The domino effect is at work among minor league baseball clubs in the Southwest.
SBNation.com is reporting the Triple-A Pacific Coast League will undergo a realignment for the 2014 season, a move spurred by the relocation of the Tucson club to El Paso.
El Paso will host the affiliate club of the San Diego Padres after promising the construction of a new stadium in its growing downtown district.
The 16-team PCL will still have four divisions, but each will have a new look as the result of realignment. For example, Albuquerque will now be in a division with El Paso, Las Vegas and Salt Lake instead of New Orleans, Oklahoma City and Round Rock, Texas.
The Triple-A club coming to El Paso has been in turmoil for several years. Originally the Portland Beavers in Oregon, the team was slated to move to Escondido, Calif. to be closer to the parent club in San Diego. The plan was to house the team temporarily in Tucson for the 2011 season while a stadium was built in Escondido.
But funding fell through, Escondido backed out, and the team — renamed the Tucson Padres — was stuck in Arizona.
A group of El Paso business owners purchased the club in October 2012, after the city agreed to build the ballpark if the team came to town. The construction began in May 2013, and the 2014 season will mark the first time El Paso has hosted Triple-A baseball.