2011
The 2011 season marked a clear turning point for the American Association in shifting towards where the league is fifteen years later. Five years after four teams split from the Northern League to help found the American Association, four more came over to form a major core of teams still present today: Fargo-Moorhead, Gary SouthShore, Kansas City, and Winnipeg, bringing the total of Northern League ex-pats to eight.
The effects were immediate and are still felt today: NoL clubs Schaumburg and Joliet moved to the Frontier League, where they remain today, and the Northern League closed up shop after the 2010 season, leaving the AA as the unofficial torch-bearer to the league that founded independent baseball in its modern form in 1993. The sudden influx in northern clubs also began the decisive shift over the rest of the 2010’s from a league largely gravitating in or near Texas to one increasingly concentrated in the Upper Midwest, resulting in the current footprint with 11 of the 12 teams north of Kansas City.
Outside of the four new additions, there were more moves being made: the Pensacola Pelicans called it quits after 2010 to make room for a new Double-A team arriving in 2012, with the team moving to the Texas Panhandle and beginning play as the Amarillo Sox. Further emphasizing the changing of the guard, the 2011 campaign would be the last in the AA for Fort Worth, winner of the first two AA titles. In addition, despite a title run just the year before, Shreveport-Bossier would play their final season in 2011.
With a drastically new look, the now-14-team circuit (the most teams the AA has ever fielded) split into three divisions, with a new Central Division being formed. The playoff format also drastically changed: the two-half system was scrapped and a new format emerged: three division winners for the full season, plus a wild card berth to the best non-division champion. In addition, the schedule grew from 96 games to the 100-game format that the Northern League had adopted the year prior, which remains the standard today.
In their first year in the Association, Winnipeg took the North Division crown, with St. Paul taking the wild card spot by two games. The South had no race to speak of, with Grand Prairie romping to a franchise-record 64 wins and winning the division by 16 games. The Central was a completely different story. All five teams were separated by just seven games, with Wichita overtaking Gary SouthShore on the penultimate day of the season and won the division by one game. Four teams in the division finished over .500 and Kansas City at 48-52 had the dubious honor of the league’s best-ever last-place team.
In the postseason, St. Paul took down Winnipeg, walking off in the decisive Game 5 and earning all three of their wins by one run in a series with three extra-inning contests. Meanwhile, Grand Prairie won another very tightly contested four-game series with Wichita, with all three wins also by one run. The AirHogs then pulled off the greatest comeback in AA Finals history, losing the first two games in St. Paul, then winning all three at home for what is still the only 2-0 comeback in Finals history. Just two weeks after he was married on the field at QuikTrip Park, Grand Prairie manager Ricky VanHasselberg and the AirHogs rose the Miles Wolff Cup on the same field.
Final Standings (Click on team name for full schedule)
North Division
| Team | W | L | Win Pct. | GB | Runs Scored | Runs Allowed | Attend. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winnipeg Goldeyes-y | 60 | 40 | .600 | — | 583 | 468 | 275,521 |
| St. Paul Saints-x | 56 | 44 | .560 | 4.0 | 538 | 537 | 240,206 |
| Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks | 44 | 56 | .440 | 16.0 | 492 | 559 | 175,918 |
| Sioux Falls Pheasants* | 42 | 57 | .425 | 17.5 | 487 | 558 | 76,549 |
Central Division
| Team | W | L | Win Pct. | GB | Runs Scored | Runs Allowed | Attend. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wichita Wingnuts-y | 55 | 45 | .550 | — | 623 | 509 | 159,239 |
