South Atlantic League
The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganization of the minor leagues. The league temporarily operated for the 2021 season as the High-A East before reassuming its original moniker in 2022.
A number of different leagues known as the South Atlantic League have existed since 1904. The most recent SAL adopted the moniker in 1980, having previously been the Western Carolinas League, founded in 1963. All of these have been nicknamed "Sally League".
History
There have been several South Atlantic Leagues in the history of minor league baseball, spanning from 1904 to the present with a few breaks. The league ran from 1904 to 1917 as a class C league, then started up again in 1919, also class C. This time it ran from 1919 to 1930, moving up to class B beginning in 1921. William G. Bramham became league president in mid-1924 and served until 1930. The league was restarted again as a class B from 1936 to 1942, shut down as a result of World War II, and returned in 1946 as a class A league. The AA Southern Association died after the 1961 season and so the SAL was promoted to AA in 1963 to take its place; a year later the name was changed to the Southern League. Out of the 51 seasons of operation, Augusta, Georgia competed in 46, Macon, Georgia was around for 46, and Columbia, South Carolina was in 45. Charleston, South Carolina; Jacksonville, Florida; Savannah, Georgia; and Columbus, Georgia; each competed for at least 29 years also, making for a relatively stable lineup.The South Atlantic League name went unused for 16 years, but in 1980 the Western Carolinas League brought back the name when it sought to change its identity. For nearly 60 years, 1948 through 2007, the dominant figure in the WCL/SAL was league founder and president John Henry Moss, who started the WCL as a young man in 1948, refounded it in 1960 and then led it into the new century. Moss retired at the close of the 2007 South Atlantic League season. He died at age 90 on July 1, 2009, at Kings Mountain, North Carolina—a town where he had also been mayor for 23 years.
In 2005, the SAL had the highest attendance in 101 years with over 3,541,992 fans. When the league last played a season, in 2019, it had 14 teams, divided into two divisions of seven clubs.
The start of the 2020 season was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic before ultimately being cancelled on June 30.
As part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganization of the minor leagues, the South Atlantic League was promoted to High-A and temporarily renamed the "High-A East" for the 2021 season. Following MLB's acquisition of the rights to the names of the historical minor leagues, the High-A East was renamed the South Atlantic League effective with the 2022 season.
In July 2024, MiLB announced that the Hub City Spartanburgers will join the South Atlantic League in 2025, replacing the Hickory Crawdads.
In August 2025, it was announced that the Frederick Keys and Aberdeen IronBirds would swap leagues starting in 2026, with the Keys joining the SAL and the IronBirds joining MLB Draft League, a hybrid collegiate summer/professional league outside of MiLB.
Current teams
| Division | Team | MLB affiliation | City | Stadium | Capacity |
| North | Brooklyn Cyclones | New York Mets | Brooklyn, New York | Maimonides Park | 7,000 |
| North | Frederick Keys | Baltimore Orioles | Frederick, Maryland | Harry Grove Stadium | 5,400 |
| North | Greensboro Grasshoppers | Pittsburgh Pirates | Greensboro, North Carolina | First National Bank Field | 7,499 |
| North | Hudson Valley Renegades | New York Yankees | Wappingers Falls, New York | Heritage Financial Park | 5,400 |
| North | Jersey Shore BlueClaws | Philadelphia Phillies | Lakewood, New Jersey | ShoreTown Ballpark | 8,000 |
| North | Wilmington Blue Rocks | Washington Nationals | Wilmington, Delaware | Daniel S. Frawley Stadium | 6,404 |
| South | Asheville Tourists | Houston Astros | Asheville, North Carolina | McCormick Field | 4,000 |
| South | Bowling Green Hot Rods | Tampa Bay Rays | Bowling Green, Kentucky | Bowling Green Ballpark | 4,559 |
| South | Greenville Drive | Boston Red Sox | Greenville, South Carolina | Fluor Field at the West End | 6,700 |
| South | Hub City Spartanburgers | Texas Rangers | Spartanburg, South Carolina | Fifth Third Park | 5,000 |
| South | Rome Emperors | Atlanta Braves | Rome, Georgia | AdventHealth Stadium | 5,105 |
| South | Winston-Salem Dash | Chicago White Sox | Winston-Salem, North Carolina | Truist Stadium | 5,500 |
| South | - | - | - | - | - |
South Atlantic League teams (1980–present)
Notes: • An "^" indicates that team's article redirects to an article of an active team in a different league- Aberdeen IronBirds
- Albany Polecats
- Anderson Braves
- Asheville Tourists
- Augusta GreenJackets^
- Augusta Reds
- Bowling Green Hot Rods
- Brooklyn Cyclones
- Cape Fear Crocs
- Capital City Bombers
- Charleston Alley Cats
- Charleston Bombers
- Charleston Pirates
- Charleston Rainbows
- Charleston RiverDogs^
- Charleston Royals
- Charleston Wheelers
- Charleston Yankees
- Columbia Fireflies^
- Columbia Mets
- Columbus Catfish
- Columbus Indians
