What a Terrible Idea MLB is Considering!

[32EBoozer]

https://metsmerizedonline.com/mlb-expansion-could-lead-to-new-divisional-alignment/

Major League Baseball is likely to expandin the near future, once the stadium situations in Tampa Bay and Oakland are sorted out and decisions are made on whether or not those franchises will relocate. The expectation is that two teams will be added, bringing the number to 32. Will MLB couple this expansion with a radical realignment of divisions? In an article in The Athletic, Jim Bowden thinks that would be a good idea.

Let’s get right to Bowden’s point of view. He proposes two conferences, each with four divisions. The eastern conference would look like this:

East Division

Boston Red Sox
New York Mets
New York Yankees
Philadelphia Phillies

North Division

Cincinnati Reds
Cleveland Guardians
Detroit Tigers
Toronto Blue Jays

Mid-Atlantic Division

Baltimore Orioles
Charlotte expansion team
Pittsburgh Pirates
Washington Nationals

Southeast Division

Atlanta Braves
Miami Marlins
Nashville expansion team
Tampa Bay Rays

The western conference would be structured in this manner:

Midwest Division

Chicago Cubs
Chicago White Sox
Milwaukee Brewers
Minnesota Twins

Southwest Division

Houston Astros
Kansas City Royals
St. Louis Cardinals
Texas Rangers

Pacific Coast Division

Colorado Rockies
Oakland/Las Vegas A’s
Seattle Mariners
San Francisco Giants

West Division

Arizona Diamondbacks
Los Angeles Angels
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Diego Padres

If baseball were to go in this direction, it would be adopting the NHL/NBA model of alignment based on geography. There are obvious benefits to this, including creating or expanding upon geographic rivalries, minimizing travel, and having more games in a team’s time zone which could increase television viewership.

Bowden makes an interesting point about payroll disparity. Using geographic alignment would place larger-market teams in the same division, which would create more games for teams against other teams who face the same economic realities. Look at the eastern conference, eastern division proposal. The Mets and Yankees would play their largest percentage of games against each other, as well as the Phillies (fourth largest market) and the Red Sox (tenth largest market). In the western conference, west division, the Dodgers and Angels are in the second largest market, and would compete with the Padres (27th largest market) and the Diamondbacks (11th largest).

In the eastern conference mid-Atlantic division, the Orioles (28th), Charlotte expansion team (if there is one-22nd), Pirates (26th), and Nationals (9th) would battle it out. Bowden’s idea is a good one, in that this type of alignment may diffuse some of the constant chatter about fairness in baseball (where there is no salary cap) based on market size. Of course, Mets’ owner Steve Cohen has different ideasabout fairness and who may be to blame for how much teams spend on players.

Rest of the article can be read using link above 

[Jetsfan80]

This is why they moved towards more interleague games I imagine; it would soften the blow for a time when the AL/NL would no longer be a thing.

We discussed this very thing in another thread so the only thing that surprises me is the idea of both Charlotte and Nashville getting a team rather than one of those + Vegas.  Vegas seems inevitable…

The purist in me hates it.  The realist in me gets it.  32 teams makes sense for everyone.  Logistics behind that change are what is highly difficult given the seismic shift to the leagues and divisions that would happen.

Also, so many “have not” teams and the removal of so many minor league teams would also cause a major pain when it comes to expansion, too.  A watered down talent pool will occur with 32 teams, particularly if you don’t add back a bunch of the minor league teams that were lost.

And pairing lots of big market teams in the same divisions I dunno how this would help the small markets at all; don’t they need those big name matchups to generate more revenue?

[32EBoozer]

39 minutes ago, Jetsfan80 said:

And pairing lots of big market teams in the same divisions I dunno how this would help the small markets at all; don’t they need those big name matchups to generate more revenue?

Both great points. The scaling back of the minor league teams will absolutely bring about a watered down talent pool seeking to provide for an even larger pool of teams.

I can see the International markets becoming an even larger part of MLB plans moving forward. Cheaper & less oversight in developing young players. In the end international agents and “brokers” will benefit more than these poverty stricken players who will sign away their rights just to be promoted up the chain. More steroids & faking of personal information (ages) and back room deals

39 minutes ago, Jetsfan80 said:

Also, so many “have not” teams and the removal of so many minor league teams would also cause a major pain when it comes to expansion, too.  A watered down talent pool will occur with 32 teams, particularly if you don’t add back a bunch of the minor league teams that were lost.

 

[Jetsfan80]

1 hour ago, 32EBoozer said:

Both great points. The scaling back of the minor league teams will absolutely bring about a watered down talent pool seeking to provide for an even larger pool of teams.

