FanPost Friday: Expansion and Re-Alignment

With the news this week that the City of Portland has an agreement in principal for an MLB-ready stadium, talk has intensified about the next phase of MLB expansion. The MLB hasn’t expanded since 1998, when they welcomed the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Arizona Diamondbacks. The 20+ years that we are at now is the longest gap between expansions since the MLB started growing in 1961 when the Senators (now the Rangers) and the Angels joined the American League.

There are several cities that are intriguing sites for expansion, with Portland seeming like a highly likely choice. Las Vegas, with the NFL and NHL recently setting up shop, appears to be a favourite as well (MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has said he likes Vegas). Other cities that could potentially make sense would obviously be back in Montreal, while newcomer cities include Charlotte, Nashville, and possibly even some Mexican cities including Monterrey, Mexico City and Guadalajara.

Manfred has said in the past that one of the hurdles to clear before getting to expansion is to resolve the stadium issues in Oakland and Tampa Bay. One of those hurdles was at least approached earlier this week with the A’s unveiling plans to move forward towards a new ballpark that may be ready by 2023.

The gears are beginning to turn for expansion, but what would that look like? Upping the team count to 32 teams would bring balance to the league, where they could re-align to allow for 4 divisions of 8 teams, or 8 divisions of 4 teams and potentially eliminate daily interleague play. Or you could just get rid of divisions and leagues altogether if you’re really looking to blow the minds of 70 year old former players.

So go here, and let us know which city you think should get a new team (and perhaps which ones should lose theirs - looking at you Tampa Bay), and then let us know what the layout of what the league looks like, and perhaps how your schedule balances out.

When you’re done, come back here and post the link so we can have a good an enjoyable read.

The last go round of FanPost Friday was on the Jays’ offseason plan, and we had 2 submissions. Gryphon_11 proposed bringing in a marquee pitcher to still be around when we’re back into contending mode, while garethsinke provided a very detailed plan of trades, signings and extensions.