Let’s Talk Expansion.

[Hoosier388]

As I’m sure many of you know Major League Baseball has been considering possible expansion.
The two cities I keep hearing people would like to see is bringing back the Montreal Expos & putting a team in Portland, Oregon.
Portland, OR is currently the largest region without an MLB team.
I’ve also heard Mexico, Nashville, TN & Las Vegas, V in the conversation as well.
What do you all think about MLB going to 32 teams like the NFL?

AMERICAN LEAGUE
AL EAST
Baltimore
Boston
New York (Yankees)
Toronto

AL NORTH
Chicago (White Sox)
Cleveland
Detroit
Minnesota

AL WEST
Anaheim
Oakland
Portland (Expansion)
Seattle

AL South
Houston
Kansas City
Tampa Bay
Texas

NATIONAL LEAGUE
NL EAST
Montreal (Expansion)
New York (Mets)
Philadelphia
Washington

NL NORTH
Chicago (Cubs)
Cincinnati
Milwaukee
Pittsburgh

NL WEST
Colorado
Los Angeles
San Diego
San Francisco

NL SOUTH
Arizona
Atlanta
Miami
St. Louis

Rivalries broken up: Chicago and St. Louis
Furthest travel: Arizona & Miami and Tampa Bay & Kansas City - could maybe put Miami & Tampa in the same league and Kansas City & Arizona in the same league and remove that problem, then you just have one riveraly upset.

So it could certainly be fine tuned where you don’t break up that riveraly and maybe can limit that travel a little better by mixing some of this up or having some teams switch leagues.

-

If MLB went to with 2 league and 4 divisions - 2 divisions in each league with 8 teams in each division that could work as well.

AMERICAN LEAGUE
EAST DIVISION
Baltimore
Boston
Chicago (White Sox)
Cleveland
Detriot
New York (Yankees)
Tampa Bay
Toronto

WEST DIVISION
Anaheim
Houston
Kansas City
Minnesota
Oakland
Portland (Expansion)
Seattle
Texas

NATIONAL LEAGUE
EAST DIVISION
Atlanta
Cincinnati
Montreal (Expansion)
Miami
New York (Mets)
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Washington

WEST DIVISION
Arizona
Chicago (Cubs)
Colorado
Los Angeles
Milwaukee
San Diego
San Francisco
St. Louis

[HollywoodLeo]

My bets would be Montreal and Mexico City, but I wouldn't mind jumping on the Vegas bandwagon to have an excuse to go there.

[Mach]

I think it'd be more likely we get 4 divisions than 8, assuming it doesn't stick to 6.

[HollywoodLeo]

I think I like 4 divisions as well.

Lessens the chance of some team with a crappy record getting in by virtue of winning the division while maintaining the value of winning the division.

Plus you don't have to break up rivalries that way.

[Mach]

I just think (and have thought) it's what will happen, and possibly 6 teams per league make the playoffs, with the division winners getting byes essentially, and we'll see the WCs play a best of 3 or 5 (maybe the screwjob game format remains).

[HollywoodLeo]

I'd prefer all series be best of 7 but I can see how the wait time on that would suck so I'd settle for best of 5 for the WC rounds and then they move on to a best of 7 LCS

[Mach]

If MLB went to with 2 league and 4 divisions - 2 divisions in each league with 8 teams in each division that could work as well.

AMERICAN LEAGUE
EAST DIVISION
Baltimore
Boston
Chicago (White Sox)
Cleveland
Detriot
New York (Yankees)
Tampa Bay
Toronto

WEST DIVISION
Anaheim
Houston
Kansas City
Minnesota
Oakland
Portland (Expansion)
Seattle
Texas

NATIONAL LEAGUE
EAST DIVISION
Atlanta
Cincinnati
Montreal (Expansion)
Miami
New York (Mets)
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Washington

WEST DIVISION
Arizona
Chicago (Cubs)
Colorado
Los Angeles
Milwaukee
San Diego
San Francisco
St. Louis

See, this just flows easily, and if MLB went an East team for the AL, kicking the White Sox to the West fits perfectly. I'm not sure any rivalries get broken either since the Central isn't a long tenured (comparatively) division.

[Mach]

As I’m sure many of you know Major League Baseball has been considering possible expansion.
The two cities I keep hearing people would like to see is bringing back the Montreal Expos & putting a team in Portland, Oregon.
Portland, OR is currently the largest region without an MLB team.
I’ve also heard Mexico, Nashville, TN & Las Vegas, V in the conversation as well.
What do you all think about MLB going to 32 teams like the NFL?

AMERICAN LEAGUE
AL EAST
Baltimore
Boston
New York (Yankees)
Toronto

AL NORTH
Chicago (White Sox)
Cleveland
Detroit
Minnesota

AL WEST
Anaheim
Oakland
Portland (Expansion)
Seattle

AL South
Houston
Kansas City
Tampa Bay
Texas

NATIONAL LEAGUE
NL EAST
Montreal (Expansion)
New York (Mets)
Philadelphia
Washington

NL NORTH
Chicago (Cubs)
Cincinnati
Milwaukee
Pittsburgh

NL WEST
Colorado
Los Angeles
San Diego
San Francisco

NL SOUTH
Arizona
Atlanta
Miami
St. Louis

Rivalries broken up: Chicago and St. Louis
Furthest travel: Arizona & Miami and Tampa Bay & Kansas City - could maybe put Miami & Tampa in the same league and Kansas City & Arizona in the same league and remove that problem, then you just have one riveraly upset.

