The league temporarily operated for the 2021 season as the High-A East before reassuming its original moniker in 2022.

The most recent SAL adopted the moniker in 1980, having previously been the Western Carolinas League, founded in 1963.

For nearly 60 years, 1948 through 2007, the dominant figure in the WCL/SAL was league founder and president John Henry Moss, who started the WCL as a young man in 1948, refounded it in 1960 and then led it into the new century.

[2] In 2005, the SAL had the highest attendance in 101 years with over 3,541,992 fans (while minor league baseball set a second straight record with 41,333,279 attendees).

[6] In July 2024, MiLB announced that the Hub City Spartanburgers will join the South Atlantic League in 2025, replacing the Hickory Crawdads.