team leagues, again with both aligned as single divisions.
The first split into divisions in the minors didn't happen until 1957, and even then only lasted one year. The first league to split into divisions and have that alignment stick for subsequent seasons was the Pacific Coast League in 1963.
Note that the higher classification of minors in earlier years played schedules as long as, or even longer, than the majors. The AAA and AA equivalent levels commonly played 154 game schedules, and in some years played 168 game schedules. It wasn't until 1965 that minor league seasons became 148 games or less. However, in spite of schedules as long as or longer than the majors, the seasons didn't last that long.
154 game schedules were generally played in 151-152 days, or in some cases were played in just 144-145 days. 168 game seasons were played in either 167 or 159 days. Needless to say, the minor league schedules were peppered with many scheduled doubleheaders.
The majors, by contrast, took 167-168 days to play a 154 game schedule from the 1930s onwards, and generally took about 175 days before then.