MLB expanding to 32?

[Todd4State]

I saw today that they are considering expanding to Las Vegas, but are also considering Montreal and Mexico City. My guess is that they will re-locate Oakland to Las Vegas and then expand to Montreal and Mexico City. Also said in the article that I read that MLB will realign to 8 four team divisions when that happens.

It will be interesting to see how it goes moving forward.

[War Machine Dawg]

Pretty sure the Commissioner has already said it's inevitable they'll expand to 32. Expanding into Mexico is a gigantic mistake, imo. That country is a total shithole. It'll be complicated to travel and completely unsafe for the players and managers. When someone gets murdered in a drug war shootout, I'll be saying "Told you so." Why not go to somewhere like Vancouver instead? Or create another small market heartland team somewhere like OKC. The politicization of everything for open borders is outrageous.

[ShotgunDawg]

I don't see this happening for two reasons:

1. MLB must always possess the threat of an alternative location to force current municipalities to cater to them. With Oakland and Tampa needing new stadiums, this is important.

2. I don't believe planet Earth provides enough MLB caliber talent to outfit two more teams. Unless Japan and Cuba freely open their doors to MLB, two more teams would seriously water down the talent level.

[Bucky Dog]

Yeah, no Mexico City at all. Vegas would obviously have to build a dome, and also saw they are the leading city for NHL expansion so not sure how they could handle 2 new pro teams at once. Baseball is Anericas game. I could see Montreal again, but what about maybe Charlotte or New Orleans? Or maybe Nashville because of economy and willingness to get behind teams?

[War Machine Dawg]

Yeah, no Mexico City at all. Vegas would obviously have to build a dome, and also saw they are the leading city for NHL expansion so not sure how they could handle 2 new pro teams at once. Baseball is Anericas game. I could see Montreal again, but what about maybe Charlotte or New Orleans? Or maybe Nashville because of economy and willingness to get behind teams?

Nashville has the Brewers AAA club. Charlotte has a minor league team. New Orleans is a good suggestion, actually. If it weren't for the hurricanes.

[ckDOG]

Pretty sure the Commissioner has already said it's inevitable they'll expand to 32. Expanding into Mexico is a gigantic mistake, imo. That country is a total shithole. It'll be complicated to travel and completely unsafe for the players and managers. When someone gets murdered in a drug war shootout, I'll be saying "Told you so." Why not go to somewhere like Vancouver instead? Or create another small market heartland team somewhere like OKC. The politicization of everything for open borders is outrageous.

Just depends on where the stadium would be. There are awesome, safe, cosmopolitan areas of Mexico City and there are portions that make orange mound look like Seaside. I wouldn't write it off, but the logistics would need a lot of attention for sure.

[Todd4State]

Nashville has the Brewers AAA club. Charlotte has a minor league team. New Orleans is a good suggestion, actually. If it weren't for the hurricanes.

New Orleans has the Marlins AAA team. I'm not sure that MLB would work in NOLA not because of the hurricanes but because of the local interest.

[Todd4State]

I don't see this happening for two reasons:

1. MLB must always possess the threat of an alternative location to force current municipalities to cater to them. With Oakland and Tampa needing new stadiums, this is important.

2. I don't believe planet Earth provides enough MLB caliber talent to outfit two more teams. Unless Japan and Cuba freely open their doors to MLB, two more teams would seriously water down the talent level.

Agree on point one. I remember a looonnnggg time ago when the White Sox threatened to move to Tampa before the new Comiskey Park opened back in 1991.

On point 2, I don't think MLB really cares about that. It's a point that is made every time expansion happens. MLB just sees the opportunity to have two brand new franchises that almost would be guaranteed to draw well and sell merchandise in year one regardless of how bad the teams are.

[Todd4State]

I would probably expand to Portland, Oregon and Las Vegas if I was MLB.

[War Machine Dawg]

New Orleans has the Marlins AAA team. I'm not sure that MLB would work in NOLA not because of the hurricanes but because of the local interest.

Thought they probably had a minor league team but wasn't sure.

[Engine]

Move the Rays to Charlotte. I think Charlotte may have more attendance than Tampa this year.

Seriously though they sell out that stadium. Give them more!

[Bucky Dog]

Yeah I don't think currently having a minor league would affect the decision IMO. They can move those to another city I bet. Yeah Nola is very fickle with other things than the Saints. Would need a new dome somewhere for heat and rain, like Hostin. I think Charlotte and Nashville would be my choices.

[Jack Lambert]

Pretty sure the Commissioner has already said it's inevitable they'll expand to 32. Expanding into Mexico is a gigantic mistake, imo. That country is a total shithole. It'll be complicated to travel and completely unsafe for the players and managers. When someone gets murdered in a drug war shootout, I'll be saying "Told you so." Why not go to somewhere like Vancouver instead? Or create another small market heartland team somewhere like OKC. The politicization of everything for open borders is outrageous.

