How soon until MLB expands to 32 teams? Where will they be?

[lucas80]

I listened to a bit of Steve Stone on the Score this morning, and he gave an in general response about how he thinks there is going to be tremendous pressure in the next few years to control salaries. He then shifted into expansion, and why he thought there were two major drivers. First, it will make sense to expand for the playoffs, and to realign the divisions. Second, he said adding two teams could add up to $2 billion for the current owners, and they want that easy money.
Assuming they add two teams, and wind up with 16 teams in each league, broken up into four divisions, who would do you think gets added? Does MLB shift a team to a new city by engineering a sale, as well? I'm looking at you, Tampa Bay.
Portland has laid the groundwork for a gorgeous stadium south of downtown, and that would help with geographical balance. What about Vegas, or San Antonio? Charlotte or Nashville seem like good possibilities, too. A lot of people want to go back to Montreal, but I don't see it. They failed once, why take a chance.

 

[JRHawk2003]

Montreal is a big city thats why.

Boy starting pitching is thin now.....yikes

 

[MuscoHawk]

If they’re expanding they better bring the f*cking Expos back.

 

[dekhawk]

Nashville pushing hard for a team.

 

[ping72]

Why doesn’t New Orleans have a team? They have nfl and nba... and baseball is popular in Louisiana.

 

[ping72]

They should put a team in the Caribbean

 

[fezzador]

Why doesn’t New Orleans have a team? They have nfl and nba... and baseball is popular in Louisiana.

New Orleans is too small a market. It also has lots of poors. It won’t sell out a 25K (let alone 50k) stadium for 81 home games consistently.

 

[lucas80]

They should put a team in the Caribbean

There isn't a population base big enough to support a team, not one that could produce enough revenue that is.
Some people over the years have suggested Mexico City. There are people with the deep pockets to start a team, but Mexico City is 1000 miles south of Houston. The extra travel time for even the closest competitors would be a draw back.

 

[Run&Blade]

Nashville is booming so that makes sense.

With no fans all these leagues will be racing revenue issues.

 

[win1forthe]

I think Montreal is close to being a lock. As for the other, I think Nashville and Vegas make some sense.

 

[Fluffles]

Portland needs a team and there is a market for it. Good documentary on the Battered Bastards of Baseball, the Portland Beavers, on Netflix.

 

[fezzador]

NYC can support a third team.

 

[dgordo]

Need another west coast team and Portland is the only realistic option. Nashville is the fastest growing city in the country. There are other options like Indianapolis, Memphis and Charlotte but I’m going with Portland and Nashville.

 

[millah_22]

Portland needs a team and there is a market for it. Good documentary on the Battered Bastards of Baseball, the Portland Beavers, on Netflix.

Interesting concept. Seems everyone in Oregon is either a Mariners fan or Giants. Oregon loves the Blazers though and the Timber get a ton of support, I can see them supporting an MLB team.

 

[claykenny]

There isn't a population base big enough to support a team, not one that could produce enough revenue that is.
Some people over the years have suggested Mexico City. There are people with the deep pockets to start a team, but Mexico City is 1000 miles south of Houston. The extra travel time for even the closest competitors would be a draw back.

Denver is 967 miles from San Francisco, 862 from Los Angeles, and 853 from San Diego. Seattle is 1660 miles from Arlington and 1874 to Houston.

New York is 2421 from Seattle and 2090 from Mexico City.

I don’t think distance to Mexico City would be a deterrent.

 

[MeetTheFerentz]

AL East: NYY, Bal, Bos, Tor
AL North: CHW, Cle, Det, Minn
AL South: Tex, Hou, TB, KC
AL West: Sea, LAA, Oak, AZ (moved from NL)

NL East: NYM, Wash, Phil, Charlotte
NL North: CHC, Stl, Mil, Pit
NL South: Miam, Atl, Cin, Indianapolis/Nashville
NL West: LAD, SF, SD, Col

Charlotte is the obvious one; largest metro area without a team.
Portland, LV, Sacramento could support a team, but already have 8 teams in Pacific/Mountain time zones; adding another f's things up.
Don't see them adding another team to Florida or Texas.
That leaves Indy and Opryland. Great sports towns. AAA Indians and Sounds among the highest of minor league attendance every year. Similar metro areas, although the city of Indy is considerably larger. Nashville might fit better geographically with my setup, and could draw from Memphis better than Indy would from Gary, which likely is full of Chicago baseball fans.

