The Cleveland Guardians farm system consists of seven Minor League Baseball affiliates across the United States and in the Dominican Republic.
Their newest affiliate is the Lynchburg Hillcats of the Carolina League, which became the Guardians' Class A-Advanced club in 2015, and were reassigned to Single-A in 2021.
Geographically, Cleveland's closest domestic affiliate is the Lake County Captains of the High-A Midwest League, which are approximately 16 miles (26 km) away.
[2] Prior to the 1963 season, Major League Baseball (MLB) initiated a reorganization of Minor League Baseball that resulted in a reduction from six classes to four (Triple-A, Double-A, Class A, and Rookie) in response to the general decline of the minors throughout the 1950s and early-1960s when leagues and teams folded due to shrinking attendance caused by baseball fans' preference for staying at home to watch MLB games on television.
[2] The current structure of Minor League Baseball is the result of an overall contraction of the system beginning with the 2021 season.