Why is there a MLB team in TB?

[Dtwncbad]

Serious question.  Nothing about the entire franchise looks positive.  Nothing.  I cannot mentally find any path to this being a successful franchise with a competitive team and a healthy attendance.

How does it make any sense to keep having a team there?

How long will it take MLB to admit its mistake and either execute the contraction or relocate?

 

[TroutField]

When they were going to the World Series back around 09 or so they had a decent following. They have a pretty good young team right now. I thinks it’s just the wrong area for them geographically. It’s a bunch of grumpy old white people, they want to golf and be in bed by 7 pm. 

 

[ScruffytheJanitor]

Team should move to Nashville. There are no other teams in the midsouth besides Atlanta, and Nashville is just exploding right now. Given how much Nasvillians love the Predators, I have no doubt that the first sign of success would lead to a pretty strong following.

[Dtwncbad]

TV viewership is good.  The ballpark is a disaster and it is in a terribly inconvenient place.

If they got a new ballpark, basically relocate to Tampa proper, "maybe."

But this is the point.  You don't build a ballpark to have a crack at "maybe."

If they need to relocate, just move it to Charlotte or San Antonio.

[Docwaukee]

they talked about trying to draw orlando into their fan base by putting the stadium in between the two metros at one point.  that would make for a pretty large metro.  but them maybe neither of the cities would attend games.  

[Dtwncbad]

3 minutes ago, Dochalo said:

they talked about trying to draw orlando into their fan base by putting the stadium in between the two metros at one point.  that would make for a pretty large metro.  but them maybe neither of the cities would attend games.  

Their biggest problem is it is basically a commute for anybody to go to a game from anywhere residential.  Moving it further away from TB and still being too far from Orlando would be a disaster.

I stick to my main point.  It's not going to work where that ballpark sits.  If they have to move to a new ballpark, punt on TB altogether and just start fresh in another city where the odds of success are better.

[NJHalo]

34 minutes ago, Dochalo said:

they talked about trying to draw orlando into their fan base by putting the stadium in between the two metros at one point.  that would make for a pretty large metro.  but them maybe neither of the cities would attend games.  

There is NOTHING in between Tampa and Orlando. You would be making it inconvenient for both fan bases vs. just one. The BrightLine high speed rail between Tampa and Orlando is under construction, so that will help. 

[Mark68]

I don't think it's the area. I think it's that shithole they play in. 

They were pretty successful this year, and in the mid-to-late aughts. They're one of those teams like Oakland or KC where they have to draft and develop players better than other teams do, especially in that division.

[Second Base]

Within the next decade, there will likely be a lot of movement among major league teams.  I think the Angels and the city of Anaheim will end up working out a deal where the city partially funds a mass renovation, and Arte Moreno will end up funding the majority of it, so Angels Stadium won't look like it did before.  But in return for Moreno investing his money into making the park experience better, the city of Anaheim will give him rights to develop the parking lot and some of the surrounding areas and profiting that way.  Attendance is down league wide, and there's a "small stadium" movement beginning where instead of having 50,000 seats, with 20,000 of them empty, teams are showing a willingness to build stadiums with 30,000 max capacity, and I think that's likely what will happen with Angel Stadium. 

I also believe that both the Oakland A's and the Tampa Bay Rays will relocate, and Major League Baseball will expand by two teams.  I'm guessing Tampa Bay will relocate to Montreal and become the Expos and the A's will be convinced to relocate to Las Vegas when the Giants and /or politics block their latest attempt at building a new stadium.  Then MLB will have two expansion teams, likely in Portland, Oregon and Charlotte, North Carolina.  

This will also cause Major League Baseball to realign.  The AL and NL will still exist, but now, each will have four divisions instead of three.  There will still likely be an East and West Division, MLB will likely make the other two divisions North and South.   Portland and Las Vegas will be an AL team, and Charlotte and Montreal will be an NL team.  This will cause one NL team to have to move to the AL, and for the sake of this scenario, we'll say it's the Marlins.  So the divisions might shake out like this...

AL West: Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Seattle and Portland. 

AL East: Boston, New York, Toronto and Baltimore.

AL North: Chicago, Minnesota, Detroit and Cleveland

AL South: Texas, Houston, Kansas City and Miami

__________________________________________

NL West: Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and Arizona

NL East: New York, Philadelphia, Washington and Charlotte

NL North: Colorado, Milwaukee, Chicago and Montreal

NL South: Atlanta, St. Louis, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh

_____________________________________________

The playoffs will likely need to be restructured as well.  It'll probably four division winners and four wild cards (so literally half the teams making the playoffs).