So it could certainly be fine tuned where you don’t break up that riveraly and maybe can limit that travel a little better by mixing some of this up or having some teams switch leagues.

See, knowing this from the Rangers and with the NHL, time zones are key. And also I recall the Rays and Yankees don't want to be separated (making this insanely difficult) and the MLB is sensitive to small market teams (even though the economics are different than they used to be since Pittsburgh is obviously more East than Atlanta, but they couldn't match payrolls) but it's hard to accommodate all of it. So here's how I'd accommodate all that:

AMERICAN LEAGUE
AL EAST
Baltimore
Boston
New York (Yankees)
[S]Toronto[/S] Tampa Bay

AL NORTH
Chicago (White Sox)
Cleveland
Detroit
[S]Minnesota[/S] Toronto

AL WEST
Anaheim
Oakland
Portland (Expansion)
Seattle

AL CENTRAL
Houston
Kansas City
[S]Tampa Bay[/S]Minnesota
Texas

NATIONAL LEAGUE
NL NORTHEAST/ATLANTIC
Montreal (Expansion)
New York (Mets)
Philadelphia
Washington

NL CENTRAL
Chicago (Cubs)
[S]Cincinnati[/S] Colorado
Milwaukee
[S]Pittsburgh[/S] St. Louis

NL WEST
[S]Colorado[/S] Arizona
Los Angeles
San Diego
San Francisco

NL EAST
[S]Arizona[/S] Cincinnati
Atlanta
Miami
[S]St. Louis[/S] Pittsburgh

But you're screwing with rivalries there still too, notably the NL East with Atlanta to the point that I really rather ATL in the Northeast and Washington out, but that's ruining the potential rivalry with Montreal, which I think would be bad for business. Most likely if it's not 4 total divisions, Montreal just gets added to the East and the other team just gets added to whatever's logical and they run unbalanced.

I know the division names don't quite line up, but since they use the whole each league is unique thing, it doesn't bother me.

I'd have to look at history and such as well to see if it's viable, but, yeah, I can't imagine them doing anything but adding to current divisions, at least as of now. In the NFL it kind of worked better because the NFC West was a hodgepodge of newer crap and the timing of teams added made it easier to remove one (or two) from each division (Seattle, Tampa, Jacksonville, Houston, Atlanta, New Orleans, Carolina) were all newer compared to the rest of the league or just abjectly crap (the Cardinals) or moved (Tennessee and didn't quite fit fully anyway and, well, Cincy fits better, plus obvious Houston Tennessee rivalry) while really only Indy got screwed, but even then, they moved from Baltimore, and never quite fit with the rest of the original AFL East (They came over from the NFL along with Cleveland and Pittsburgh. I guess Baltimore and Indy could have been a thing, but Cleveland and Baltimore has so much more juice, plus, again, history. They could have left Indy in the North and booted Cincy to the South, but Cincy had a history with these teams already) so the NFL story just lends itself easier to restructuring that way.

[dgfred]

Voted Charlotte. The Carolinas need a team. Would like Raleigh better (closer) but Charlotte is so close to S.C.

[schisno]

Canada doesn't need another team.

[Mach]

They have two in MSL. We need to move Montreal to Washington.

[HollywoodLeo]

They have two in MSL. We need to move Montreal to Washington.

I did the right thing and contracted the Marlins, though

[Mach]

best commish ever!

(Though moving Montreal to Miami would make some sense in a hypothetical discussion)

[dgfred]

Vegas would be my other choice... got to have all three big league teams.

[Mach]

I had time to look at the history, and compare to hockey since it's mid 90s here, and realized the 2 division each league concept won't work for two reasons:

The Cubs have historically and consistently refused to be in a scenario where they're playing more west coast games (not unlike Detroit and Dallas in hockey) and unless there's a balanced schedule, they'd have to be.

The NHL is set up in a West/East format, not a league/conference format, which makes it easier to group teams. No teams travels more than a time zone away. Used to be one division but (the Pacific) but with Colorado getting kicked to the Central due to Vegas, the Central has to do the one time zone thing as well (and if the Yotes are still in Arizona come 2020 when Seattle is in, it'll be two teams.)

In a 2 division per league set up, in the NL CHC, STL, MIL would have to do this, and in the AL CWS, MIN, KC, TEX, HOU would have to do this. The MLB loves their rivalries too much to go to a balanced schedule, so this is likely out.

There's a push for radical realignment again allegedly (see this monstrosity Expansion Could Trigger Realignment, Longer Postseason), but I think we all hate that as it's just based on geography meaning the Yanks and Mets, the Cubs and White Sox would be in the same division. Works to go to 4 divisions, but blech.

So, the 6-5-5 could be it, or maybe there's a path to go 8 divisions of 4 teams, which I'll look at with the new lenses since if I nap now, I won't be able to sleep later.