It's time to expand

[BigbadB]

With the recent successes of the Tampa Rays, Florida Marlins, Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies, is it time to add two new teams?

 

I'd love to see a new team out of Las Vegas and Portland. Move one of the current NL West teams (Colorado or Arizona) to the AL and then put Portland in the AL West and Las Vegas in the NL West. Assuming they moved Colorado to the AL West, MLB would be saving a few baseball teams on travel expenses and creating some fun new rivalries.

 

This would create an equal number of teams in each league and balance out interleague play.

 

NL West:

Arizona

San Diego

Las Vegas

Los Angeles

San Francisco

 

AL West:

Seattle

Portland

Oakland

Los Angeles

Texas

Colorado

 

The biggest argument over the years opposed to adding teams is the talent pool. Between the influx of Pacific Rim players and further development of the Latin America players, I think the talent pool is at an all time high.

[anabiono]

i think there should be a team in the carolinas, but i guess that doesn't help with your theory

[erik316wttn]

It would be nice to even out the leagues. However, I don't think we'll see a franchise in Vegas in any of the 4 major sports (football, baseball, basketball, hockey) anytime soon. Sure, you could ban betting on that teams games, but what about getting to players about "not giving their best performance" in a game a week or two down the road against another team in a different city? Same goes for officials.

 

There is just far too much room for corruption.

 

Portland would be good, as would San Antonio. Charlotte would be another possibility.

[UMFan83]

I think the talent is diluted enough that we don't need 2 more teams, especially with a few markets still struggling to draw people. But then again, with the success of the Asian market adding to the talent base its not impossible. I think if they added 2 more teams they should do an NFL style formatting. Both leagues would have 4 divisions with 4 teams in them. The team who wins the division would win a playoff spot. No second place teams being rewarded, etc.

 

AL Northeast

Boston

Montreal (reincarnated)

New York

Toronto

 

 

AL Southeast

Baltimore

Charlotte

Kansas City

Tampa Bay

 

AL Central

Chicago

Cleveland

Detroit

Minnesota

 

AL West

Los Angeles

Oakland

Seattle

Texas

 

NL Northeast

Cincinnati

New York

Philadelphia

Pittsburgh

 

NL Southeast

Atlanta

Florida

Houston

Washington

 

NL Central

Chicago

Colorado

Milwaukee

St. Louis

 

NL West

Arizona

Los Angeles

San Diego

San Francisco

 

Just a suggestion. They would probably never do another team in Montreal, but I couldn't think of another city in the Northeast.

[erik316wttn]

I think the talent is diluted enough that we don't need 2 more teams, especially with a few markets still struggling to draw people. But then again, with the success of the Asian market adding to the talent base its not impossible. I think if they added 2 more teams they should do an NFL style formatting. Both leagues would have 4 divisions with 4 teams in them. The team who wins the division would win a playoff spot. No second place teams being rewarded, etc.

 

AL Northeast

Boston

Montreal (reincarnated)

New York

Toronto

 

 

AL Southeast

Baltimore

Charlotte

Kansas City

Tampa Bay

 

AL Central

Chicago

Cleveland

Detroit

Minnesota

 

AL West

Los Angeles

Oakland

Seattle

Texas

 

NL Northeast

Cincinnati

New York

Philadelphia

Pittsburgh

 

NL Southeast

Atlanta

Florida

Houston

Washington

 

NL Central

Chicago

Colorado

Milwaukee

St. Louis

 

NL West

Arizona

Los Angeles

San Diego

San Francisco

 

Just a suggestion. They would probably never do another team in Montreal, but I couldn't think of another city in the Northeast.

 

New York could easily support another franchise. They supported 3 baseball teams for many years back when the population is half of what it is now. You'd have to put it in Manhattan or Brooklyn, though. You couldn't infringe on The Bronx or Queens, and Staten Island doesn't have the population to support one.

[TomAZZ]

Indianapolis would be a good city also. They have successful franchises in both football and basketball. I think they're overdue.

[Derwood]

I like the idea of setting up the divisions like the NFL, with 4 division winners and no wild-cards in each league. Baseball is way too "traditional" (ugh) and would never do it, even though it's been 15 years since the last realignment

 

ETA: Something like this:

 

NL East

--------

Mets

Phillies

Nationals

Pirates

 

NL West

--------

Giants

Padres

Dodgers

Rockies

 

NL North

--------

Cubs

Brewers

Reds

Cardinals

 

NL South

--------

Marlins

Braves

Astros

Expansion Team

 

AL East

---------

Yankees

Red Sox

Toronto

Baltimore

 

AL West

---------

D-Backs

Angels

A's

Mariners

 

AL North

---------

White Sox

Tigers

Twins

Indians

 

AL South

---------

Royals

Rangers

Rays

Expansion Team

[brinoch]

I'm not necessarily opposed to expansion, and while BBB's plan balances the leagues -- which is a very good thing -- it still leaves the division unbalanced. Under the plan as written, the NL Central would remain 6 teams with the East and West at 5. The AL West would increase to 6 (from 4) and the Central and East would both stay at 5.