I can see the International markets becoming an even larger part of MLB plans moving forward. Cheaper & less oversight in developing young players. In the end international agents and “brokers” will benefit more than these poverty stricken players who will sign away their rights just to be promoted up the chain. More steroids & faking of personal information (ages) and back room deals

 

Yep that all makes sense.

One thing I forgot to say in my prior post was how would stadium stuff play out?  Tampa and Oakland can’t afford new stadiums yet they want to add 2 new teams?

also missed that they have the A’s moving to Vegas which would make perfect sense.

Doesnt resolve the Tampa Bay issue though.  

[Jetsfan80]

More realistically I think you’d need to:

* Move the A’s to Vegas

* Move the Rays to Charlotte/Nashville

* Add expansion team in Charlotte/Nashville

 

And then you need one more city for expansion.  

Since the game is more international than ever and it’s continuing to move that way as @32EBoozer noted….would Mexico City be viable?  

[jago]

ugh.

[32EBoozer]

29 minutes ago, Jetsfan80 said:

More realistically I think you’d need to:

* Move the A’s to Vegas

* Move the Rays to Charlotte/Nashville

* Add expansion team in Charlotte/Nashville

 

And then you need one more city for expansion.  

Since the game is more international than ever and it’s continuing to move that way as @32EBoozer noted….would Mexico City be viable?  

With cartels running Mexico, I would not sign up for that if I was MLB. Too many tourists being killed down there.

https://www.foxnews.com/world/americans-spring-break-mexico-state-department-warning

What about Louisiana? Saints & Pelicans… no baseball team 

Edited February 11, 2023 by 32EBoozer

[Jetsfan80]

13 minutes ago, 32EBoozer said:

With cartels running Mexico, I would not sign up for that if I was MLB. Too many tourists being killed down there.

https://www.foxnews.com/world/americans-spring-break-mexico-state-department-warning

What about Louisiana? Saints & Pelicans… no baseball team 

Mexico City isn’t the same as much of Mexico, no?  Much like NYC isn’t Toledo Ohio?

Cant imagine NO being a huge baseball market.  Honestly can’t think of any other US markets that work other than MAYBE adding another team in Texas (San Antonio)? 

[Scott Dierking]

22 hours ago, Jetsfan80 said:

More realistically I think you’d need to:

* Move the A’s to Vegas

* Move the Rays to Charlotte/Nashville

* Add expansion team in Charlotte/Nashville

 

And then you need one more city for expansion.  

Since the game is more international than ever and it’s continuing to move that way as @32EBoozer noted….would Mexico City be viable?  

Montreal deserves a franchise again.

[TuscanyTile2]

Baseball relies on tradition maybe more heavily than any other sport.  While Yanks/Mets/Red Sox/Phillies would make GREAT rivalries, this would be too drastic of a change, imo.  

[Jetsfan80]

2 hours ago, Scott Dierking said:

Montreal deserves a franchise again.

That works! 

[32EBoozer]

3 hours ago, TuscanyTile2 said:

Baseball relies on tradition maybe more heavily than any other sport.  While Yanks/Mets/Red Sox/Phillies would make GREAT rivalries, this would be too drastic of a change, imo.  

If all the big city, big budget teams are consolidated into 3 or 4 divisions, all the smaller market teams will have an advantage. 
Larger markets cannibalize each other getting to playoffs. Braves will be a big winner along with St. Louis

[Arsis]

Yankees and Mets in the same division seems wrong

[Leftylarry]

On 2/11/2023 at 11:26 AM, Jetsfan80 said:

Mexico City isn’t the same as much of Mexico, no?  Much like NYC isn’t Toledo Ohio?

Cant imagine NO being a huge baseball market.  Honestly can’t think of any other US markets that work other than MAYBE adding another team in Texas (San Antonio)? 

Have relatives who live there, they have a  driver/bodyguard and they live in gated communities with guys with machine guns at the entrance.

Nope it's not like America.

 

 

[chirorob]

On 2/11/2023 at 10:26 AM, Jetsfan80 said:

Mexico City isn’t the same as much of Mexico, no?  Much like NYC isn’t Toledo Ohio?

Cant imagine NO being a huge baseball market.  Honestly can’t think of any other US markets that work other than MAYBE adding another team in Texas (San Antonio)? 

San Antonio would do well.

[section314]

Just when you think Manfred can’t do anything dumber he comes through again. This guy is worse for MLB than the strike year was. He sucks.

[derp]

Is the MLB actually considering this? The article reads like it’s just what Bowden thinks they should do once they expand to 32.

[RutgersJetFan]

On 2/12/2023 at 9:41 AM, Scott Dierking said:

Montreal deserves a franchise again.

