2020s MLB Expansion Watch Thread...

[murksiderock]

If I could realign the divisions, and go with the two frontrunners of Nashville and Salt Lake, I'd realign as follows:

AL East
Baltimore Orioles
Boston Red Sox
New York Yankees
Toronto Blue Jays

AL North
Chicago White Sox
Cleveland Guardians
Detroit Tigers
Minnesota Twins

AL Central/South
Houston Astros
Kansas City Royals
Tampa Bay Rays
Texas Rangers

AL West
Las Vegas Athletics
Los Angeles Angels
*Salt Lake*
Seattle Mariners

NL East
New York Mets
Philadelphia Phillies
Pittsburgh Pirates
Washington Nationals

NL North
Chicago Cubs
Colorado Rockies
Milwaukee Brewers
St Louis Cardinals

NL Central/South
Atlanta Braves
Cincinnati Reds
Miami Marlins
*Nashville*

NL West
Arizona Diamondbacks
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants

**hopefully my cities of Sacramento and Raleigh get the teams and replace Salt Lake and Nashville in this same format

 

[Trips]

If I could realign the divisions, and go with the two frontrunners of Nashville and Salt Lake, I'd realign as follows:

AL East
Baltimore Orioles
Boston Red Sox
New York Yankees
Toronto Blue Jays

AL North
Chicago White Sox
Cleveland Guardians
Detroit Tigers
Minnesota Twins

AL Central/South
Houston Astros
Kansas City Royals
Tampa Bay Rays
Texas Rangers

AL West
Las Vegas Athletics
Los Angeles Angels
*Salt Lake*
Seattle Mariners

NL East
New York Mets
Philadelphia Phillies
Pittsburgh Pirates
Washington Nationals

NL North
Chicago Cubs
Colorado Rockies
Milwaukee Brewers
St Louis Cardinals

NL Central/South
Atlanta Braves
Cincinnati Reds
Miami Marlins
*Nashville*

NL West
Arizona Diamondbacks
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants

**hopefully my cities of Sacramento and Raleigh get the teams and replace Salt Lake and Nashville in this same format

I don't hate this grouping. I'd be hard press to switch any of them around. And it manages to keep many of the traditional divisional rivalries. Only one I feel loses a real rival in the division are the Braves. But, Braves/Reds could become something new as well as a potential chance at something with Atlanta/Nashville.

 

[the next guy]

I would rather Montreal and put Toronto with the Great Lake teams.

 

[the next guy]

If I could realign the divisions, and go with the two frontrunners of Nashville and Salt Lake, I'd realign as follows:

AL East
Baltimore Orioles
Boston Red Sox
New York Yankees
Toronto Blue Jays

AL North
Chicago White Sox
Cleveland Guardians
Detroit Tigers
Minnesota Twins

AL Central/South
Houston Astros
Kansas City Royals
Tampa Bay Rays
Texas Rangers

AL West
Las Vegas Athletics
Los Angeles Angels
*Salt Lake*
Seattle Mariners

NL East
New York Mets
Philadelphia Phillies
Pittsburgh Pirates
Washington Nationals

NL North
Chicago Cubs
Colorado Rockies
Milwaukee Brewers
St Louis Cardinals

NL Central/South
Atlanta Braves
Cincinnati Reds
Miami Marlins
*Nashville*

NL West
Arizona Diamondbacks
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants

**hopefully my cities of Sacramento and Raleigh get the teams and replace Salt Lake and Nashville in this same format

Heres mine

AMERICAN LEAGUE​

Northeast Division​

• New York Yankees
• New York Mets
• Boston Red Sox
• Montreal Expos

Great Lakes Division​

• Cleveland Guardians
• Detroit Tigers
• Cincinnati Reds
• Toronto Blue Jays

Midwest Division​

• Chicago White Sox
• Minnesota Twins
• Milwaukee Brewers
• Kansas City Royals

West Coast / Cascadia Division​

• Seattle Mariners
• Vancouver (expansion)
• Portland (expansion)
• Oakland / Las Vegas Athletics