 

Personally, I'd much rather see one NL team moved to the AL, balancing the leagues. This would also space interleague play throughout the season, rather than concentrated in one burst. There are plenty of options to balance the leagues -- you could move Houston to the AL West, or move Houston to the NL West and either Colorado or Arizona to the AL West.

[Have a seat, Neifi]

Charlotte couldn't support an MLB franchise. I know the MLB did some analysis of the Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point "Triad" area a little north of Charlotte when the Expos were being shopped around to different markets (before ultimately settling in DC, of course), but even that was a stretch. I don't think any market in North Carolina (whether Charlotte or the Research Triangle with Raleigh, Durham, etc.) could sustain sufficient attendance figures over the long haul. 81 home games is A LOT.

[jersey cubs fan]

The Vegas problem is much more of a PR problem than an actual "integrity of the game" problem. The watered down talent pool is an overblown story. MLB is very healthy right now, and I think they could handle an expansion soon.

 

I doubt MLB wants to get rid of the DH, but I wonder if the MLBPA would be open to getting rid of the DH if the league added 2 new teams.

[MasterBlaster]

I'm not opposed to another expansion either, and I would like to see Interleague play go the way of the Dodo. Adding another 2 teams would make interleague suck even more than it already does. It's bad enough that we only get two series per year against the Phillies and Mets, but with the extra teams due to expansion, if interleague stayed on, that would mean that we get even less series against our own division as an expense. Although breaking the divisions into quads might alleviate that a bit as well.

[brinoch]

I'm not opposed to another expansion either, and I would like to see Interleague play go the way of the Dodo. Adding another 2 teams would make interleague suck even more than it already does. It's bad enough that we only get two series per year against the Phillies and Mets, but with the extra teams due to expansion, if interleague stayed on, that would mean that we get even less series against our own division as an expense. Although breaking the divisions into quads might alleviate that a bit as well.

 

Personally, I'm not a fan of interleague play because of the inherently unbalancing nature of including "rivalry" games. The Cubs get the White Sox for 6 and the Cardinals get the Royals for 6? I could go on...

[NeifiIsMyHomeBoy]

Instead of expansion I would like to see the leagues balanced. I was still pretty young when Milwaukee came over from the AL, and don't really understand why they were moved in the first place. I know that Selig wanted Milwaukee to be an NL city based on having the Braves previously, but that seems like a pretty stupid reason to disrupt the competitive balance of your sport. Why not just send them back to where they came from, and move the Royals to the AL West?

[UMFan83]

Instead of expansion I would like to see the leagues balanced. I was still pretty young when Milwaukee came over from the AL, and don't really understand why they were moved in the first place. I know that Selig wanted Milwaukee to be an NL city based on having the Braves previously, but that seems like a pretty stupid reason to disrupt the competitive balance of your sport. Why not just send them back to where they came from, and move the Royals to the AL West?

 

The argument is that having 15 teams in each division makes it very hard to schedule games. The only way it could happen is if interleague play went on all year long.

[NeifiIsMyHomeBoy]

Instead of expansion I would like to see the leagues balanced. I was still pretty young when Milwaukee came over from the AL, and don't really understand why they were moved in the first place. I know that Selig wanted Milwaukee to be an NL city based on having the Braves previously, but that seems like a pretty stupid reason to disrupt the competitive balance of your sport. Why not just send them back to where they came from, and move the Royals to the AL West?

 

The argument is that having 15 teams in each division makes it very hard to schedule games. The only way it could happen is if interleague play went on all year long.

 

Ok that makes sense, year round interleague would suck, but I still haven't really accepted that the Brewers actually "belong" in our division. I also would like to go on record as saying I hate the way interleague is set up, and seeing us play the Rays and Blue Jays doesn't thrill me at all.

[OleMissCub]

Not that it really adds anything to the discussion, but I really hate the fact that there are 6 teams in our division.

 

Move the Marlins to Portland and put them in the AL West and then move Pittsburgh to the NL East in the spot where the Marlins occupied.

[jersey cubs fan]

Instead of expansion I would like to see the leagues balanced. I was still pretty young when Milwaukee came over from the AL, and don't really understand why they were moved in the first place. I know that Selig wanted Milwaukee to be an NL city based on having the Braves previously, but that seems like a pretty stupid reason to disrupt the competitive balance of your sport. Why not just send them back to where they came from, and move the Royals to the AL West?

 

The argument is that having 15 teams in each division makes it very hard to schedule games. The only way it could happen is if interleague play went on all year long.

 

Ok that makes sense, year round interleague would suck, but I still haven't really accepted that the Brewers actually "belong" in our division. I also would like to go on record as saying I hate the way interleague is set up, and seeing us play the Rays and Blue Jays doesn't thrill me at all.

