I'd prefer to keep it at 30, but do admit that expansion would at least be entertaining to watch. I was too young to appreciate it last time it happened.

 

I am definitely for evening out the schedule though. I think every team should play each team in the other league 3 times. Rotate home/away each season.

 

14 intra-division games (7 home / 7 away) and play one 3 game series home and away against other teams in same league but different division.

We'd lose players. The Hawks would look a lot better with TVR, Kruger (technically not drafted but may have been a byproduct of the draft) etc.

 

Right but everyone would lose players. Also, wasn't the Vegas expansion draft considered the most expansion-team-friendly instance in modern history or something? I think the typical MLB draft would include more players being protected.

 

 

The next sentence kinda answered it. 30 teams with tons of fringe major league players is watering the product down. Every team uses 50 players/25 pitchers on average. Add two more teams, that’s roughly 100 more fringe major league players.

 

There would also be more haves and have nots.

 

Also, just odds. Teams are now lucky if they win a World Series once every 30 years. Next, it’ll be 32. The definition of great team is getting blurred. Is it winning an October tournament, or winning 85+ games six out of 10 years. A case can be made that the latter is tougher to do.

 

Baseball is fine at 30. It would be better at 28. It will be worse at 32.

 

Your evidence is spot-on, but I take the opposite view on the conclusion. I actually LIKE the idea of talent dilution. It gives more players a chance, which creates a player pool with less well-rounded skillsets, thus opening the door for more interesting and unbalanced strategies. It also makes star players more scarce and thus even more valuable. If anything, that should lead to fewer teams clustered around the WC mark as teams take risks to adopt their strategies to search out what is now optimal.

 

I don't know, that all just seems fun and interesting to me as a fan.

 

At the end of the day if you ask MLB owners if they are a bigger fan of 30 teams and their current team, or 2/30's of ~$3 billion, I promise you they would also take their share of the billions that new owners are going to be willing to pay to expand MLB. Once the Oakland and Tampa stadium situations get put to bed, expansion is inevitable.

At the end of the day if you ask MLB owners if they are a bigger fan of 30 teams and their current team, or 2/30's of ~$3 billion, I promise you they would also take their share of the billions that new owners are going to be willing to pay to expand MLB. Once the Oakland and Tampa stadium situations get put to bed, expansion is inevitable.

If we're talking about the 5-10 year horizon, I don't think expansion sounds like nearly as bad of an idea as it does right now (assuming no major economic shakeups in that time of course, which is a big assumption). Continued population growth in other cities and a 30 year break from the last round of expansion? Both seem reasonable.

Nashville is the fastest growing city currently. Would Nashville be a plausible location if you are talking about in the next 5-10 years?

 

Edit: I have no idea so this is a serious question haha

Edited October 17, 20178 yr by soxfan2014

Another pretty radical, yet common sense idea for expansion... Add another team to the NYC market. If you divide the entire metro area by just the Mets and Yankees, it is still MUCH bigger than pretty much any other teams solo market place. Dividing that market up again might do more for rebalancing finances in baseball than anything else.

Another pretty radical, yet common sense idea for expansion... Add another team to the NYC market. If you divide the entire metro area by just the Mets and Yankees, it is still MUCH bigger than pretty much any other teams solo market place. Dividing that market up again might do more for rebalancing finances in baseball than anything else.

 

Just call them the New Jersey something or others. Hockey has 3 teams in the NYC area, I'm sure baseball could do the same.

Just call them the New Jersey something or others. Hockey has 3 teams in the NYC area, I'm sure baseball could do the same.

 

Isn't it for you if you count the Devils?

Another pretty radical, yet common sense idea for expansion... Add another team to the NYC market. If you divide the entire metro area by just the Mets and Yankees, it is still MUCH bigger than pretty much any other teams solo market place. Dividing that market up again might do more for rebalancing finances in baseball than anything else.

 

Brooklyn is larger than Chicago. Could definitely support a team again.

Just call them the New Jersey something or others. Hockey has 3 teams in the NYC area, I'm sure baseball could do the same.

 

And 2 of those 3 teams are bottom 5 in attendance, so not the best example.

Another pretty radical, yet common sense idea for expansion... Add another team to the NYC market. If you divide the entire metro area by just the Mets and Yankees, it is still MUCH bigger than pretty much any other teams solo market place. Dividing that market up again might do more for rebalancing finances in baseball than anything else.

 

I'm not so sure people would be so quick to support a 3rd team in NY. You have so many life-long allegiances to the teams there, I don't know if people would just jump on the bandwagon of a new team, unless you give them a playoff berth every year.

I'd hate if this brought about the end of the DH because I despise watching pitchers attempt to hit. I hope that it goes the other way. I dont know what the hell people find entertaining about pitchers being an automatic out, for all intents and purposes.

Edited October 17, 20178 yr by Jack Parkman

I'm not so sure people would be so quick to support a 3rd team in NY. You have so many life-long allegiances to the teams there, I don't know if people would just jump on the bandwagon of a new team, unless you give them a playoff berth every year.