---

NATIONAL LEAGUE​

Atlantic Division​

• Baltimore Orioles
• Washington Nationals
• Philadelphia Phillies
• Pittsburgh Pirates

Southeast Division​

• Tampa Bay Rays
• Miami Marlins
• Atlanta Braves
• Nashville Stars (expansion)

Central Division​

• Chicago Cubs
• St. Louis Cardinals
• Houston Astros
• Texas Rangers

Southwest Division​

• Colorado Rockies
• Arizona Diamondbacks
• Los Angeles Angels
• San Diego Padres

I think Portland and Vancouver are both bigger markets than Salt Lake and would be all in vs Seattle for the rivalry.

 

[the next guy]

EASTERN CONFERENCE​

Northeast Division​

• New York Yankees
• New York Mets
• Boston Red Sox
• Montreal Expos

Great Lakes Division​

• Cleveland Guardians
• Detroit Tigers
• Cincinnati Reds
• Toronto Blue Jays

Atlantic Division​

• Baltimore Orioles
• Washington Nationals
• Philadelphia Phillies
• Pittsburgh Pirates

Southeast Division​

• Tampa Bay Rays
• Miami Marlins
• Atlanta Braves
• Nashville Stars

---

WESTERN CONFERENCE​

Midwest Division​

• Chicago White Sox
• Minnesota Twins
• Milwaukee Brewers
• Kansas City Royals

Central Division​

• Chicago Cubs
• St. Louis Cardinals
• Houston Astros
• Texas Rangers

Southwest Division​

• Colorado Rockies
• Arizona Diamondbacks
• Los Angeles Angels
• San Diego Padres

West Coast / Cascadia Division​

• Seattle Mariners
• Vancouver
• Portland
• Oakland / Las Vegas Athletics

Also in conference format.

 

[Canada Goose]

I don't think there's enough talent in modern day baseball to support expansion, to use a term that NBA brehs use there would be a lot of Plumbers playing in MLB




It's bad enough you got jobber teams like the Marlins, Rockies, A's, White Sox, Reds and Pirates that are always trash . Yeah the Reds made the playoffs in 25 but that's only because the Mets had a 2nd half collapse....


It feels like MLB has the most deadweight out of the three major sports I watch (other two being NBA and NFL, IDK enough about Hockey to have an opinion about it). Even made a statement a year or two ago if you aren't playing on the Yankees, Mets, Dodgers and a couple of other teams, you might as well be playing in AAA

 

[Spence]

All great points!

Charlotte leaders are not all in on an MLB team the way leaders in Raleigh are. The grassroots fan movement in Charlotte is tiny compared to Raleigh's. Both the previous NC governor (Roy Cooper) and the new one elected last year (Josh Stein) have publicly said they want the team in Raleigh and will do whatever within their power to try to bring it to fruition.

And Raleigh has Tom Dundon. No billionaires in Charlotte have expressed an interest in Charlotte. This article is a year and a half old, but its still true today, except, within the last 1½ years, the gap between Raleigh and Charlotte has widened:

Will Charlotte Ever Land an MLB Team? - Charlotte Magazine

Does it even want one?

www.charlottemagazine.com

Charlotte's size and prestige as a banking and corporate center are why people keep mentioning it from time to time---->not because people in Charlotte expressly want MLB. More people here want it at the fan level, and esteemed politicians in NC want it here in The Capital.

Raleigh has a shot. Nashville citizens helped fund the new Titans stadium going up in Downtown Nashville currently, there is fatigue there about the possibility of having to fund an MLB-sized stadium getting built. Raleigh doesn't have that issue.

Nashville is still the overall leader as we sit here today but Raleigh has a very, very strong chance to get the Eastern expansion franchise within the next 5 years.

Could be a multipurpose stadium like the coliseum. Newer architecture allows for it these days where the coliseum was built basically a century ago and wasn’t really well suited for multipurpose.