Not sure I like baseball going this direction, but it's a sign of the times; gotta keep up with the Jonses.

 

[MeetTheFerentz]

Portland needs a team and there is a market for it. Good documentary on the Battered Bastards of Baseball, the Portland Beavers, on Netflix.

Portland doesn't even have a minor league baseball team right now. Hard to see how they can convince the majors that they can support an MLB team.

 

[MeetTheFerentz]

Why doesn’t New Orleans have a team? They have nfl and nba... and baseball is popular in Louisiana.

Other than being a shrinking sh*t-hole half the size of places that are 100x better options, I can't think of any reasons.

 

[sultanofsuede]

a team in Charlotte would be cool. Portland would be really great. First place I thought of was New Orleans. Mexico City or Havana would be really interesting too.

 

[MitchLL]

The talent, especially pitching, is watered down now. It would be even worse adding teams.

Not happening.

 

[lucas80]

Denver is 967 miles from San Francisco, 862 from Los Angeles, and 853 from San Diego. Seattle is 1660 miles from Arlington and 1874 to Houston.

New York is 2421 from Seattle and 2090 from Mexico City.

I don’t think distance to Mexico City would be a deterrent.

It wouldn't help. The point of realignment would be to create divisions which allow for an easier travel schedule, something the owners and players both want. The shortest flight to MC in whatever division they would be in would be 2 hours. More like 3 for most rivals.
The bigger issue would be could they create enough revenue to be competitive? I don't think they could create enough ticket sales to produce revenue like the US teams, but would a tremendous following throughout the nation on broadcast platforms offset lower fan revenues?

 

[hawkifann]

The talent, especially pitching, is watered down now. It would be even worse adding teams.

Not happening.

We heard the same thing before the last two expansions and baseball still survived.

 

[lucas80]

Portland doesn't even have a minor league baseball team right now. Hard to see how they can convince the majors that they can support an MLB team.

It helps if you have the land on hold for a stadium, and preliminary designs for a bustling shopping/residential hub around the ballpark.
https://ballparkdigest.com/2019/04/11/new-portland-ballpark-renderings-unveiled/

 

[MitchLL]

We heard the same thing before the last two expansions and baseball still survived.

If MLB expands, we'll end up with more NL Central like, bottom feeders.

 

[LuteHawk]

Expanding the MLB playoffs is not a good idea. The
16 teams this season included 2 teams who lost more
games than they won. And 3 other teams only won one
or two more games than they lost.

With a regular season of 162 games, expanded playoff
teams will water down the meaning of the regular season.
We need to stop the owners hunger for greed and money
with a cheap post season playoff system.

 

[claykenny]

It wouldn't help. The point of realignment would be to create divisions which allow for an easier travel schedule, something the owners and players both want. The shortest flight to MC in whatever division they would be in would be 2 hours. More like 3 for most rivals.
The bigger issue would be could they create enough revenue to be competitive? I don't think they could create enough ticket sales to produce revenue like the US teams, but would a tremendous following throughout the nation on broadcast platforms offset lower fan revenues?

They would likely generate plenty of revenue. But the exchange rate would be a big issue. So would player safety and questions regarding how many non-Mexican players would be willing to play for the franchise.

 

[The Tradition]

How about Durham?

 

[hawkifann]

How about Durham?

Charlotte is significantly bigger as both a city and a metro area.

 

[MeetTheFerentz]

It helps if you have the land on hold for a stadium, and preliminary designs for a bustling shopping/residential hub around the ballpark.
https://ballparkdigest.com/2019/04/11/new-portland-ballpark-renderings-unveiled/

Looks nice, and seems to be a popular pick among fans.

I think, however, that MLB would really be taking a chance with a franchise in Portland.

Already a team up the road in Seattle (which is consistently in bottom half of MLB attendance). Not going to draw much outside of the metro area. Absolutely not drivable for any opposing teams' fans other than Seattle. What happens when the novelty wears off and the team isn't any good? Might be looking at the next version of the Rays, Marlins, Grizzlies, Jaguars, Ottawa Senators, etc.

I also mentioned in another thread that MLB already has 8 teams in Pacific/Mountain time zones. Adding a 9th kinda screws up alignment, assuming they'd go to four 4-team divisions in each league.

Indianapolis, Nashville and Charlotte/Carolina have a history of supporting multiple major sports franchises, in addition to drawing among the highest in minor league baseball attendance. I would consider those three, in addition to Montreal, to be the frontrunners for the 2 potential expansion teams.

