@axpze

More pointlessness (NHL) Macon GA Panthers New Orleans Lightning, yeah baby Arkansas Stars Bloomington IN Predators Wichita Blues Kingsport TN Hurricanes, aw hell yeah Roanoke Capitals, consonance State College Flyers, "fliers" (i.e. leaflets...nvm) Jersey City Rangers Montauk Islanders Toms River Devils Saratoga Springs NY Bruins, no way Utica Senators, Roman theme Johnstown NY Canadiens Syracuse Sabres, aight Erie Penguins, yawn London Maple Leafs, yawn Akron Blue Jackets, yawn Fort Wayne Red Wings, Komets is better Cedar Rapids Blackhawks, yawn Bridger SD Wild, I've been here (on the Cheyenne River Lakota Reservation) Regina Jets, consonance wins again Miles City MT Avalanche, never been here tho Kamloops Oilers Twin Falls Flames Boise Canucks North Bonneville Salt Flats Sharks, k South Bonneville Salt Flats Kings, there is no other way Las Vegas Ducks Roswell Coyotes ...and that's it.

MLonStrosity: Real Regina (SK), no Swift Current Whitecaps, gross Missoula (MT) Zounders, get it? Winnemucca (NV) Timbers, as if Winnemucca had trees Warm Springs (middle of nowhere, Nevada) Earthquakes Fort Apache (AZ) Galaxy, cool Rápidos Ciudad Juárez, yes Sporting Guymon (OK), Sporting Gijon FC Tupelo (MS), fer Dallas Sinaloa Dynamo, A+ Columbia City SC, "SC" for "soccer club" & "South Carolina," "Orlando City SC" Flint Fire, nice Jackson (TN) Crew, moving along Pittsburgh United, DC United State College (PA) Union, cool Elmira Red Bulls, lol Toms River (NJ) City, LLWS champs Rome (NY) FC, TFC Albany Revolution, could work, but New England wouldn't want their affiliate in NY Schenectady (NY) Impact, Schenectady is too close to Albany anyway Honorable Mentions: Fort Apache Galaxy Sinaloa Dynamo Columbia City SC State College Union

I mentioned the Voronoi tool for devising mid-points among multiple points on a map here. Here is a link to a useful online Voronoi tool. All cities are approximated midpoints among parent cities. For example, a midpoint between Seattle, Oakland, and Denver is Twin Falls, Idaho, therefore, one of these three teams will have a minor league affiliate in Twin Falls, Idaho (Boise). Pacific Coast League Western Division Medford Mariners Boise Giants Bonneville Salt Flats (UT) Dodgers Bonneville Salt Flats (UT) Angels Lake Havasu City (CA) Padres Roswell Diamondbacks Dodge City Rangers Regina (SK) Rockies "Area 51" (NV) Athletics Southern Division Jackson (MS) Astros Little Rock (AR) Royals Campeche (Mexico) Marlins New Orleans Rays Nashville Braves Blacksburg (VA) Nationals Greenville (MS) Cardinals International League: Western Division Chamberlain (SD) Twins Grand Rapids (MI) Brewers Cedar Rapids Cubs Davenport (IA) White Sox Fort Wayne (IN) Tigers Terre Haute (IN) Reds Eastern Division Erie (PA) Pirates Athens (OH) Indians London (ON) Blue Jays Storrs (CT) Red Sox Princeton Phillies Watertown (NY) Yankees Altoona (PA) Orioles Elmira (NY) Mets I think I'll do this for the MLS next

pmoehrin, I think the Voronoi function could help you recognize the "mid-lines" between geographical points on a map. This is the best online interactive Voronoi map plot tool. I use it all the time. Just plot each point to represent each MLB team (turn off "Delaunay triangulation" and "Convex hull") to see "Voronoi neighborhoods." And then place each minor league team within each MLB team's neighborhood. I use this site for a lot of things. Really helps me visualize boundaries on a map. EDIT: scroll down below the map to see settings (Delaunay triangulation, Convex hull, and Voronoi neighborhoods).

The Missouri Mavericks (ECHL, New York Islanders) are on track to have the best regular season record in the 28-year history of the ECHL. If Missouri win 19 more points in their remaining 13 games, they will break the record. Season (Games Played); Team; Points; (Points/GP)*72: 1. 2015-16 (60*); Missouri Mavericks; 99; 118.8 2. 2001-02 (72); Louisiana IceGators; 116; 116.0 3. 2007-08 (72); Cincinnati Cyclones; 115; 115.0 4. 2007-08 (72); Texas Wildcatters; 115; 115.0 5. 2005-06 (72); Alaska Aces; 113; 113.0 6. 2005-06 (72); Las Vegas Wranglers; 112; 112.0 7. 1999-00 (70); Florida Everblades; 108; 111.1 8. 1990-91 (64); Knoxville Cherokees; 97; 109.1 9. 1998-99 (70); Pee Dee Pride; 106; 109.0 10. 1995-96 (70); Richmond Renegades; 105; 108.0 ... 613. 1992-93 (64); Roanoke Valley Rampage; 29; 32.6

AHL-ECHL call-ups/-downs must be less frequent than NHL-AHL call-ups/-downs. Otherwise, the California AHL teams would still be in the ECHL... Also explains why ECHL affiliations are so far from their AHL and NHL affiliates

