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Minor League Baseball Cancels Season, Reno Aces Look to 2021

Fans in the stands watching baseball.
Brian Bahouth
/
The Sierra Nevada Ally
Fans watch a Reno Aces game during a previous season before the pandemic, which has led to the cancelation of the 2021 season for the team.

A 60-game Major League Baseball season is poised to get underway later this month, but Minor League Baseball Triple-A affiliates across the nation recently announced that their 2020 season has been canceled, and that includes the Reno Aces. Contributor Brian Bahouth of the Sierra Nevada Ally reached out to the team’s general manager to break down the details. 

The Reno Aces are the Triple-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. That means the D’backs employ the players who play for the Aces and regularly swap players between the Major and Minor League teams. The Aces’ are responsible for the management of all business aspects of operations like gameday activities, concessions, and field maintenance. Emily Jaenson is general manager of Aces and one of two female Triple-A GMs in all of baseball. She said Major League teams, including the D’Backs, could not surmount the logistic challenges of organizing an abbreviated Minor League season during the pandemic.

“Arizona provides us our players each season,” Jaenson said. “So during this time, Major League Baseball advised it would not provide players to the teams of Minor League Baseball due to the many COVID-19 related challenges that would accompany staffing our team’s roster for a two-month season.”

Unlike Major League teams, Minor League clubs like the Aces do not have lucrative television contracts as part of their revenue stream. Minor League teams rely on ticket and concession sales to make money. Despite the loss of the 2020 season, Emily Jaenson said the Aces remain solvent and hope to be back for a full 140-game season in 2021.

KUNR Contributor Brian Bahouth is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Sierra Nevada Ally. To read more on this topic, visit The Sierra Nevada Ally.

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