MLB expansion/reallignment proposal

[gmat]

Alright, everyone else hates the idea, but I think the NFL's 32 teams, 4 divisions per conference (or league), 4 teams per division is the perfect alignment, so here goes....

AL West: LAA, OAK, SEA, POR (expansion)

AL Midwest: MIN, COL, KC, TEX

AL Central: CLE, CHW, DET, TOR

AL East: NYY, BOS, BAL, CHA (expansion)

NL West: LAD, SF, SD, ARI

NL Midwest: HOU, CHC, STL, MIL

NL Central: PIT, CIN, ATL, TB

NL East: FLA, NYM, WAS, PHI

Each division winner makes the playoffs, as well as Wild Card, the Wild Card plays a one-game playoff against the worst division winner, and the winner advances to the LDS to play the league's best team. I like this idea....32 is the perfect number for pro sports, no more, no less.

I switched Tampa Bay and Colorado, because Colorado is still considered an offensive oriented team, and in the American League I think they could thrive. Tampa Bay, meanwhile, would get out of the shadow of the Yanks and Sox.

The Yankees and Sox are Tampa's only big draws, so that wouldn't work. Portland is not a big enough city and is too close to Seatle to be a good expansion city. In fact Baseball does not need to expand and the allignment is fine the way it is. Good try but nothing needs to be changed.

[McCall]

Alright, everyone else hates the idea, but I think the NFL's 32 teams, 4 divisions per conference (or league), 4 teams per division is the perfect alignment, so here goes....

AL West: LAA, OAK, SEA, POR (expansion)

AL Midwest: MIN, COL, KC, TEX

AL Central: CLE, CHW, DET, TOR

AL East: NYY, BOS, BAL, CHA (expansion)

NL West: LAD, SF, SD, ARI

NL Midwest: HOU, CHC, STL, MIL

NL Central: PIT, CIN, ATL, TB

NL East: FLA, NYM, WAS, PHI

Each division winner makes the playoffs, as well as Wild Card, the Wild Card plays a one-game playoff against the worst division winner, and the winner advances to the LDS to play the league's best team. I like this idea....32 is the perfect number for pro sports, no more, no less.

I switched Tampa Bay and Colorado, because Colorado is still considered an offensive oriented team, and in the American League I think they could thrive. Tampa Bay, meanwhile, would get out of the shadow of the Yanks and Sox.

The Yankees and Sox are Tampa's only big draws, so that wouldn't work. Portland is not a big enough city and is too close to Seatle to be a good expansion city. In fact Baseball does not need to expand and the allignment is fine the way it is. Good try but nothing needs to be changed.

Actually Portland is probably the most attractive spot for expansion/relocation in MLB. It adds another team to vast and heavily populated Northwest U.S./Southwest Canada market, yet is a good enough distance from Seattle that they aren't too close together. Though Portland would have to be in the NL to help keep peace with the Mariners, much like Baltimore and Washington.

This is mine from the LAST MLB realignment thread:

Here's my last suggestion for realignment (without expansion). They COULD use the Triple-A method, where the PCL has 16 teams with 4 divisions of 4 teams, and the IL has 14 teams with 2 divisions of 4 and 1 division of 6:

National League

WEST: Arizona - LA Dodgers - San Diego - San Francisco

CENTRAL: St. Louis - CHI Cubs - Cincinnati - Milwaukee

EAST: NY Mets - Philadelphia - Pittsburgh - Washington

SOUTH: Atlanta - Florida - Houston - Tampa Bay

In past realignment plans from MLB, I have seen a South with Houston (and some with Texas as well) and Atlanta/Florida/Tampa Bay. But, if this were still too stretched out, here's an alternate, with the West remaining the same:

CENTRAL: STL - CHC - HOU - MIL

EAST (or NORTH): CIN - NYM - PHI - PIT

SOUTH (or EAST): ATL - FLA - TB - WAS

Now the American League

WEST: Colorado - LA Angels - Oakland - Seattle

CENTRAL: CHI Sox - Cleveland - Detroit - Kansas City - Minnesota - Texas

EAST: Baltimore - Boston - NY Yankees - Toronto

If the AL in the 4/6/4 format is too extreme, throw either Detroit or Cleveland into the East and return it to a 4/5/5 layout.

