Next Round of MLB Expansion Thread - Nashville, Portland, Salt Lake, Charlotte, Montreal, Orlando all on radar

[Inside Pitch]

2 hours ago, Lhalo said:

I dunno. It only took the Marlins 4 years to win the WS.

And a ton of cash.

[Hubs]

6 hours ago, HeavenlyHalos said:

One thing I was reading regarding expansion is that MLB then might have four divisions in each league of 4 teams. If they want to add one in the East (Nashville seems most likely) and one in the West (Portland or Utah) I wonder what the new AL would look like? Maybe they introduce an AL South with Texas, Nashville, Houston, and Tampa? Will Tampa even have a team at this point or will they relocate? The AL West could become the Angels, Seattle, Portland/Utah, and wherever the A's land with one team in the Central going to the NL? Perhaps the Royals move from the Central to the South and Nashville is in the NL? It will be real interesting to see what happens after the dust settles on expansion and whatever the hell A's become. 

I like 4 divisions of 4, but they need to switch a few teams in leagues so that each team has an opposite league "rival" team and that they have divisions that make sense geographically. Tampa should not be with four teams in the AL East who play within an hour and half flight of one another.

The reason a rival team is important is 

The A's moving to Las Vegas messes up the plan for a rival team, as the natural rival for Las Vegas wouldn't be SF, it would be Arizona. And I had Arizona switching leagues to the AL West.

My big gripe is that Houston shouldn't have been the team to move to the AL in 2013, it should've been Arizona or Colorado. The Angels and A's have three hour flights plus to THREE division rivals (SEA, TEX And HOU) whereas the longest flight the Dodgers have in Division is Colorado (2 hours) and it is 1 hour to Arizona. SF has 2x two hour flights to SD and AZ and one 2 hour flight to Colorado.

But moving Houston to NL West somehow didn't make sense to MLB.

 

 

 

[BTH]

7 hours ago, Hubs said:

But moving Houston to NL West somehow didn't make sense to MLB.

I think it was because Houston had just been sold, so they were able to get Jim Crane to agree to switch leagues as part of the deal.

If you move Arizona or Colorado to the AL, you not only have to move them but you then have to move someone else from the NL Central to the NL West. And it’d be hard to get an NL Central team to switch from that travel to West Coast travel. Plus the time differences. Any west coast games would start at 9 pm central time.

[Vegas Halo Fan]

11 hours ago, BTH said:

If you move Arizona or Colorado to the AL, you not only have to move them but you then have to move someone else from the NL Central to the NL West. And it’d be hard to get an NL Central team to switch from that travel to West Coast travel. Plus the time differences. Any west coast games would start at 9 pm central time.

None of that stopped MLB from sticking the Braves in the NL West when divisions were first introduced. It made zero sense to put a team in a state with an Atlantic coast in the same division with three California teams.

[Hubs]

11 hours ago, BTH said:

I think it was because Houston had just been sold, so they were able to get Jim Crane to agree to switch leagues as part of the deal.

If you move Arizona or Colorado to the AL, you not only have to move them but you then have to move someone else from the NL Central to the NL West. And it’d be hard to get an NL Central team to switch from that travel to West Coast travel. Plus the time differences. Any west coast games would start at 9 pm central time.

Yeah, but they supposedly wanted to move to the AL. I just think one Texas team in each league makes more sense than two in the AL West.

 

 

[Jeremiah]

There is a lot that would need to happen before expansion can be considered. Manfred has said he’s stepping down in ‘29 when his contract is up, and that between now and then he didn’t foresee any expansion decisions to be made before then. Some of this also hinges on the resolution of the A’s situation. The city of Oakland has a lot of leverage here because the A’s have no home after the ‘24 season, and the schedule for the ‘25 season needs to be set by July. Well, the A’s don’t want to forego $70/year by leaving the Bay Are now and go play in a MiLB park for four seasons. The city can ask for the Moon right now in exchange for keeping the zombie A’s around: an expansion team that keeps the name, colors, and history of the A’s, demand that MLB force Fisher sell to someone like Joe Lacob then give Fisher an expansion team in Vegas. There could be a new team in Vegas or Oakland before any of these other sites are considered. It’s a fascinating mess right now.

[angels1963]

18 hours ago, Hubs said:

I like 4 divisions of 4, but they need to switch a few teams in leagues so that each team has an opposite league "rival" team and that they have divisions that make sense geographically. Tampa should not be with four teams in the AL East who play within an hour and half flight of one another.

The reason a rival team is important is 

The A's moving to Las Vegas messes up the plan for a rival team, as the natural rival for Las Vegas wouldn't be SF, it would be Arizona. And I had Arizona switching leagues to the AL West.

My big gripe is that Houston shouldn't have been the team to move to the AL in 2013, it should've been Arizona or Colorado. The Angels and A's have three hour flights plus to THREE division rivals (SEA, TEX And HOU) whereas the longest flight the Dodgers have in Division is Colorado (2 hours) and it is 1 hour to Arizona. SF has 2x two hour flights to SD and AZ and one 2 hour flight to Colorado.

But moving Houston to NL West somehow didn't make sense to MLB.

 

 

 

Four divisions of four geographically with several teams moving to the  other league. A/L East Baltimore, Boston, New York and Toronto. A/L Central White Sox, Cleveland, Detroit and the Twins. A/L South Tampa, Miami, Atlanta and Washington. A/L West Angels, A's, Arizona and San Diego. N/L East Mets, Phillies, Pirates and the Reds. N/L Central Cubs, Brewers, St. Louis and Royals. N/L South Nashville, Houston , Texas and Rockies. N/L West Dodgers, Giants, Portland and Seattle. Geographically it makes sense provided it's Nashville and Portland that are the new teams, but this will never happen because there would be to many teams moving.

