Major League Baseball made the independent Atlantic League it’s first “partner league.”

On Wednesday, MLB said it will meet regularly with the Atlantic League to discuss joint marketing and promotional opportunities. The sides extended their agreement through 2023 to stage experiments in the Atlantic League, which tested an automated ball-strike system to call pitches in 2019 and has used other innovations such as limits on defensive shifts and mound visits, larger bases and shorter breaks between half-innings.

ESPN.com

There are Atlantic League teams in my neck of the woods. In general, the talent isn’t that good, but with the minors contracting, that could change quickly. I do like the idea of a baseball laboratory in a competitive, rather than a developmental league. We shall see.