BTW, I swapped Tampa Bay and Colorado. It allows Texas to move into the AL Central where it belongs, and Tampa Bay to be near other teams. Right now the Rays are kind of in AL no man's land down there. Plus, with Colorado being such a home run park, I figured, with the added offense in the AL, due to the DH, it would create more excitement. The AL has been the dominant league, as far as power and scoring, so I think Coors Field would help facilitate this even more (and I'm a die-hard National League fan... go figure). Imagine, David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, A-Rod playing there every season (assuming they don't leave for the NL via free agency or a trade). I would usually put Arizona into the AL because they haven't been around as long, and I don't necessarily think their World Series title is enough to justify them staying, but I thought about Coors Field in the AL and thought it was a good enough reason to suggest the switch for the Rockies.

And also, from the last thread of course, with expansion (Portland and San Antonio)

As I said in my realignment proposal, it was without expansion. Here's one if they were to expand. And Nashville would not be it. In recent months, they squashed any plans that could have led to a stadium being built for hopes of landing the Marlins in relocation. The top two choices, I believe, are Portland and San Antonio. Here's my plan:

National League

WEST: LA Dodgers - Portland - San Diego - San Francisco

SOUTH: Atlanta - Florida - Houston - Tampa Bay

CENTRAL: St. Louis - Chi Cubs - Cincinnati - Milwaukee

EAST: NY Mets - Philadelphia - Pittsburgh - Washington

American League

WEST: Arizona - LA Angels - Oakland - Seattle

SOUTH(?): Colorado - Kansas City - San Antonio - Texas

CENTRAL: Chi Sox - Cleveland - Detroit - Minnesota

EAST: Baltimore - Boston - NY Yankees - Toronto

Okay, I'm obsessed with realigning leagues. All sports. Something's wrong with me, I know. But I've been working on figuring this one out for a long time. I then found an article on realignment that had some guy's idea, through Google, on about.com, I believe. It was very similar to this one, though he had teams in Nashville, Monterrey, Mx, and Florida relocated to Las Vegas. It was similar to mine, but after looking at it, I was able to finish up mine. So some of these suggestions are based off of his, some mine, and a lot that happened to be similar between the two. If I can find the page again, I'll post it.

[PeytonManningRocks]

Now that I see your alignment there, McCall, I like that one better. Though I would substitute San Antonio in your AL South for Las Vegas.

[vikmurphy]

Taking the Twins away from the Central BAD IDEA. The Twins need to play the Tigers, Sox, and Indians. We'd be stuck playing the Rockies 19 times a year Yeah Right.

[harperdc]

Portland's ready for a team...smart sports fans, lots of people from outside markets (= good draws for away teams as well as the home team). go check out how nuclear Portland's gone for Greg Oden - these people know goods times are coming for the Blazers, and they don't have to wait for the wins to be on paper to get excited. Hell, the Blazers were still the talk of the town when they were bad, and that was in a "I wish they were good people and a good team again" way...this place is *definitely* an under-utilized region.

definitely not too near Seattle - for those that don't know, it's a little over 200 miles, and if you can have an NL and AL team in the same *city* in three cases, I don't see why one *region* can't have both an NL and AL rep.

[McCall]

Now that I see your alignment there, McCall, I like that one better. Though I would substitute San Antonio in your AL South for Las Vegas.

They're really interchangable, though I think San Antonio would be a safer bet sooner than Vegas, because of all the gambling hurdles to get over. San Antonio has over a million people, so we know they've got the size. Besides, I think Texas could definately handle three sports teams. Right now, Vegas is starting to get acknowledged as a potential Major Sports city, but the next step is to deal with the gambling issues. I believe, however, that, though that could take awhile to figure out, they'll eventually get through it and Vegas will become one of the booming sports cities in America.

[Youppi!]