Why isn't geographical proximity an issue for NHL and AHL affiliates in the ECHL? The Missouri Mavs are affiliated with Bridgeport (Connecticut) in the AHL and the New York Islanders in the NHL. Were the Mavs chosen as the Islanders' ECHL affiliate purely because they share the same color scheme? Link to ECHL/NHL/AHL affiliation table Wichita, Alaska, and Colorado are the only ECHL teams without NHL-AHL affiliations (all other ECHL teams have both NHL and AHL affiliations–have "one-to-one" affiliation agreements). ECHL - AHL - NHL (geographically disparate affiliates in bold) Salt Lake City - San Diego - Anaheim Atlanta - Providence - Boston Independence, MO - Bridgeport - Brooklyn Elmira - Rochester - Buffalo Glens Falls - Stockton - Calgary Indianapolis - Rockford - Chicago Kalamazoo - Cleveland - Columbus Boise - Austin - Dallas Fort Wayne - San Antonio - Denver Toledo - Grand Rapids - Detroit Norfolk - Bakersfield - Edmonton Rapid City - Springfield, MA - Glendale Manchester - Ontario, CA - Los Angeles Brampton - St. John's - Montreal Cincinnati - Milwaukee - Nashville Greenville, SC - Hartford - Manhattan NONE - Albany - Newark, NJ Evansville - Binghamton - Ottawa Reading - Allentown - Philadelphia Wheeling - Wilkes-Barre - Pittsburgh Estero, FL - Charlotte - Raleigh Allen, TX - San Jose - San Jose NONE - Rosemont, IL - St. Louis Moline, IL - Des Moines - St. Paul NONE - Syracuse - St. Petersburg, FL NONE - Portland, ME - Sunrise, FL Orlando - Toronto - Toronto NONE - Utica - Vancouver Charleston, SC - Hershey - Washington, DC Tulsa - Winnipeg - Winnipeg Anchorage - NONE - NONE Loveland, CO - NONE - NONE Wichita - NONE - NONE Just eye-balling the geographical proximity between affiliations I notice that there could definitely be a re-arranging (why isn't Allen–and not Boise–the ECHL affiliate of the Texas/Dallas Stars?)

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If the MLB decides to realign, this is exactly the way I want them to do it. EDIT: Adding Portland (AL West) and Montreal (NL East) would even out the leagues and are the two cities most likely to get teams in the near future. And supposing MLB would want 8 divisions of 4 teams: American League: East (8 teams): perhaps the division that best fits into two "familiar" geographical divisions Baltimore Orioles Boston Red Sox New York Yankees Tampa Bay Rays Chicago White Sox Cleveland Indians Detroit Tigers Toronto Blue Jays West (8 teams): eliminate the two time-zone difference between Texas teams and divisional opponents Kansas City Royals Minnesota Twins Houston Astros Texas Rangers Los Angeles Angels Oakland Athletics Seattle Mariners *Portland Lazers/Razors (i.e. "Blazers") National League: there is no other way to go about this in this division...truly sorry East (8 teams): Atlanta Braves Miami Marlins Washington Nationals Cincinnati Reds New York Mets Philadelphia Phillies Pittsburgh Pirates Montreal Expats (i.e. "Expos," having "returned home from abroad") West (8 teams): welp Chicago Cubs St. Louis Cardinals Milwaukee Brewers Colorado Rockies Arizona Diamondbacks Los Angeles Dodgers San Diego Padres San Francisco Giants

Uh, this is amazing. It even leaves open Western expansion (American League) and Eastern expansion (National League). And it doesn't break up anything... Do you think the wild card game is at risk? I kind of like that a team that doesn't win its division has to burn their ace in the wild card game for the first game of the LDS.

Anyone remember when the "Russian Penguins" and the "Soviet Wings" played every team in the IHL for a season? That's common practice in the Slovak elite league and the "Russian AHL" (the "VHL") in which the national junior teams play every other team and the points count in the standings. In the VHL, teams play 48 games per regular season in arenas that hold between 1,500 and 6,000, from Eastern Siberia to Kazakhstan all amid the up-and-down Russian petro-ruble. Next season a team from Beijing will join the KHL. It is asking a lot to create a minor league to keep the same geographical format as the major league. Not even Major League Baseball is able to create a single AAA league (the International League is made up of Eastern teams and the Pacific Coast League is made up of Western teams). Is the only hindrance to creating a single league geography? Travel costs? Bus trips? How long can a bus trip be relative to the salary of an average player on the team? Maybe airfare is cheaper when traveling from cities within Russia...then again, how will Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk afford flights to play divisional opponent Team Beijing?

I assume the reason why the California teams were granted a 68-game regular season and a PPG-based playoff format was because the other teams in the AHL didn't want to play in California just as much as the California teams didn't want to play outside of California. Otherwise, why would the AHL have given the California teams everything they asked for?

On the shorter season for Pacific Coast hockey teams in the AHL: Teams from California (BAK, STK, ONT, SD, and SJ) will play 68 games this season. Teams from everywhere else (including the St. John's IceCaps) will play 76 games this season. – a difference of 8 games, which is also slightly below the number of shootout-ending games each non-California team in the AHL is on track to play (9)–California teams are on track to play 8. If non-California AHL teams reduce their schedule to 68 games next year, each team will eliminate one shootout game per season. The AHL playoffs in the Western Conference are determined by Points Per Game, which gives points for shootout wins (2) and losses (1) and for overtime losses (2), which is not unfair because all teams play under this condition for playoff inclusion. The only area of unbalanced scheduling will be in the Calder Cup Finals, when the conference champions play each other...but the eight-game difference in regular season schedules might have already been made up in the playoffs themselves: If the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, who played 76 games in the regular season swept their three opponents in the playoffs, they will have played 88 games before Game 1 of the Calder Cup. If the Stockton Thunder win the Western Conference and played three Game Sevens in the playoffs, they'll have played 89 games (68 regular season games and 21 playoff games).