| Thruway Cup | ||
| ||
| Buffalo Bisons |
Rochester Red Wings |
Syracuse Mets |
| Sport: | Baseball | |
| Originated: | 1998 | |
| First meeting: | April 10, 1998 Rochester vs. Buffalo North AmeriCare Park[1] | |
| Current holder: | Buffalo Bisons | |
| Buffalo (9) 2000 2001 2002 2004 2006 2007 2012 2013 2021 |
Rochester (10) 1998 2003 2005 2008 2009 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 |
Syracuse (4) 1999 2010 2011 2014 |
| Bold years denote retired Thruway Cup trophies | ||
The Thruway Cup is an annual competition between Minor League Baseball's Buffalo Bisons, Rochester Red Wings, and Syracuse Mets of the International League. The Cup standings are compiled from the games the teams play against each other through the course of the regular season. The team at the top of the standings at the end of the season is crowned the Thruway Cup champion and wins the Thruway Cup trophy. Unique to this competition, it was agreed that any team winning the trophy three times would get to "retire" the cup and keep it as their own.[2] As of the end of the 2021 season, Rochester has won ten times, Buffalo nine times, and Syracuse four times.
The I-90 Thruway Series is the name given to all the games played between the Bisons, Red Wings, and Mets. The series became official when the Bisons joined the International League in 1998 after moving from the Triple-A American Association. The rivalry continued following a move to the Triple-A East in 2021, which rebranded as the International League in 2022.[3]
All of the teams are located in cities along the New York State toll road. Syracuse and Buffalo, which are at the furthest ends are about 150 minutes' driving time from each other, while the other cities are within 90 minutes of each other.
During the 2012 season, an additional IL team made its home along the Thruway, the Empire State Yankees. The Yankees had no home ballpark, so they played their home games at the stadiums of Rochester, Syracuse, Buffalo, and the Batavia Muckdogs (formerly a Class A Short Season team located between Buffalo and Rochester); it was nevertheless not included in the Thruway Cup.
In 2017, the Rochester Red Wings earned the right to keep their retired Thruway Cup trophy, making it the first time a team retired a Cup bearing no other team's name.
No champion was awarded for the 2020 season due to the minor league season being postponed and eventually cancelled on June 30, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.[4][5]
For the 2021 season, the Buffalo Bisons temporarily relocated to Trenton, New Jersey, where they played their home games at Trenton Thunder Ballpark. The Bisons' parent club, the Toronto Blue Jays, used Sahlen Field in Buffalo since the 2020 MLB season due to border restrictions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. This marked the first time in the history of the rivalry where one of the three teams did not play at its home ballpark along the I-90 Thruway.[6][7] Buffalo played the season through July in Trenton and moved back to Buffalo in August of that season.[8]