- Round one will give the two division winners with the highest record an automatic buy into the Division series. 

- The rest of round one will be WC 1 vs WC 4 in a one game series, WC 2 and WC 3 in a one game series.

- Then it will be WC 2 vs division winner 3 in a three game series, and WC 1 and division winner 4 in another three game series.  The winners of those series will advance to the division series. 

- The Division Series will be a 5 game series. 

- The League Championship Series will be a seven game series.

- The World Series will also be a seven game series. 

[Angel Oracle]

1 hour ago, Dtwncbad said:

TV viewership is good.  The ballpark is a disaster and it is in a terribly inconvenient place.

If they got a new ballpark, basically relocate to Tampa proper, "maybe."

But this is the point.  You don't build a ballpark to have a crack at "maybe."

If they need to relocate, just move it to Charlotte or San Antonio.

I vote for Charlotte.   They have supported the NFL and NBA.   Okay, there's some bias here too, as I lived for 6 years in Charlotte as a kid.

[zenmaster]

It gives Yankees/Red Sox fans to do when they are on vacation and/or retire in Tampa.

[Mark68]

2 hours ago, Second Base said:

Within the next decade, there will likely be a lot of movement among major league teams.  I think the Angels and the city of Anaheim will end up working out a deal where the city partially funds a mass renovation, and Arte Moreno will end up funding the majority of it, so Angels Stadium won't look like it did before.  But in return for Moreno investing his money into making the park experience better, the city of Anaheim will give him rights to develop the parking lot and some of the surrounding areas and profiting that way.  Attendance is down league wide, and there's a "small stadium" movement beginning where instead of having 50,000 seats, with 20,000 of them empty, teams are showing a willingness to build stadiums with 30,000 max capacity, and I think that's likely what will happen with Angel Stadium. 

I also believe that both the Oakland A's and the Tampa Bay Rays will relocate, and Major League Baseball will expand by two teams.  I'm guessing Tampa Bay will relocate to Montreal and become the Expos and the A's will be convinced to relocate to Las Vegas when the Giants and /or politics block their latest attempt at building a new stadium.  Then MLB will have two expansion teams, likely in Portland, Oregon and Charlotte, North Carolina.  

This will also cause Major League Baseball to realign.  The AL and NL will still exist, but now, each will have four divisions instead of three.  There will still likely be an East and West Division, MLB will likely make the other two divisions North and South.   Portland and Las Vegas will be an AL team, and Charlotte and Montreal will be an NL team.  This will cause one NL team to have to move to the AL, and for the sake of this scenario, we'll say it's the Marlins.  So the divisions might shake out like this...

AL West: Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Seattle and Portland. 

AL East: Boston, New York, Toronto and Baltimore.

AL North: Chicago, Minnesota, Detroit and Cleveland

AL South: Texas, Houston, Kansas City and Miami

__________________________________________

NL West: Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and Arizona

NL East: New York, Philadelphia, Washington and Charlotte

NL North: Colorado, Milwaukee, Chicago and Montreal

NL South: Atlanta, St. Louis, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh

_____________________________________________

The playoffs will likely need to be restructured as well.  It'll probably four division winners and four wild cards (so literally half the teams making the playoffs).

- Round one will give the two division winners with the highest record an automatic buy into the Division series. 

- The rest of round one will be WC 1 vs WC 4 in a one game series, WC 2 and WC 3 in a one game series.

- Then it will be WC 2 vs division winner 3 in a three game series, and WC 1 and division winner 4 in another three game series.  The winners of those series will advance to the division series. 

- The Division Series will be a 5 game series. 

- The League Championship Series will be a seven game series.

- The World Series will also be a seven game series. 

There wouldn't be a need for four wild cards per league. They can do it like the NFL does: 4 division winners (top 2 get a bye) and 2 wild cards. 

Or they can give the top finisher a bye, and have the one-card play-in game between the two wild card teams, then the winner gets to play the #2 seed, and the 3 & 4 play each other in the "wild card" series, then the one seed plays the lowest remaining seed in the division series, then the LCS, then the WS. 

[Second Base]

24 minutes ago, Mark68 said:

There wouldn't be a need for four wild cards per league. They can do it like the NFL does: 4 division winners (top 2 get a bye) and 2 wild cards. 

Or they can give the top finisher a bye, and have the one-card play-in game between the two wild card teams, then the winner gets to play the #2 seed, and the 3 & 4 play each other in the "wild card" series, then the one seed plays the lowest remaining seed in the division series, then the LCS, then the WS. 

That would make a lot more sense.