An article in Baseball America on October 18 revealed a proposal by Major League Baseball for a radical realignment of Minor League Baseball. This realignment would involve the elimination of 42 affiliations, including teams from both small markets and larger markets, as was revealed in the New York Times on November 17.

The cities and towns that stand to lose baseball are being dangled a hypothetical lifeline in the form of a “Dream League”: to compensate for the commensurate contraction in organizational sizes, players left off rosters and/or undrafted will be able to play in a new quasi-independent league. But. by all accounts, teams in this league would see increased costs of upwards of $400,000. This, combined with decreased team values as a result of losing affiliation, would render most of the remaining teams completely unsustainable.

There has been no consultation with anyone from Minor League Baseball—its clubs, executives, or, most significantly, its fans. The fans are what should drive the game. Instead, the fans are being taken for a harrowing ride. And not just the fans, but current and future players, and staff all the way to the top of the front office of these would-be-eliminated teams. And for what?

This is not a standings table; everyone can win something if everyone is brought into the discussion. Whatever may be wrong with the current state of baseball, there must certainly a way to change it without holding communities hostage. Baseball is America’s game. It belongs to our cities and towns and communities, and we, the fans of these cities and towns and communities across the country, deserve to be treated with respect from those who have become the custodians of the organizations of the game.

We, the fans of minor league towns all over, deserve to be heard. And we, from Clinton to Chattanooga, Daytona to Danville, Lancaster to Lowell, deserve to keep our teams.