Nashville should be the priority here. They have a group of buyers that MLB is desperately in need of, a great history to attach it to, a legitimately feasible plan, the geography makes sense for everyone, and the city has earned it. 

[Jetsfan80]

32 minutes ago, RutgersJetFan said:

Nashville should be the priority here. They have a group of buyers that MLB is desperately in need of, a great history to attach it to, a legitimately feasible plan, the geography makes sense for everyone, and the city has earned it. 

We were talking about a city in addition to Charlotte and Nashville. 

My hypothetical would be the A's moving to Vegas, the Rays moving to Nashville/Charlotte, and adding expansion teams in Nashville/Charlotte plus one additional city.  One of San Antonio, Montreal, etc.

[JetPotato]

Just move the Mets to Nashville. New York really only needs one team. It would go a long way towards helping the Mets relieve their obsession over trying to be the Yankees and always failing. A new identity would be the best thing that could happen to them. Citifield can be easily be converted to an alternate home for the Staten Island Ferry Hawks.

[Bugg]

Heard Michael Dell of Dell Computers may be part of an Orlando bid.

Looks like Oakland moving to Vegas is a given. Number of sites are being proposed and it's popular with the locals. Raiders and Knights are unmitigated successes. Even if the teams take a downturn, people will travel to Vegas to see their team. It's bulletproof. 

Personally wonder how baseball deals with it's decline by expanding. 

[section314]

Just looked at the proposed divisions again…..how could any “baseball people” ever consider separating the Giants and the Dodgers? Goodell must thank his lucky stars every day for Rob Manfred. 

[hotrodcharlie]

Awful idea on the realignment. Much has already been said on that

Charlotte doesnt deserve a team anyway. Baseball's problem is the small market/cheap teams. Why would they add another like that?

That team would always struggle to compete and eventually struggle to draw fans. I don't see folks lining up to watch the last place Charlotte Knights take on the 2nd to last Pittsburgh Pirates on a 90 degree afternoon in July. Place would be empty

[SAM SAM HE'S OUR MAN]

On 2/11/2023 at 7:57 AM, 32EBoozer said:

https://metsmerizedonline.com/mlb-expansion-could-lead-to-new-divisional-alignment/

Major League Baseball is likely to expandin the near future, once the stadium situations in Tampa Bay and Oakland are sorted out and decisions are made on whether or not those franchises will relocate. The expectation is that two teams will be added, bringing the number to 32. Will MLB couple this expansion with a radical realignment of divisions? In an article in The Athletic, Jim Bowden thinks that would be a good idea.

Let’s get right to Bowden’s point of view. He proposes two conferences, each with four divisions. The eastern conference would look like this:

East Division

Boston Red Sox
New York Mets
New York Yankees
Philadelphia Phillies

North Division

Cincinnati Reds
Cleveland Guardians
Detroit Tigers
Toronto Blue Jays

Mid-Atlantic Division

Baltimore Orioles
Charlotte expansion team
Pittsburgh Pirates
Washington Nationals

Southeast Division

Atlanta Braves
Miami Marlins
Nashville expansion team
Tampa Bay Rays

The western conference would be structured in this manner:

Midwest Division

Chicago Cubs
Chicago White Sox
Milwaukee Brewers
Minnesota Twins

Southwest Division

Houston Astros
Kansas City Royals
St. Louis Cardinals
Texas Rangers

Pacific Coast Division

Colorado Rockies
Oakland/Las Vegas A’s
Seattle Mariners
San Francisco Giants

West Division

Arizona Diamondbacks
Los Angeles Angels
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Diego Padres

If baseball were to go in this direction, it would be adopting the NHL/NBA model of alignment based on geography. There are obvious benefits to this, including creating or expanding upon geographic rivalries, minimizing travel, and having more games in a team’s time zone which could increase television viewership.

Bowden makes an interesting point about payroll disparity. Using geographic alignment would place larger-market teams in the same division, which would create more games for teams against other teams who face the same economic realities. Look at the eastern conference, eastern division proposal. The Mets and Yankees would play their largest percentage of games against each other, as well as the Phillies (fourth largest market) and the Red Sox (tenth largest market). In the western conference, west division, the Dodgers and Angels are in the second largest market, and would compete with the Padres (27th largest market) and the Diamondbacks (11th largest).

In the eastern conference mid-Atlantic division, the Orioles (28th), Charlotte expansion team (if there is one-22nd), Pirates (26th), and Nationals (9th) would battle it out. Bowden’s idea is a good one, in that this type of alignment may diffuse some of the constant chatter about fairness in baseball (where there is no salary cap) based on market size. Of course, Mets’ owner Steve Cohen has different ideasabout fairness and who may be to blame for how much teams spend on players.

