Bowden: expansion is inevitable..and so is realignment?

[ChuckS]

3 minutes ago, emmett16 said:

PR would be pretty far flying.  Mexico city isn't close, but it's somewhat central.  Demographics of league and the viewership they are going for would benefit from both PR & Mexico City IMO.  

It has the advantage of being a U.S. territory and not in a country which we have a complicated relationship with politically. 

Edited February 8, 2023 by ChuckS

[AnythingO's]

Why not keep Al and NL just make each have East and West Divisions. Al East is our current group plus Chicago WS and Cleveland plus an expansion in Charlotte-Nashville. AL west gets the rest NL east is that current group plus Chicago Cubs, Pittsburg, and Cincinnati. the west gets the rest plus an expansion in Vegas or wherever. You play your division 15 times (105 games) and the other division say 6 times (48 games). That gets you to 153, add a 3 game inter league to a close geographic rival (Gnats) you are at 156. Expand Playoffs so top 4 in each Division in. the top 2 advance to face the other geographic Division. league winners in WS

[spleen1015]

They're going to go with 4 divisions per league when this happens. They want it because playoffs. They're also not going to align teams based on large and small markets. It doesn't mater how you align the divisions. There are going to be 85-77 teams winning divisions and wild cards. The ebb and flow of talent through time makes this happen.

Bowden idea is bad just because you can't split up the Cards/Cubs nor the Giants/Dodgers. Folks say MLB worries too much about tradition, blah, blah, blah. You can realign just fine and keep the 3 big rivalries in place.

[spiritof66]

I don't like four-team divisions. (If the idea is to have more division winners and more teams in the post-season, why not have 16 two-team divisions, so that half the teams could call themselves division champions? )

I'd rather see four eight-team divisions, with the division winners and four next-best teams in the playoffs. That would give you eight teams in the post-season, which I think is about right, allowing for full series and getting rid of short post-season series. 

If there is realignment that starts from scratch -- that is, teams would be placed in divisions based on location and rivalries, including long-time in-league rivalries (NYY-Red Sox, Cubs-Cardinals) and natural interleague rivalries (LA-LA, O's-Nats), and not based on their league assignments, then I don't see the point of cutting MLB in half and having two 16-team leagues. But if the league structure survives, I'd keep the names American and National. I wouldn't like to see the two leagues renamed as Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson, or as Amazon and Google, or anything else.

From what I've read about expansion, the cities furthest along in being ready for an MLB franchise are Las Vegas (for the A's), Nashville and Portland. I think the complications with international arrangements and travel during the pandemic make going to Montreal, Vancouver or Mexico City unlikely.

 

[SpOkane]

18 hours ago, btdart20 said:

Mexico City metro rivals NYC in its size.  Depending on how you define the city/urban/metro area, it can be bigger.  20 million plus.

San Juan, the biggest city in Puerto Rico, is less than 400k.  Smaller than Baltimore.  I couldn't find the metro population for San Juan, but it's not much bigger.

Crime is pretty similar if I can believe everything I read on the internet...  Crime Comparison Between San Juan, Puerto Rico And Mexico City, Mexico. Safety Comparison. (numbeo.com)

According to this site, the Baltimore Metro Area comprises just over 2.8 million people in an area of 2600 sq mi.  

Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD Metro Area - Profile data - Census Reporter

Also according to this site, the whole territory of PR has a population of over 3.2 million people in an area of 3400 sq mi.

Puerto Rico - Profile data - Census Reporter

If going by size, they are not too dissimilar, but the huge separator is income. Not even close.

[drdelaware]

On 2/7/2023 at 12:41 PM, 24fps said:

Nashville, Charlotte and Las Vegas are the usual suspects in the expansion/relocation conversation.  Austin, TX is bigger than each of them and should be in the conversation as well.

I'm all in favor of moving Oakland and TB and adding two more teams to go along with divisional realignment.  If anything, it seems a lot more organic and respectful of baseball history than something genuinely hairbrained like making the bases bigger.

Portland and Montreal are also possibilities.

[eddie83]

My guess is at least one of Nashville and Charlotte get a team. I think Oakland moves to Vegas. 
 

Then it comes down to the southeast runner up/Portland/Montreal.  
 

The odds of TB staying keep increasing.