Changes are afoot in the Minnesota Baseball Association as they announced at the MBA Fall Meeting that Class ‘A’ will be joining Class ‘B’ starting with the 2023 season. The four leagues and 21 teams within Class ‘A’ traditionally located inside the 494/694 loop will join Class ‘B’ for a two-year trial period.
Class changes coming in 2023
The existing Class ‘A’ leagues, including Park National, Riverview, St. Paul, and Skyline, will stay intact but will be adding four new sections that will join the Class ‘B’ State Tournament. Options for the playoff format were discussed at the October meeting, where the State Board was considering a 24-team tournament made up of three teams from each section. However, a motion was carried at the November Board Meeting that the Class ‘B” State Tournament will be a 32-team single-elimination tournament. This change in format means that each of the eight sections will send four teams to the tournament.
Because of the increase in the final number of teams in the tournament, additional host site support will be required and will be decided during a December board meeting. The 100th Annual Minnesota State Amateur Baseball Tournament will take place in 2023 and is being hosted by Delano, Dassel, and Litchfield.