 

[MeetTheFerentz]

How about Durham?

Maybe this guy could FINALLY get his first big-league dinger...

 

[bagdropper]

They'd need to fix Oakland and Tampa Bay's stadium issues before expansion should be realistically considered.

 

[mcgrawfsu]

I don’t think starting pitching will be an issue If the trend to using openers continues. There are a handful of aces you can count on to go 7+ innings, but for the rest you’d be better off with openers. Openers can go 3 or 4 and pitch every couple of days.

 

[Red Hills Nole]

They'd need to fix Oakland and Tampa Bay's stadium issues before expansion should be realistically considered.

This is absolutely true. The Rays are one of the best run organizations in sports and have far and away the worst stadium situation. The stadium is much too hard to get to for the average fan as it is at the far western edge of the metro area and nearly 20 miles and two to three bridges away from the main population centers of the Metro area. A much more suitable location would be somewhere east or southeast of the bay. I really don't care about Oakland though. As to the thought of having a team in either the Caribbean or Mexico the only place in the Caribbean that would have any chance of even limited success would be San Juan but travel issues would kill that. As to Mexico I think a far better choice than Mexico City would be Monterrey. Monterrey has a population at > 4.5 million which is greater than all but ten Major league cities including but not limited to Boston, Detroit, Phoenix, and san Francisco/Oakland. If expansion is to occur Montreal must be included and while I would prefer Monterrey Nashville would be my next choice. Go Braves!

 

[lucas80]

They'd need to fix Oakland and Tampa Bay's stadium issues before expansion should be realistically considered.

This is why I mentioned the current owners either pushing for a sale, or a team to move. Of the two cities Oakland has more fixable problems. I know the owners like having two teams in Florida, but neither of them draws well. I can see the other owners being receptive to a move by Tampa Bay.

 

[dekhawk]

Music city baseball group is in place ,pushing for the first black owned team, the Nashville stars

The cubs and White Sox won’t allow a team in Indianapolis, they draw a lot of fans from there.

 

[OsceolaNole]

AL East: NYY, Bal, Bos, Tor
AL North: CHW, Cle, Det, Minn
AL South: Tex, Hou, TB, KC
AL West: Sea, LAA, Oak, AZ (moved from NL)

NL East: NYM, Wash, Phil, Charlotte
NL North: CHC, Stl, Mil, Pit
NL South: Miam, Atl, Cin, Indianapolis/Nashville
NL West: LAD, SF, SD, Col

Charlotte is the obvious one; largest metro area without a team.
Portland, LV, Sacramento could support a team, but already have 8 teams in Pacific/Mountain time zones; adding another f's things up.
Don't see them adding another team to Florida or Texas.
That leaves Indy and Opryland. Great sports towns. AAA Indians and Sounds among the highest of minor league attendance every year. Similar metro areas, although the city of Indy is considerably larger. Nashville might fit better geographically with my setup, and could draw from Memphis better than Indy would from Gary, which likely is full of Chicago baseball fans.

Not sure I like baseball going this direction, but it's a sign of the times; gotta keep up with the Jonses.

I still can’t wrap my head around HOU in the AL and MIL in the NL. For my own sanity, they should be moved back. What was the rationale behind that change?

 

[TJ8869]

I still can’t wrap my head around HOU in the AL and MIL in the NL. For my own sanity, they should be moved back. What was the rationale behind that change?

The Brewers moved to the NL as part of expansion that added Tampa Bay and Arizona. MLB went from 28 teams to 30 and they wanted to keep an even number of teams in each league. MLB wanted Tampa to be in the AL East but AL teams refused to let Arizona be in the AL West. So instead of having 15 teams in each league they decided to have a team switch leagues to make it 16/14. Bud Selig at the time was both acting commissioner and the owner of the Brewers. He decided he could make more money being in the NL Central so he switched leagues.

 

[fezzador]

Music city baseball group is in place ,pushing for the first black owned team, the Nashville stars

The cubs and White Sox won’t allow a team in Indianapolis, they draw a lot of fans from there.

And probably to a lesser extent, the Reds.

 

[lucas80]

Thoughts from Brett Taylor of BN on the subject.
https://www.bleachernation.com/cubs...-expansion-talk-im-thinking-it-could-be-soon/

 

[UNIowaHawk]

I would guess Las Vegas, Nashville, Louisville, or Charlotte. Montreal tried and failed-- this is MLB, not WD40.