 

If you were so young then why is it an issue. I wasn't that young, and I feel that Milwaukee fits in very well in the NL Central. When I was very young, teams like Cincy and Atlanta were inexplicably in the NL West. While the White Sox and Twins were AL West teams, Milwaukee was AL East. It was next to impossible for them to get a decent rivalry going.

 

I think they should got 15/15 for now, splitting interleague into a combination of 1 rivalry series per year (not home and home), along with an NFL style 1st vs 1st, 2nd vs 2nd, etc. You can open and close the season with the less than intriguing matchups of last place teams.

[SouthSideRyan]

 

If you were so young then why is it an issue. I wasn't that young, and I feel that Milwaukee fits in very well in the NL Central. When I was very young, teams like Cincy and Atlanta were inexplicably in the NL West. While the White Sox and Twins were AL West teams, Milwaukee was AL East. It was next to impossible for them to get a decent rivalry going.

 

 

When you were VERY young Goony?

 

Regarding your interleague breakdown, it'd probably be the best way to do it in that situation, but I really don't like the stretch run having interleague games. Sure, most of the time those last place teams are going to be last place teams again, but you also can have situations where this years Rays team is playing the Nationals with 3 to play and tied with the Yankees. You'd at least like to have a team in the same league as them being the one to challenge them late.

[jersey cubs fan]

 

If you were so young then why is it an issue. I wasn't that young, and I feel that Milwaukee fits in very well in the NL Central. When I was very young, teams like Cincy and Atlanta were inexplicably in the NL West. While the White Sox and Twins were AL West teams, Milwaukee was AL East. It was next to impossible for them to get a decent rivalry going.

 

 

When you were VERY young Goony?

 

Regarding your interleague breakdown, it'd probably be the best way to do it in that situation, but I really don't like the stretch run having interleague games. Sure, most of the time those last place teams are going to be last place teams again, but you also can have situations where this years Rays team is playing the Nationals with 3 to play and tied with the Yankees. You'd at least like to have a team in the same league as them being the one to challenge them late.

 

Sure, but it would only be three games, and who is to say they won't clinch before then? And why would it be that much better for them to play Baltimore rather than Washington? It would still be teams that aren't in the race and have nothing to play for but the pride of being a spoiler. There's a flaw in everyone of these plans. But going by the assumption that interleague is not going away, and with the desire to see them balance the leagues at 15/15 for now, and 16/16 later (when it would no longer be necessary to have interleague all year long), I think this is the best option.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

can the league afford to expand to more cities without a better revenue sharing system, and if not, would the current owners vote to allow more teams in the league if they had to spend more to support them? I also wonder exactly how much MLB's blackout rules negatively affect the fanbases and revenue of teams because of a lack of national exposure.

[BigbadB]

16 teams in each division makes sense. You have to figure two more cities are deserving of a franchise. The goal of MLB should be to continue to expand and increase the amount of markets generating revenue.

 

I'm not opposed to breaking down the divisions into 4 divisions, either. In fact, it would make a lot of sense to do so. In fact, that falls right into the lap of my previous post where they beef up the western divisions, since it makes little sense now that the NL Central has 6 teams and the AL West has 4 teams.

 

Carolina is certainly a possibility for a franchise, as is a 3rd New York team, a New Orleans team, Indianapolis, Portland and Las Vegas. I like Portland and Las Vegas now as a quick fix, with the potential of adding more teams later on and breaking the divisions into 4.

 

I also see the market for player value correcting itself moving forward. There are still some pretty bad contracts being written, but it's happening less and less these days. The more recent expansion teams are proving that you can field a competitive team with a relatively miniscule payroll in relation to the big market teams. There are only so many big market teams to hand out the big contracts, which in turn will decrease the value of the tier of players that fall just below the elite players.

[laryan]

what about omaha? they absolutely love their baseball out there. a team out there would at least have fans with expectations, as opposed to putting one back in montreal (wtf?)

[jersey cubs fan]

what about omaha? they absolutely love their baseball out there. a team out there would at least have fans with expectations, as opposed to putting one back in montreal (wtf?)

 

I don't see anyway possible how a town that size with no professional sports teams could be reasonably expected to sell tickets to 81 games a year.

[kjfoster 1553]

Indianapolis would be a good city also. They have successful franchises in both football and basketball. I think they're overdue.

 

+1!!!

 

That would be awesome. I don't know how I would fare though, being that I will likely always live in Indianapolis, but already have a Cubs tattoo... hmm

[Little Slide Rooter]

Indianapolis would be a good city also. They have successful franchises in both football and basketball. I think they're overdue.

 

+1!!!

 

That would be awesome. I don't know how I would fare though, being that I will likely always live in Indianapolis, but already have a Cubs tattoo... hmm

 

Indianpolis would be a nice city for an american league team. That could be the start of a great rivalry with the White Sox. I always thought it wrong that Indiana didnt have a team but Missouri has 2.

 

Anyway, I dont see an expansion in the near future. Doesnt anyone else remember a few years back when the were continuing eliminating 2 teams from the league?