The Fort Worth Cats, Shreveport-Bossier Sports, Pensacola Pelicans, Coastal Bend Aviators, and El Paso Diablos joined the four former Northern League teams and the expansion St. Joe Blacksnakes to form the American Association as a ten-team league.

2008 saw the league lose the Blacksnakes and Aviators, with the Grand Prairie AirHogs and Wichita Wingnuts joining in their place.

Fort Worth was kicked out of the AA and moved to the North American League, while Shreveport and Pensacola both relocated.

At the end of the 2013 season, due to the Tucson Padres relocating to their city, the El Paso Diablos suspended operations.

[5][6] The team remained in Grand Prairie full-time in 2017, with the Cleburne Railroaders joining the league the same season.

In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the league announced that 6 of its 12 clubs would play an abbreviated 60-game season beginning on July 3, 2020.

A limited number of fans were allowed to attend games, in accordance with local government guidelines and restrictions.

Construction commenced later that summer on a new stadium and multi-use indoor sports facility, which opened for play on May 20, 2022, as Wisconsin Brewing Company Park.

[15] With the DockHounds joining the league for the 2022 season, the American Association opted for realignment of the divisions.

The league placed Cleburne, Chicago, Kane County, Gary SouthShore, Milwaukee, and Lake Country in the East Division; and Winnipeg, Fargo-Moorhead, Sioux Falls, Sioux City, Lincoln, and Kansas City in the West Division.

[16] The American Association (AA) typically recruits college and former major and minor league players.

Former affiliated-league players who get injured or have other circumstances join the AA as an opportunity to get re-signed by major league organizations.

For example, David Peralta was signed in 2004 as a pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals but suffered injuries and was released in 2009.

Former Commissioner Miles Wolff stated in an interview that "We have to pay the salaries of the players, which they don't in an affiliated [league].

"[17] In 2018, the league raised the minimum salary to $1,200 per month to comply with the new Save America's Pastime Act.