| Gary SouthShore RailCats | 54 | 46 | .540 | 1.0 | 553 | 514 | 157,676 |
| Lincoln Saltdogs* | 51 | 48 | .515 | 3.5 | 538 | 549 | 157,647 |
| Sioux City Explorers | 51 | 49 | .510 | 4.0 | 553 | 516 | 64,000 |
| Kansas City T-Bones | 48 | 52 | .480 | 7.0 | 585 | 584 | 261,115 |
South Division
| Team | W | L | Win Pct. | GB | Runs Scored | Runs Allowed | Attend. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Prairie AirHogs-y | 64 | 36 | .640 | — | 606 | 465 | 117,681 |
| Fort Worth Cats | 48 | 52 | .480 | 16.0 | 623 | 574 | 108,020 |
| Shreveport-Bossier Captains | 45 | 55 | .450 | 19.0 | 555 | 659 | 56,910 |
| Amarillo Sox | 44 | 56 | .440 | 20.0 | 650 | 689 | 138,865 |
| El Paso Diablos | 37 | 63 | .370 | 27.0 | 610 | 815 | 172,742 |
*Lincoln and Sioux Falls had one game ending in a tie, which is not reflected in the standings
Playoffs
First Round — ST. PAUL WINS 3-2
| Date | Score | W | L | SV | Attend. |
| 9/1/11 | St. Paul 2 at Winnipeg 3 (10 innings) | J. Vermilyea | J. DePaula | – | 4,512 |
| 9/2/11 | St. Paul 12 at Winnipeg 6 (10 innings) | T. Walker | I. Thomas | – | 6,090 |
| 9/3/11 | Winnipeg 1 at St. Paul 2 (11 innings) | J. DePaula | J. Vermilyea | – | 2,355 |
| 9/4/11 | Winnipeg 5 at St. Paul 2 | A. Hartsock | K. Foster | J. Vermilyea | 1,418 |
| 9/5/11 | Winnipeg 4 at St. Paul 5 | T. Walker | Z. Baldwin | – | 1,249 |
First Round — GRAND PRAIRIE WINS 3-1
| Date | Score | W | L | SV | Attend. |
| 9/1/11 | Wichita 3 at Grand Prairie 4 | J. Hunton | J. Dew | – | 672 |
| 9/2/11 | Wichita 11 at Grand Prairie 12 | J. Hunton | J. Simon | – | 684 |
| 9/3/11 | Grand Prairie 3 at Wichita 5 | R. Hinson | J. Rainwater | J. Dew | 941 |
| 9/4/11 | Grand Prairie 2 at Wichita 1 | J. Brownell | N. Singleton | J. Hunton | 951 |
American Association Finals — GRAND PRAIRIE WINS 3-2
| Date | Score | W | L | SV | Attend. |
| 9/7/11 | Grand Prairie 1 at St. Paul 7 | T. Mathison | J. Jennings | – | 1,235 |
| 9/8/11 | Grand Prairie 2 at St. Paul 5 | J. DePaula | T. Brown | T. Walker | 1,456 |
| 9/10/11 | St. Paul 2 at Grand Prairie 3 (11 innings) | J. Fulton | J. English | – | 1,059 |
| 9/11/11 | St. Paul 3 at Grand Prairie 10 | J. Brownell | R. Coe | – | 428 |
| 9/12/11 | St. Paul 5 at Grand Prairie 8 | J. Jennings | T. Mathison | J. Hunton | 828 |
Award Winners
| Player of the Year | Lee Cruz (Amarillo) 100 G, .344/.393/.579, 144 H, 75 R, 38 2B, 18 HR, 94 RBI |
| Pitcher of the Year | Ben Moore (Sioux Falls) 13-4, 2.92 ERA, 22 G, 145.0 IP, 144 K, 1.193 WHIP |
| Rookie of the Year | Price Kendall (Winnipeg) 100 G, .324/.388/396, 135 H, 83 R, 16 2B, 2 HR, 54 RBI, 22 SB |
| Defensive Player of the Year | Jonathan Van Every (St. Paul) 84 G, 1.000 Fld%, 253 errorless chances, 7 assists in CF |
| Manager of the Year | Rick Forney (Winnipeg) 60-40 record, division title |
Postseason All-Stars
| Catcher | Kelley Gulledge (Fort Worth) 94 G, .339/.400/.527, 126 H, 74 R, 28 2B, 14 HR, 73 RBI |
| First Base | Trent Lockwood (Fort Worth) 99 G, .338/.447/.619, 124 H, 77 R, 37 2B, 20 HR, 90 RBI, 75 BB |
| Second Base | Brad Boyer (Gary SouthShore) 87 G, .348/.405/.538, 123 H, 66 R, 21 2B, 8 3B, 10 HR, 68 RBI, 11 SB |
| Third Base | Juan Richardson (Wichita) 98 G, .360/.452/.550, 140 H, 81 R, 28 2B, 5 3B, 12 HR, 86 RBI |
| Shortstop | Josh Horn (Wichita) 100 G, .326/.388/.441, 133 H, 75 R, 31 2B, 4 HR, 55 RBI, 16 SB |
| Outfield | Stephen Douglas (El Paso/Grand Prairie) 99 G, .378/.439/.508, 160 H, 87 R, 38 2B, 3 HR, 76 RBI, 24 SB |
| Outfield | Ryan Patterson (Fort Worth/Wichita/St. Paul) 99 G, .325/.382/.546, 141 H, 95 R, 32 2B, 20 HR, 90 RBI, 16 SB |
| Outfield | Ray Sadler (Kansas City) 100 G, .315/.382/.543, 129 H, 71 R, 21 2B, 22 HR, 100 RBI, 14 SB |
| Starting Pitcher | Ben Moore (Sioux Falls) 13-4, 2.92 ERA, 22 G, 145.0 IP, 144 K, 1.193 WHIP |
| Relief Pitcher | Jon Hunton (Grand Prairie) 7-2, 1.76 ERA, 49 G, 25 SV, 51.0 IP, 47 K, 1.137 WHIP |
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