The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees are a professional minor league baseball club located based in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area. During the 2012 season, while their home field is being renovated, they will play home games at various sites, primarily in New York state. For this reason, there was intent to temporarily rename the team as the "Empire State Yankees." However, the team's current owners maintain that the identifier "Scranton/Wilkes-Barre" is still in use.

They currently play in the International League's Northern Division and are the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Yankees Major League Baseball club. The team plays at PNC Field (formerly Lackawanna County Stadium) in Moosic, their home since 1989.

What is now the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre International League franchise can trace its roots back to 1886 when the club began play as the Buffalo Bisons. The original Bisons played for two seasons in the original IL before the league made the first of several name changes. The IL was known as the International Association (1888–1890), Eastern Association (1891), and the Eastern League (1892–1911) before finally re-settling on the International League. The Bisons left the IL in 1899 but would return in 1902 and remain there for the next 69 seasons. The club saw success, winning the league title ten times. In 1927, the Bisons won a franchise record 112 games. The team began the 1970 season in Buffalo, but were on the verge of bankruptcy. In June of that year, the club was awarded to the Montreal Expos who moved the team to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Dellin Betances (born March 23, 1988) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the New York Yankees.

At the age of 10, Betances was a Yankee fan who sat with the Bleacher Creatures for the perfect game of former Yankees pitcher David Wells in 1998. He credits his family taking him to Yankee games with his choosing baseball over basketball.

He attended Grand Street Campus School in Brooklyn, New York. In 2005, Betances was an Aflac All-American and played for the Team USA Junior National Team. Betances played baseball in the summer in the Youth Service League.

Betances was drafted in the eighth round of the 2006 Major League Baseball Draft. He received a $1 million signing bonus to forego his commitment to Vanderbilt University.

Betances was rated the Yankees' third best prospect for 2007, and their fifth best for 2009, according to Baseball America.

Betances spent 2007 with the Class-A Short Season Staten Island Yankees and 2008 with the Class A Charleston RiverDogs. In 2009, he pitched for the Tampa Yankees, the Yankees Class A-Advanced affiliate. Betances had surgery late in the 2009 season, which was erroneously reported as Tommy John surgery, but was instead a ligament reinforcement procedure.

Brandon J. Laird (born September 11, 1987) is a third baseman for the New York Yankees.

Laird attended La Quinta High School in Westminster, California. He was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 27th round of the 2005 Major League Baseball Draft, but did not sign, opting to attend Cypress College. Laird was drafted by the Yankees in the 27th round of the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft, and signed with the Yankees.

On August 2, 2010, Laird was promoted from Double A Trenton Thunder to Triple A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees. Following the 2010 season, he was added to the Yankees' 40 man roster in order to protect him from the Rule V Draft.

Laird was named both the Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year of the Eastern League in 2010, following a breakout season.

Laird was promoted to the majors for the first time on July 18, 2011 when Ramiro Peña was placed on the disabled list.

On Friday July 22, 2011 at Yankee Stadium, Laird made his Major League debut, and got his first Major League hit and RBI against Oakland Athletics pitcher Craig Breslow on a single to center field. He scored his first run earlier in the game, scoring on a single by Nick Swisher after working a walk off of A's pitcher Joey Devine.