Rest of the article can be read using link above 

Change is bad .

[Rich Thornburgh]

I agree with this maneuver.  Why half-tail it with inter league play?  Because some fans still want to pretend it’s 1954?

[TuscanyTile2]

On 2/15/2023 at 1:59 PM, JetPotato said:

Just move the Mets to Nashville. New York really only needs one team. It would go a long way towards helping the Mets relieve their obsession over trying to be the Yankees and always failing. A new identity would be the best thing that could happen to them. Citifield can be easily be converted to an alternate home for the Staten Island Ferry Hawks.

Do Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry, and David Cone ring a bell?  Tom Seaver as an announcer?  

[JetPotato]

1 hour ago, TuscanyTile2 said:

Do Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry, and David Cone ring a bell?  Tom Seaver as an announcer?  

I'm not quite sure how guys that left to Mets and became Yankees disputes my point. Good one, though. ?

[TuscanyTile2]

8 minutes ago, JetPotato said:

I'm not quite sure how guys that left to Mets and became Yankees disputes my point. Good one, though. ?

Steinbrenner wasn't obsessed with the Mets?

[JetPotato]

1 hour ago, TuscanyTile2 said:

Steinbrenner wasn't obsessed with the Mets?

Now you're talking about a guy that's been dead for 13 years?

[Leftylarry]

I’ve been a sports fan for a million years, never understood how rooting for one hometown team automatically makes you have to hate the other.

I started as a Brooklyn Dodger fan but when I was a grown man living in NY and earning my living here, I switched to Yankees when that Dodger team with Cey, Garvey, Monday, Russell , Lopes etc came in and started knocking NY and it’s fans .

I said what da heck do I have in common with these L.A. dudes who despise my friends and I .

So, I’m a Diehard Yankees fan since then , don’t follow the Mets but I don’t hate them, I mean, I loved that team with Gary Carter, Wally Backman, El Sid, Dyskstra , Gooden, Knight, etc.How could you not, those guys were crazy fun to watch .

sure, I am always going to root for the Yankees over the Mets but having both of them be good is great for the fans and great for the City and State.

Same deal with Jets and Giants, I go back to the Titans days and live and die with Jets , was a season ticket holder forever though no longer, commute got me, but I thoroughly enjoyed Giants beating the Patriots twice and enjoyed those Parcells Giants teams also , my love of Jets, in no way forces me to hate Giants, I don’t bother watching their games anymore but I can’t see hating them , rather have a Jets vs Giants Super Bowl instead, call me crazy, just how I feel.

[Scott Dierking]

On 2/15/2023 at 1:59 PM, JetPotato said:

Just move the Mets to Nashville. New York really only needs one team. It would go a long way towards helping the Mets relieve their obsession over trying to be the Yankees and always failing. A new identity would be the best thing that could happen to them. Citifield can be easily be converted to an alternate home for the Staten Island Ferry Hawks.

There is a Mets thread here for the 2023 season. The word "Yankees" is not used once by any Met fan in that thread. Obsessed? Seems like some team is living in YOUR head.

[section314]

31 minutes ago, Scott Dierking said:

There is a Mets thread here for the 2023 season. The word "Yankees" is not used once by any Met fan in that thread. Obsessed? Seems like some team is living in YOUR head.

Maybe he's really Yankee fan boy Michael Kay?

[JetPotato]

2 hours ago, Scott Dierking said:

There is a Mets thread here for the 2023 season. The word "Yankees" is not used once by any Met fan in that thread. Obsessed? Seems like some team is living in YOUR head.

The topic is realignment and relocation. Relative to our area, if anyone is going to relocate out, it's not going to be the one that's the greatest franchise in the history of American sports. It's going to be the one that's a wannabe loser franchise. Maybe you can take your delusions of grandeur to Nashville with you guys.

[Scott Dierking]

3 hours ago, JetPotato said:

The topic is realignment and relocation. Relative to our area, if anyone is going to relocate out, it's not going to be the one that's the greatest franchise in the history of American sports. It's going to be the one that's a wannabe loser franchise. Maybe you can take your delusions of grandeur to Nashville with you guys.

Not sure how realignment has anything to do with Mets fans supposed jealousy and obsession with the Yankees. Please try to keep up. I am correct, you are the one that seems obsessed.

[JetPotato]

1 hour ago, Scott Dierking said:

Not sure how realignment has anything to do with Mets fans supposed jealousy and obsession with the Yankees. Please try to keep up. I am correct, you are the one that seems obsessed.

You're adorable