thumb|right|upright=1.4|Exterior of [[Salem Memorial Ballpark in 2017]]
The Salem RidgeYaks are a Minor League Baseball affiliate of the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB), based in Salem, an independent city adjacent to Roanoke, Virginia. The team competes at the Single-A level in the Carolina League. Home games are played at Carilion Clinic Field at Salem Memorial Ballpark, a 6,300-seat facility opened in 1995.
The team first played in 1955, and then from 1957 to 1967, in the Appalachian League, initially at the now-defunct Class D level, and then at the Rookie level starting in 1963. From 1968 through 2020, the team competed in the Carolina League, initially Class A and then Class A-Advanced starting in 1990.
The team was known as the Salem Avalanche from 1995 through 2008, when it was affiliated with the Colorado Rockies (1995–2002) and Houston Astros (2003–2008). Prior to 1995, the franchise played under several other names and affiliations. In 2009, the team rebranded as the Salem Red Sox before adopting the RidgeYaks identity for 2026.
History
The franchise debuted in 1955 and was initially known as the Salem Rebels, an affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The franchise was owned from 1986 until 2006 by Kelvin Bowles, a cable television executive and scout in Major League Baseball. Bowles, who scouted for the Boston Red Sox from 2002 to 2005, bought the team when it was in danger of moving from Salem. In 2006, the team was sold to Hardball Capital from Atlanta who also owned the Fort Wayne Wizards. In December 2007, this group sold the team to Fenway Sports Group, a subsidiary of the Boston Red Sox ownership group, preparing the team for an affiliation change after its Player Development Contract with the Houston Astros ended in 2008. As such, the Salem Red Sox were owned (until 2023) by the same parent company that manages Liverpool F.C. and the Boston Red Sox.
In 2006, Salem Memorial Ballpark hosted the All Star Game between the Carolina League and California League.
Since switching affiliation to Boston in 2009, the team has claimed four division titles (2009, 2013, 2016, 2019), has made five playoff appearances (each division title season, plus 2014 as a wild card), and has won one league championship (2013). League and divisional titles are commemorated on the press box and sky boxes overlooking the Carilion Clinic Field Grandstand.
In conjunction with Major League Baseball's restructuring of Minor League Baseball in 2021, the team moved from being the Red Sox' Class A-Advanced affiliate to being their Low-A affiliate, and became a member of the Low-A East; in a corresponding move, the Greenville Drive moved from Class A to High-A. At the time of the restructuring, the website Ballpark Digest speculated that the Red Sox could look to move the Salem franchise to Lowell, Massachusetts in time for the 2022 season. In May 2021, Rick White, president of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, announced that Salem, along with Staten Island, New York, was "on board for 2022" as an expansion franchise location, further fueling speculation that Salem would lose their affiliation status to Lowell. In 2022, the Low-A East became known as the Carolina League, the name historically used by the regional circuit prior to the 2021 reorganization, and was reclassified as a Single-A circuit.
On March 17, 2023, it was announced that their owners, FSG, sold them to Diamond Baseball Holdings who also own the Red Sox Double-A affiliate, the Portland Sea Dogs.
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| 1956 || colspan=2 align=center|no team || — || — || — || — || ||
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| 1957 || Rebels || Pittsburgh || || 3rd of 6 || || none held || 18,007 ||
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| 1958 || Rebels || Pittsburgh || || 3rd of 6 || || none held || 21,351 ||
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| 1959 || Rebels || Pittsburgh || || 2nd of 6 || || none held || 36,128 ||
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| 1960 || Rebels || San Francisco || || 6th of 6 || || none held || 38,929 ||
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| 1961 || Rebels || San Francisco || || 7th of 8 || || none held || 34,125 ||
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| 1962 || Rebels || San Francisco || || 5th of 6 || || none held || 40,913 ||
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| 1963 || Rebels || San Francisco || || 2nd of 6 || || none held || 34,061 ||
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| 1964 || Rebels || Pittsburgh || || 3rd of 4|| || none held || 36,184 ||
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| 1966 || Rebels || Pittsburgh || || 5th of 5 || || none held || 34,884 ||
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| 1969 || Rebels || Pittsburgh || || bgcolor=lightyellow|1st of 5 (West) || || defeated High Point-Thomasville Royals (2–0)<br>lost to Burlington Senators (0–2) || 63,248 ||
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| 1970 || Rebels || Pittsburgh || || 7th of 8 || || did not qualify || 50,076 ||
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| 1971 || Rebels || Pittsburgh || || 6th of 8 || || did not qualify || 37,872 ||
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| 1972 || Pirates || Pittsburgh || || bgcolor=lightyellow|1st of 6