Fangraphs: What would MLB Expansion look like?

[PurpleBrave]

This is interesting

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/what-...mlb-look-like/

[smootness]

Good gosh, no.

But that division in the four-team proposals would be unbelievable for us.

[thewupk]

Good gosh, no.

But that division in the four-team proposals would be unbelievable for us.

As the author said. It's going to happen eventually.

[Knucksie]

Canadian dollar is tanking vs. the US dollar right now. Las Vegas got selected for an NHL expansion team over Quebec. Think about that.

Every other North American major sports league will be watching closely for developments before the flood gates open.

[mossy]

Las Vegas could be interesting for an MLB team. I'd also add in Salt Lake City (as long as its not another Colorado), Montreal would be awesome to have back as well. Given how well (cough) fans have shown up for Florida games, move one of those two franchises to make it happen.

[WaitingFor2017]

Going to 8 team or several 4-team divisions will also allow Atlanta to play teams like Pittsburgh, Chicago, Cincinnati, etc. more often. I get so tired of seeing Atlanta having to play teams from the NL East 19 times a year (up to 20 in some specific years).

[Knucksie]

The problem with Montreal has been having a park in centre-ville. That might be a bigger sticking point than the currency fluctuation.

[CyYoung31]

AL East

Yankees
Red Sox
Orioles
Blue Jays

AL North

White Sox
Twins
Indians
Tigers

AL South

Nashville
Rays
Rangers
Royals

AL West

Mariners
Angels
Athletics
Rockies

NL East

Mets
Phillies
Pirates
Nationals

NL North

Cubs
Reds
Brewers
Expos

NL South

Braves
Cardinals
Marlins
Astros

NL West

Giants
Dodgers
Padres
D'Backs

4 division winners and 1 WC winner in each league. The lowest seeded (as in 4th) division winner in each league plays the wild card winner in a best of 3, with all 3 games being at the division winner's home ballpark. Winner advances to NLDS best of 7 to face number 1 seed. This format is to prevent a team from making the playoffs in a weak division, and thus keeping a team with a better record out. What this also does is make it so teams won't mail it in after they've clinched the division. They're going to want that higher seed.

[The Chosen One]

I'd really like to see the Expos come back.

With a a new stadium that team would be greatly supported.

[Knucksie]

MLB will pay close attention to how the NHL franchise performs, but they're still going to look askance at Vegas because gambling will always be baseball's cardinal sin. The NFL, the league most overtly driven by gambling this side of horse racing, would be next.

[rico43]

San Antonio has supported baseball a long time; would be a good place. Montreal would be welcome only if they bring back the Expos logo and colors.

Charlotte would tap in too much to Braves' fanbase.

How about San Juan?

[PurpleBrave]

North Carolina has a big baseball following. Charlotte or Raleigh-Durham make sense.

Montreal would be Tampa north.

Please no Mexico City.

Maybe Salt Lake or Portland. Salt Lake would be Coors field lite.

Maybe a San Antonio or Austin.

[Southcack77]

Yeah, they stopped going post-strike for the reasons cited in my post. Screwed over potential WS title by the strike, then immediate sell-off of all the team's best players. MLB takes over management and runs the team into the ground. Would you have gone to those games? Before expansion, they had a very successful AAA team, the Royals. Cursory history, dating back to 19th century:
http://collections.musee-mccord.qc.c...ue&contentlong

Compare that with here. A Braves pitcher goes down with TJ, and you'd think this was the only team ever affected by it. Then a 23-page thread, full of childish rants, on a minor trade. The turnstiles haven't exactly been overflowing in Atlanta. Think it's pretty obvious which franchise's fans had more reason to be pissed.

I don't really recall Les Expos having great attendance most of their history.

[Knucksie]

I don't really recall Les Expos having great attendance most of their history.

Yes, no doubt you just sit around and memorize every team's annual attendance figures. (We need a roll eyes emoji here.)
Anyway, here it is:
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teams/montattn.shtml

A new relatively park/stadium with a good team does wonders! See bump after Olympics with exception of '81 strike year with split season (yes, they had legitimate WS ambitions then, but got screwed over that time too. So it happened twice.) A beautiful downtown park with a consistently good team would've easily drawn people with their summer festivals, which attract millions of visitors. (Having visited the city 20x, speak some conversational French with the locals and reading their papers...but, hey, what do I know?)

If we really wanted a point of reference, we could see how abyssmal Braves attendance figures were during the Dark Days, then after World Series appearances ceased...and especially the last few years. (Hear birds chirping.) As much an entitled, fair weather fan base as there is in baseball. Yet, we had to hear cries of "small market" from Atlanta while the Expos paid their players in US dollars, while the Canadian dollar was tanking.