Fangraphs: What would MLB Expansion look like?

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.
 
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.
 
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).
 
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.
 
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.
 
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?
 
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.
 
PurpleBrave said:
Montreal would be Tampa north.
Click to expand...

Not true at all. MLB went with the Florida cities for exansion because they felt like it was "returning the favor" for all the years of them hosting Spring Training. Despite hockey being king by a long shot, Montreal has always been a great baseball city. The sticking point was a new ballpark. The Big Owe is no place to watch baseball, and it's not close to the city core. Canadians also have a different mindset toward public financing of sports facilities. Then there was the issue of the Expos got screwed royally during the strike. Despite whatever puffery comes from the Braves organization about "the streak," they weren't going to eventually catch up in '94. Expos fans did not forget it. After that, they had to endure a fire sale immediately after the strike ended. (Remember Braves acquired Marquis Grissom, and Schuerholz had tried to get Wetteland.)

To add insult to injury, a hand full of "home" games were played at San Juan, PR after MLB took over the management of the franchise. (Maybe not so bad for our old pal, Javier Vazquez!) Then the coup de grâce was the Bartolo Colon with Tim Drew for Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore, Brandon Phillips and Lee Stevens trade, which would cripple the franchise in preparation of relocating to a city that had been abandoned twice before.
 
Saying Montreal would be Tampa North is an insult to both cities. The above post states much of the case for Canada; but since there has never been an MLB franchise in Tampa, we could not know how well it would be supported. If you know the geography of Tampa Bay at all, you'd realize the Suncoast Dome is about as inconvenient to the majority of Tampa Bay residents as could be possible. The stadium needed to be on the other side of the bay at the very least. The Dome was a structure of convenience and has proven year after year it is not suited for baseball.
 
Four divisions of 8 teams each seems like the best route to take, but I'm also in favor of doing away with divisions altogether (Will never though).
 
Knucksie said:
Not true at all. MLB went with the Florida cities for exansion because they felt like it was "returning the favor" for all the years of them hosting Spring Training. Despite hockey being king by a long shot, Montreal has always been a great baseball city. The sticking point was a new ballpark. The Big Owe is no place to watch baseball, and it's not close to the city core. Canadians also have a different mindset toward public financing of sports facilities. Then there was the issue of the Expos got screwed royally during the strike. Despite whatever puffery comes from the Braves organization about "the streak," they weren't going to eventually catch up in '94. Expos fans did not forget it. After that, they had to endure a fire sale immediately after the strike ended. (Remember Braves acquired Marquis Grissom, and Schuerholz had tried to get Wetteland.)

To add insult to injury, a hand full of "home" games were played at San Juan, PR after MLB took over the management of the franchise. (Maybe not so bad for our old pal, Javier Vazquez!) Then the coup de grâce was the Bartolo Colon with Tim Drew for Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore, Brandon Phillips and Lee Stevens trade, which would cripple the franchise in preparation of relocating to a city that had been abandoned twice before.
Click to expand...

Montreal was such a great baseball city, they were known for shaking the empty seats in the stadium to create noise.

I do agree Tampa's stadium is in a horrible location, but lets be honest it won't matter
 
PurpleBrave said:
Montreal was such a great baseball city, they were known for shaking the empty seats in the stadium to create noise.
Click to expand...

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....eme&tableid=11&elementid=63__true&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.
 
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