Following the end of the season, the Diablos announced that they would join with several fellow Central League members including the Coastal Bend Aviators, the Fort Worth Cats, the Pensacola Pelicans, and the Shreveport Sports and join with former Northern League teams the Saint Paul Saints, Sioux City Explorers, the Sioux Falls Pheasants, and the Lincoln Saltdogs to form the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball as an independent minor league. The league began play in 2006 with a 96-game schedule along with an expansion team in St. Joseph, Missouri known as the Blacksnakes. The league's first All-Star game was in El Paso, Texas and played against the Can-Am League in July 2006.