I agree and I don't see how they could pay for the team. Who wants to be paid in paso?

[Todd4State]

Yeah I don't think currently having a minor league would affect the decision IMO. They can move those to another city I bet. Yeah Nola is very fickle with other things than the Saints. Would need a new dome somewhere for heat and rain, like Hostin. I think Charlotte and Nashville would be my choices.

NOLA has a dome. It's on Poydras St. I think the Pelicans may have played there in 1977 for baseball. And I know we used to play the Winn Dixie Showdown there in the early 90's. That said the Superdome would be a horrible baseball venue.

[Engine]

Baseball in NOLA would be horrendous.

[GrooGruxDawg]

NOLA has a dome. It's on Poydras St. I think the Pelicans may have played there in 1977 for baseball. And I know we used to play the Winn Dixie Showdown there in the early 90's. That said the Superdome would be a horrible baseball venue.

The dome is not capable of hosting baseball games anymore. The retractable seats are now permanent as of 2011....

[Bothrops]

Raleigh-Durham would work just as well, if not better than Charlotte. The Durham Bulls have had strong attendance for over 20 years and their stadium has been expanded/renovated 8 times. Plus NC has 9+ million people, and has NFL, NBA, and NHL teams, but no MLB.

Mexico City would be intriguing, but I can't see it. San Juan, PR would be a much better fit, imo.

[starkvegasdawg]

The high today in Vegas is 107. Good luck getting players to line up to go play 81 games there a year.

[Bubb Rubb]

Pretty sure the Commissioner has already said it's inevitable they'll expand to 32. Expanding into Mexico is a gigantic mistake, imo. That country is a total shithole. It'll be complicated to travel and completely unsafe for the players and managers. When someone gets murdered in a drug war shootout, I'll be saying "Told you so." Why not go to somewhere like Vancouver instead? Or create another small market heartland team somewhere like OKC. The politicization of everything for open borders is outrageous.

MLB will never go to Mexico City. It would be a logistical nightmare. Your take on player/manager safety isn't accurate, though. I travel to Mexico on business frequently, especially into Mexico City. It would be no less safe than players going into Oakland or Chicago now. Now, if they put the team in Juarez or Acapulco, safety would be a concern, but not Mexico City.

[djaymsu5]

The high today in Vegas is 107. Good luck getting players to line up to go play 81 games there a year.

That's why you build a dome.

[HSVDawg]

Nashville has the Brewers AAA club. Charlotte has a minor league team. New Orleans is a good suggestion, actually. If it weren't for the hurricanes.

I think any city inside the US that is large enough to be considered for expansion is automatically going to have a minor league team already pretty much by default. That should not be a consideration at all in terms of whether or not to expand to those locations.

[HSVDawg]

Move the Rays to Charlotte. I think Charlotte may have more attendance than Tampa this year.

Seriously though they sell out that stadium. Give them more!

Wasn't Tampa supposed to build a new stadium for the Rays like 5 years ago? What ever happened with that?

[Dawg61]

I wish MLB would adopt the relegation system that the Premier league does. Add the top two AAA teams and then the next year drop the bottom 4 MLB franchises and promote the top 4 AAA teams. I want to see the Atlanta Braves and Minnesota Twins drop down to AAA. Earn their way back up. It would be phenomenally entertaining.

[Engine]

I wish MLB would adopt the relegation system that the Premier league does. Add the top two AAA teams and then the next year drop the bottom 4 MLB franchises and promote the top 4 AAA teams. I want to see the Atlanta Braves and Minnesota Twins drop down to AAA. Earn their way back up. It would be phenomenally entertaining.

That would be ideal but I'm sure the legalities wouldn't allow it, nor would the owners.

[WeWonItAll(Most)]

I wish MLB would adopt the relegation system that the Premier league does. Add the top two AAA teams and then the next year drop the bottom 4 MLB franchises and promote the top 4 AAA teams. I want to see the Atlanta Braves and Minnesota Twins drop down to AAA. Earn their way back up. It would be phenomenally entertaining.

I agree with this, it would be a lot better for the sport in my opinion. I imagine it would be difficult to make each minor league squad its own independent team though, since MLB teams own all the players in the minor leagues at the moment.

[Liverpooldawg]

I agree with this, it would be a lot better for the sport in my opinion. I imagine it would be difficult to make each minor league squad its own independent team though, since MLB teams own all the players in the minor leagues at the moment.

The owners will never allow relegation and promotion here, you can take that to the bank.

[benbow]

Put a team in Havanna on condition that they overthrow the Castros. Would be a sellout for every home game.