Eliminate the DH and interleague games.

NLW: ARI, COL, LAD, SD, SF

NLC: CHI, CIN, HOU, PIT, STL

NLE: ATL, FLA, NYM, PHI, TB

ALW: LAA, CWS, OAK, SEA, TEX

ALC: CLE, DET, KC, MIL, MIN

ALE: BAL, BOS, NYY, TOR, WAS

Move the Brewers back to the AL. Flip Tampa Bay and Washington and get them new open-air stadiums to play in. The Devils Rays will have a much better shot at success in the NL than the AL and I feel the same about Washington. Plus, the Senators were always in the AL prior to their current encarnation. The removal of interleague games will balance the divisions, and add more excitement to the World Series. Want to see other teams? There's always spring training and most places have a park from the other league within at least a short plan flight.

the reason baseball failed in washington twice before is because the senators and orioles were both in the american league. having washington in the nl allows for fans to choose which brand they prefer and gives a better variety. chicago, sf/oak, new york, and los angeles succeed with two teams because they are in different leagues. in the mid fifties, the giants and dodgers were taking fans away from one another and eventually they moved. two teams in the same league in the same city doesnt work.

[marlinfan]

That and the team was terrible. Size of the market could be argued too.

[Bronxmet]

I would rather do this

AL

EAST: BOS, CLE, NYY, TOR

NORTH: DET, CHW, MIN, KCR

SOUTH: BAL, SAN ANTONIO (EXPANSION), TB, TX

WEST: ANA, COL (FROM NL), OAK, SEA

NL

EAST: CIN, NYM, PHI, PIT

NORTH: CHC, MEMPHIS (EXPANSION), MIL, STL

SOUTH: ATL, FLA, WSH, HOU

WEST: AZ, LA, SD, SF

[PeytonManningRocks]

I would rather do this

AL

EAST: BOS, CLE, NYY, TOR

NORTH: DET, CHW, MIN, KCR

SOUTH: BAL, SAN ANTONIO (EXPANSION), TB, TX

WEST: ANA, COL (FROM NL), OAK, SEA

NL

EAST: CIN, NYM, PHI, PIT

NORTH: CHC, MEMPHIS (EXPANSION), MIL, STL

SOUTH: ATL, FLA, WSH, HOU

WEST: AZ, LA, SD, SF

Switch Memphis to South, Washington to East and Cincinnati to North and you've got a winner.

[KevinMcD]

I would rather do this

AL

EAST: BOS, CLE, NYY, TOR

NORTH: DET, CHW, MIN, KCR

SOUTH: BAL, SAN ANTONIO (EXPANSION), TB, TX

WEST: ANA, COL (FROM NL), OAK, SEA

NL

EAST: CIN, NYM, PHI, PIT

NORTH: CHC, MEMPHIS (EXPANSION), MIL, STL

SOUTH: ATL, FLA, WSH, HOU

WEST: AZ, LA, SD, SF

Switch Memphis to South, Washington to East and Cincinnati to North and you've got a winner.

Geographically Baltimore with Tampa and 2 Texas teams doesn't make sense, but as an Oriole fan I would take that division over NYY/BOS/TOR/TB division any day.

[PeytonManningRocks]

I would rather do this

AL

EAST: BOS, CLE, NYY, TOR

NORTH: DET, CHW, MIN, KCR

SOUTH: BAL, SAN ANTONIO (EXPANSION), TB, TX

WEST: ANA, COL (FROM NL), OAK, SEA

NL

EAST: CIN, NYM, PHI, PIT

NORTH: CHC, MEMPHIS (EXPANSION), MIL, STL

SOUTH: ATL, FLA, WSH, HOU

WEST: AZ, LA, SD, SF

Switch Memphis to South, Washington to East and Cincinnati to North and you've got a winner.

Geographically Baltimore with Tampa and 2 Texas teams doesn't make sense, but as an Oriole fan I would take that division over NYY/BOS/TOR/TB division any day.

Well then put Baltimore in the East, Cleveland in the North and KC in the South.....either one would do I guess.