- Columbus RedStixx
- Delmarva Shorebirds^
- Fayetteville Generals
- Florence Blue Jays
- Gastonia Cardinals
- Gastonia Expos
- Gastonia Jets
- Gastonia Rangers
- Gastonia Tigers
- Greensboro Bats
- Greensboro Grasshoppers
- Greensboro Hornets
- Greenwood Pirates
- Greenville Drive
- Hagerstown Suns
- Hickory Crawdads
- Hudson Valley Renegades
- Jersey Shore BlueClaws
- Kannapolis Cannon Ballers^
- Kannapolis Intimidators
- Lake County Captains
- Lakewood BlueClaws
- Lexington Legends^
- Macon Braves
- Macon Peaches
- Macon Pirates
- Macon Redbirds
- Myrtle Beach Blue Jays
- Myrtle Beach Hurricanes
- Piedmont Boll Weevils
- Piedmont Phillies
- Rome Braves
- Rome Emperors
- Santee Indians
- Santee Pirates
- Savannah Cardinals
- Savannah Sand Gnats
- Shelby Mets
- Shelby Pirates
- South Georgia Waves
- Spartanburg Traders
- Spartanburg Phillies
- Spartanburg Spinners
- Spartanburg Suns
- Sumter Braves
- Sumter Flyers
- West Virginia Power^
- Wilmington Blue Rocks
- Wilmington Waves
- Winston-Salem Dash
League timeline
DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy
ImageSize = width:1600 height:auto barincrement:25
Period = from:01/01/1980 till:12/31/2027
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:20 left:20 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<#
Colors = id:barcolor
id:line value:pink
id:bg value:white
id:Full value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a current league member
id:Past value:rgb # Use to indicate a former team
id:OtherC1 value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another current league
PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:Past from:01/01/1980 till:12/31/1984 text:Anderson Braves
bar:2 color:Full from:01/01/1980 till:end text:Asheville Tourists
bar:3 color:Past from:01/01/1980 till:12/31/2020 text:Charleston Royals / Rainbows / RiverDogs
bar:4 color:Past from:01/01/1980 till:12/31/1992 text:Gastonia Cardinals / Expos / Jets / Tigers / Rangers
bar:5 color:Full from:01/01/1980 till:end text:Greensboro Hornets / Bats / Grasshoppers
bar:6 color:Past from:01/01/1980 till:12/31/1987 text:Macon Peaches / Redbirds / Pirates
bar:6 color:Past from:01/01/1991 till:12/31/2002 text:Macon Braves
bar:7 color:Past from:01/01/1980 till:12/31/1982 text:Shelby Pirates / Mets
bar:8 color:Past from:01/01/1980 till:12/31/1994 text:Spartanburg Phillies / Traders / Spinners / Suns / Phillies
bar:8 color:Full from:01/01/2025 till:end text:Hub City Spartanburgers
bar:9 color:Past from:01/01/1981 till:12/31/1986 text:Florence Blue Jays
bar:10 color:Past from:01/01/1981 till:12/31/1983 text:Greenwood Pirates
bar:11 color:Past from:01/01/1983 till:12/31/2004 text:Columbia Mets / Capital City Bombers
bar:11 color:Past from:01/01/2016 till:12/31/2020 text:Columbia Fireflies
bar:12 color:Past from:01/01/1984 till:12/31/2015 text:Savannah Cardinals / Sand Gnats
bar:13 color:Past from:01/01/1985 till:12/31/1991 text:Sumter Braves
bar:14 color:Past from:01/01/1987 till:12/31/2020 text:Charleston Wheelers / AlleyCats / West Virginia Power
bar:15 color:Past from:01/01/1987 till:12/31/2000 text:Fayetteville Generals / Cape Fear Crocs
bar:16 color:Past from:01/01/1987 till:12/31/1992 text:Myrtle Beach Blue Jays / Hurricanes
bar:17 color:Past from:01/01/1988 till:12/31/2020 text:Augusta Pirates / GreenJackets
bar:18 color:Past from:01/01/1991 till:12/31/2008 text:Columbus Indians / Red Stixx / Catfish
bar:19 color:Past from:01/01/1992 till:12/31/1995 text:Albany Polecats
bar:20 color:Past from:01/01/1993 till:12/31/2020 text:Hagerstown Suns
bar:21 color:Past from:01/01/1993 till:12/31/2024 text:Hickory Crawdads
bar:22 color:Past from:01/01/1995 till:12/31/2020 text:Piedmont Phillies / Boll Weevils / Kannapolis Intimidators / Cannon Ballers
bar:23 color:Past from:01/01/1996 till:12/31/2020 text:Delmarva Shorebirds
bar:24 color:Full from:01/01/2001 till:end text:Lakewood/Jersey Shore BlueClaws
bar:25 color:Past from:01/01/2001 till:12/31/2020 text:Lexington Legends
bar:26 color:Past from:01/01/2001 till:12/31/2003 text:Wilmington Waves / South Georgia Waves
bar:27 color:Past from:01/01/2003 till:12/31/2009 text:Lake County Captains
bar:28 color:Full from:01/01/2003 till:end text:Rome Braves / Emperors
bar:29 color:Full from:01/01/2005 till:end text:Greenville Bombers / Drive
bar:30 color:Past from:01/01/2009 till:12/31/2009 text:Bowling Green Hot Rods
bar:30 color:Full from:01/01/2021 till:end text:Bowling Green Hot Rods
bar:31 color:Full from:01/01/2021 till:end text:Aberdeen Ironbirds
bar:32 color:Full from:01/01/2021 till:end text:Brooklyn Cyclones
bar:33 color:Full from:01/01/2021 till:end text:Hudson Valley Renegades
bar:34 color:Full from:01/01/2021 till:end text:Wilmington Blue Rocks
bar:35 color:Full from:01/01/2021 till:end text:Winston-Salem Dash
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:01/01/1980
TextData =
fontsize:L
textcolor:black
pos: tabs:
text:^"South Atlantic League Timeline"
- > If the chart uses more than one bar color, add a legend by selecting the appropriate fields from the following three options Leave a blank line after the end of the timeline, then add a line with the selected values from the list, separated by a space. <#