[Hubs]

You're never moving Atlanta or the Padres to the AL.

Here's my lineup with Portland and Nashville

AL WEST Angels, Las Vegas or Oakland, Seattle, Arizona.

NL WEST Dodgers, SF, Portland, San Diego

AL MIDWEST Cleveland, Chicago White Sox, Detroit, Minnesota 

NL MIDWEST Cincinnati, Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee, St. Louis

AL SOUTH Texas, Tampa, Nashville, Kansas City

NL SOUTH Houston, Miami, Atlanta, Colorado

AL EAST New York, Boston, Toronto, Baltimore

NL EAST New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington

 

IF it's SLC and Nashville

AL WEST Angels, Las Vegas or Oakland, Seattle, SLC

NL WEST Dodgers, SF, San Diego, Arizona

AL MIDWEST Cleveland, Chicago White Sox, Detroit, Minnesota 

NL MIDWEST Cincinnati, Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee, St. Louis

AL SOUTH Texas, Tampa, Nashville, Kansas City

NL SOUTH Houston, Miami, Atlanta, Colorado

AL EAST New York, Boston, Toronto, Baltimore

NL EAST New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington

 

 

[Hubs]

My other thought is just go back to two divisions in each league, East and West. That way the division winners get a bye, and it means something to win the division. Then you have four wildcards, which is 12 teams in the playoffs. 

If its Portland/Nashville

AL West

Angels, A's, M's, D'Backs, White Sox, Royals, Twins, Rangers

NL West

Dodgers, Giants, Timbers (Portland), Padres, Cubs, Cardinals, Brewers, Rockies

AL East

Yankees, Red Sox, Orioles, Blue Jays, Rays, Tigers, Indians, Astros

NL East

Mets, Phillies, Nationals, Pirates, Marlins, Braves, Nationals, Sounds (Nashville).

 

If its SLC / Nashville

AL West

Angels, A's, M's, Bees, White Sox, Royals, Twins, Rangers

NL West

Dodgers, Giants, Rockies, D'Backs Padres, Cubs, Cardinals, Brewers

AL East

Yankees, Red Sox, Orioles, Blue Jays, Rays, Tigers, Indians, Astros

NL East

Mets, Phillies, Nationals, Pirates, Marlins, Braves, Nationals, Sounds (Nashville).

[Vegas Halo Fan]

2 hours ago, Jeremiah said:

There is a lot that would need to happen before expansion can be considered. Manfred has said he’s stepping down in ‘29 when his contract is up, and that between now and then he didn’t foresee any expansion decisions to be made before then. Some of this also hinges on the resolution of the A’s situation. The city of Oakland has a lot of leverage here because the A’s have no home after the ‘24 season, and the schedule for the ‘25 season needs to be set by July. Well, the A’s don’t want to forego $70/year by leaving the Bay Are now and go play in a MiLB park for four seasons. The city can ask for the Moon right now in exchange for keeping the zombie A’s around: an expansion team that keeps the name, colors, and history of the A’s, demand that MLB force Fisher sell to someone like Joe Lacob then give Fisher an expansion team in Vegas. There could be a new team in Vegas or Oakland before any of these other sites are considered. It’s a fascinating mess right now.

Mess is a good way to describe it. The Mayor of Las Vegas is beginning to believe that this group is too disorganized to pull off the relocation. She openly said that they should go back and talk to Oakland.

Locally there is basically zero enthusiasm for the A's. IMO a lot of it goes back to the "parallel paths" nonsense that went on for almost two years, supposedly having a binding agreement for one site here then flipping to another (which is far less suitable for a ballpark and will create a traffic nightmare), promising a final decision and then not delivering multiple times, all the while pursuing Howard Terminal in Oakland. We have had the sense all along that we were being played for leverage, and little that has happened since has changed that perception.

We want an MLB team. Just not this one.

Edited February 22 by Vegas Halo Fan

[Vegas Halo Fan]

2 hours ago, angels1963 said:

Four divisions of four geographically with several teams moving to the  other league. A/L East Baltimore, Boston, New York and Toronto. A/L Central White Sox, Cleveland, Detroit and the Twins. A/L South Tampa, Miami, Atlanta and Washington. A/L West Angels, A's, Arizona and San Diego. N/L East Mets, Phillies, Pirates and the Reds. N/L Central Cubs, Brewers, St. Louis and Royals. N/L South Nashville, Houston , Texas and Rockies. N/L West Dodgers, Giants, Portland and Seattle. Geographically it makes sense provided it's Nashville and Portland that are the new teams, but this will never happen because there would be to many teams moving.

Just do away with the American and National Leagues altogether. Interleague play has essentially done that already. Set up divisions that make geographic sense, and have everyone play under the MLB banner.

[BTH]

3 hours ago, Hubs said:

Yeah, but they supposedly wanted to move to the AL. I just think one Texas team in each league makes more sense than two in the AL West.

 

 

My big gripe is that Texas and Houston should be in the Central because that’d put 2 big spenders in the Central, which traditionally doesn’t have big spenders.

Like the big spenders should be dispersed:

West: LA x2, SF.

Central: Texas, Houston, Chicago.

East: New York x2, Boston, Philly .