Here is a history of the
Rangers' affiliates, over the years.
I thought they had Midland, at one point, but I'm guessing my familiarity with them, was based on the Rangers' teams playing them. Tulsa Drillers, maybe?
In recent years, it has been fascinating.
Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Port Charlotte were always the teams I associated with the Rangers.
2002/2003 was the start of frequent changes, led in many ways by owners.
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Some of the following is pieced together, and may include some errors, but taken from a number of sources (including my aging memory).
In 2002, Hicks bought the AA team in Shreveport (Texas League affiliate, along with Tulsa), moved them to Frisco and changed the Rangers' affiliation from Tulsa to Frisco. AFAIK, Greenberg now owns Frisco.
In 2006, Greenberg bought Myrtle Beach and in 2010 was part of the group to buy the Texas Rangers. In 2010, Myrtle Beach became the A affiliate of Texas. When Greenberg was kicked out of the Texas Rangers, I think part of getting rid of him, was ownership of the Frisco team.
AAA moved from Oklahoma City to Round Rock because Nolan had ownership in both. Now that he has left the Rangers, it has always been expected Round Rock will go back to Houston.
Article is interesting, in that the guy who owns both San Antonio (AA) and Colorado Springs (AAA) is looking to Colorado Springs to San Antonio (making it AAA), and then San Antonio to Amarillo (giving them a AA team). I'm not sure if Amarillo is new to the game, or have had a team. I'm also not sure if Colorado Springs will now not have a team.
Also of note, regarding A+ ball. I'm not sure what facilitated moving from Port Charlotte, to Stockton, but I remember reading (from Scott Lucas, maybe) that the Rangers were late to negotiate with Stockton, or they were fiddling around with renewal, and the team affiliated with Bakersfield came in and signed an agreement.
That left the Rangers being the last team without an A+ affiliate and Bakersfield as the only option. Bakersfield had always (and continues) to be a struggle between team/owner/city. They were always supposed to get upgrades and remained
one of the worst places. With Greenberg owning both Myrtle Beach and the Rangers, the Rangers moved to Myrtle Beach. I'm not sure if Greenberg still owns them, but without him being tied to the Rangers, the Rangers got out witted and lost affiliation. This left the Rangers again with having the only option of High Desert. While Bakersfield is one of the worst places, High Desert is generally accepted as THE worst place. The Rangers have tried to purchase teams in the Charlotte/Florida area, where many teams own the franchise, but no luck.
The City of Bakersfield has all but told the affiliate there to F-Off and this season attendance is down like 20%+. The Rangers are desperate to find another option. So, I've been following that drama. Keep an eye on that.
I've wanted to own a minor league team, but the prices have gone from hundreds-of-thousands, 20 years ago... to tens-of-millions.
Worth looking at...