 

Even if you divided up the market with a very minor share, it is still bigger than lots of other places. The NYC metro area is estimated at right about 20 million. Even if you divided it up with an extreme share say 5/8 Yankees, 3/8 mets and 1/8 New Team, that still leaves them with 2.5 million people to choose from which is bigger than KC Metro at 2.15 million, and Cleveland at a touch over 2 million. That is how big that market is when compared to everyone else.

I just think considering the hellfit the orioles threw there'd be no way in hell the league could get that past the yankees ownership (mets they could if they threw money at them).

I'd hate if this brought about the end of the DH because I despise watching pitchers attempt to hit. I hope that it goes the other way. I dont know what the hell people find entertaining about pitchers being an automatic out, for all intents and purposes.

If anything, I'm sure it would be the end of pitchers hitting rather than the end of the DH.

Just call them the New Jersey something or others. Hockey has 3 teams in the NYC area, I'm sure baseball could do the same.

What's the mascot look like for a "something or others" ?

What's the mascot look like for a "something or others" ?

 

Lyle Mouton actually.

Even if you divided up the market with a very minor share, it is still bigger than lots of other places. The NYC metro area is estimated at right about 20 million. Even if you divided it up with an extreme share say 5/8 Yankees, 3/8 mets and 1/8 New Team, that still leaves them with 2.5 million people to choose from which is bigger than KC Metro at 2.15 million, and Cleveland at a touch over 2 million. That is how big that market is when compared to everyone else.

 

Would approval from the Yankees or Mets be needed for that? I know it was a big thing when the National's started so close to Baltimore

Would approval from the Yankees or Mets be needed for that? I know it was a big thing when the National's started so close to Baltimore

 

It will probably never happen for that and other rea$on$, but that doesn't mean it isn't the actual best idea out there.

Stupid.

Here are my suggestions to fix baseball in the age of Millenials.

a.) Speed up the game. A strike is called on any hitter who re-straps the velcro on his glove. One strike if you step out of the box more than once per at bat. Catcher allowed to visit the mound once every inning except for suspected injury to pitcher, then you can go more often. Two balls are called every time catcher goes out there after the first time in an inning.

b.) Pitchers must deliver ball within a certain amount of time upon receiving it. Settle on the time; I don't care. Make it quick but reasonable.

c.) Fire all umpires and re-hire only umps willing to call the old strike zone. Knees to letters. Very very boring/annoying to see belt high fastballs called balls.

d.) Keep the divisions the way they are but return to a balanced schedule. It is f***ing horrible to see Sox play Detroit 19 times; Minnie 19; KC 19; Cleve 19. My god that sucks!!!

That's about it. Do this and the game is fixed!!!!

 

 

SAYS YOU!' ?

Eliminate the divisions. You can put the last two wildcards in for that one game deal

SAYS YOU!' ?

I feel like my suggestions are so obvious.

As far as expansion, why not Las Vegas? Hockey has gone there. The gambling argument is weak for obvious reasons. People are gambling as it is. Unfortunately they'd probably need a dome stadium cause of the heat unless they started all games 9 p.m. local time which actually wouldn't be a bad idea. It's a late night town anyway.

Edited October 17, 20178 yr by greg775

Lyle Mouton actually.

Makes sense. I'm on board.

Nashville is the fastest growing city currently. Would Nashville be a plausible location if you are talking about in the next 5-10 years?

 

Edit: I have no idea so this is a serious question haha

 

I don’t think it is the fastest growing metro. Las Vegas surpassed Nashville in metro population in the last decade.

 

Indianapolis and Charlotte are two major league teams cities that are bigger TV markets than Nashville.

 

Raleigh, Orlando, Sacramento, and Portland are single team cities with bigger TV markets than Nashville.

 

Nashville is about the size of Milwaukee, with an NFL team and NHL team. It cannot count on the surrounding region to prop up it’s limited local media revenue potential. Memphis has a rivalry with Nashville and is a Cards town. Bham is closer to ATL. So basically you are looking at a local TV deal smaller than Pittsburgh or Kansas City. In a city where the Titans will be first, the SEC will be 2nd, and the hockey team might be winning hearts and minds with a young competitive team.

 

The two most sensible expansion candidates are Montreal and Portland. Montreal is as big as metro Detroit. It has baseball history and can be successful with a modern stadium. Portland has one team currently, has a metro bigger than Milwaukee, Cincinnati, and Kansas City, and brings another team to the western time zones.

 

After that, Raleigh-Durham, Charlotte, Mexico City, or Vancouver, BC should be the choice.

Edited October 17, 20178 yr by Latilleon

anybody already bring up possible DH changes would be necessary in this system?

 

didn't see anything relating to the DH in that article, but when you have only 4 divisions in all of baseball and presumably one league, i'd imagine universal DH would have to be part of it