Minor-league teams who faced extinction are back but not the same

FREDERICK, Maryland – For nearly two years, the Frederick Keys existed in an awful sort of limbo, their very existence in doubt, their last chance to impress their incoming overlords at Major League Baseball wiped out by a pandemic, the community that supported them confused, annoyed and ultimately befuddled by their fate.

As one of 42 teams identified as potential contraction targets in MLB’s blunt takeover of the minor leagues, this 31-year affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles – just a 50-minute trip down I-70 from Camden Yards – saw many of its worst fears realized. With MLB mandating its franchises trim from five or six minor-league affiliates down to an efficient, cost-friendly, ostensibly optimized four, the Keys were left on the outside looking in.

“For a lot of our community and for that fan base, I don’t know if they recognized that we’d still be here,” says Andrew Klein, a five-year Keys employee and their general manager for the past month.

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