AL East-New York, Boston, Baltimore, Toronto
AL-South-Tampa Bay, Texas, KC, Nashville
AL North-Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago, Minnesota
AL West-Seattle, LA, LV, Colorado

NL East-New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Pittsburgh
NL South-Miami, Atlanta, Houston, New Orleans
NL North-Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis, Milwaukee
NL West-LA, SF, SD, Arizona

Arizona is interchangeable with Colorado, as is Nashville with New Orleans.

(07-09-2023 03:15 PM)Porcine Wrote:  AL East-New York, Boston, Baltimore, Toronto
AL-South-Tampa Bay, Texas, KC, Nashville
AL North-Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago, Minnesota
AL West-Seattle, LA, LV, Colorado

NL East-New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Pittsburgh
NL South-Miami, Atlanta, Houston, New Orleans
NL North-Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis, Milwaukee
NL West-LA, SF, SD, Arizona

Arizona is interchangeable with Colorado, as is Nashville with New Orleans.

I'm guessing you missed the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Even before that, New Orleans was/is too poor, doesn't have enough disposable income and is too small of a market for 3 major league sports teams, especially sports that play host to at least 81-94 home dates per year in a given market. I'm still trying to figure out how the city hosts more than one major league sports team (obviously talking about the Pelicans, as the Saints rule the Big Easy).

(07-09-2023 08:19 PM)andybible1995 Wrote:  

(07-06-2023 03:08 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  I assume this thread is going to be moved to the Pro Sports forum, but here's my "ideal" expansion and realignment of MLB:

AMERICAN LEAGUE

East Division
Boston Red Sox
Miami Marlins
Montreal Expos
New York Mets
New York Yankees
Philadelphia Phillies
Tampa Bay Rays
Toronto Blue Jays

West Division
Atlanta Braves
Baltimore Orioles
Carolina/Nashville
Cincinnati Reds
Cleveland Guardians
Detroit Tigers
Pittsburgh Pirates
Washington Nationals

NATIONAL LEAGUE

East Division
Chicago Cubs
Chicago White Sox
Houston Astros
Kansas City Royals
Milwaukee Brewers
Minnesota Twins
St. Louis Cardinals
Texas Rangers

West Division
Arizona Diamondbacks
Colorado Rockies
Los Angeles Angels
Los Angeles Dodgers
Oakland/Las Vegas Athletics (I'd prefer they move somewhere like Portland, TBH)
San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants
Seattle Mariners

In a season, a team plays 12 games vs. each division opponent (12 x 7 = 84), 6 games vs. each of the other league opponents (6 x 8 = 48), and 3 games vs. alternating halves of the other league (3 x 8 = 24), for 156 games total (84 + 48 + 24).

Playoffs are structured as now, except the top 2 in each of the 4 divisions qualify, plus the 2 other teams in each league with the best records. The 4 division winners get the first-round bye.

Here's my lineup

American League

East Division

Baltimore Orioles
Boston Red Sox
Montreal Expos
New York Mets
New York Yankees
Philadelphia Phillies
Pittsburgh Pirates
Toronto Blue Jays

West Division

Atlanta Braves
Cincinnati Reds
Cleveland Guardians
Detroit Lions
Miami Marlins
Milwaukee Brewers
Tampa Bay Rays
Washington Nationals

National League

East Division

Chicago Cubs
Chicago White Sox
Colorado Rockies
Houston Astros
Kansas City Royals
Minnesota Twins
St. Louis Cardinals
Texas Rangers

West Division

Arizona Diamondbacks
Los Angeles Angels
Los Angeles Dodgers
Oakland Athletics
Portland
San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants
Seattle Mariners

In this scenario, the Athletics and Expos work things out in their respective cities, and get new stadiums, causing them to stay put. The Washington Nationals are added as an expansion team. Portland is added as also added as an expansion team, but I'm not sure what they would be called.

Dem French Canadians already proved they don't give a damn about anything American. Notice I said American, as hockey is a Canadian sport.

(07-09-2023 09:03 PM)_C2_ Wrote:  

(07-09-2023 08:19 PM)andybible1995 Wrote:  

(07-06-2023 03:08 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  I assume this thread is going to be moved to the Pro Sports forum, but here's my "ideal" expansion and realignment of MLB:

AMERICAN LEAGUE

East Division
Boston Red Sox
Miami Marlins
Montreal Expos
New York Mets
New York Yankees
Philadelphia Phillies
Tampa Bay Rays
Toronto Blue Jays

West Division
Atlanta Braves
Baltimore Orioles
Carolina/Nashville
Cincinnati Reds
Cleveland Guardians
Detroit Tigers
Pittsburgh Pirates
Washington Nationals

NATIONAL LEAGUE

East Division
Chicago Cubs
Chicago White Sox
Houston Astros
Kansas City Royals
Milwaukee Brewers
Minnesota Twins
St. Louis Cardinals
Texas Rangers

West Division
Arizona Diamondbacks
Colorado Rockies
Los Angeles Angels
Los Angeles Dodgers
Oakland/Las Vegas Athletics (I'd prefer they move somewhere like Portland, TBH)
San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants
Seattle Mariners

In a season, a team plays 12 games vs. each division opponent (12 x 7 = 84), 6 games vs. each of the other league opponents (6 x 8 = 48), and 3 games vs. alternating halves of the other league (3 x 8 = 24), for 156 games total (84 + 48 + 24).

Playoffs are structured as now, except the top 2 in each of the 4 divisions qualify, plus the 2 other teams in each league with the best records. The 4 division winners get the first-round bye.

Here's my lineup

American League

East Division

Baltimore Orioles
Boston Red Sox
Montreal Expos
New York Mets
New York Yankees
Philadelphia Phillies
Pittsburgh Pirates
Toronto Blue Jays

West Division

Atlanta Braves
Cincinnati Reds
Cleveland Guardians
Detroit Lions
Miami Marlins
Milwaukee Brewers
Tampa Bay Rays
Washington Nationals

National League

East Division

Chicago Cubs
Chicago White Sox
Colorado Rockies
Houston Astros
Kansas City Royals
Minnesota Twins
St. Louis Cardinals
Texas Rangers

West Division

Arizona Diamondbacks
Los Angeles Angels
Los Angeles Dodgers
Oakland Athletics
Portland
San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants
Seattle Mariners

In this scenario, the Athletics and Expos work things out in their respective cities, and get new stadiums, causing them to stay put. The Washington Nationals are added as an expansion team. Portland is added as also added as an expansion team, but I'm not sure what they would be called.

Dem French Canadians already proved they don't give a damn about anything American. Notice I said American, as hockey is a Canadian sport.

The Expos were actually successful for a long time before the strike of 94. It was only after that, a year in which many think the Expos had their best team of all time, that the fan support started to dwindle.

Also, I think they had fan engagement issues back in that time. I want to say they didn't even broadcast the games on radio in French despite the fact a hefty portion of the population speaks it.

Give them a decent stadium, apply some common sense, and I think it would work.

I've had some thoughts on this myself, but I do think MLB is wise to stretch their divisions across the country and not have Eastern or Western leagues. If I remember correctly, Bud Selig kicked around that idea.

But yeah, assuming that Montreal and Nashville are added, this would be my alignment:

National League:

East - Miami Marlins, Atlanta Braves, Washington Nationals, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, Montreal Expos, New York Mets, Cincinnati Reds

West - San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies, St Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Brewers

American League:

East - Tampa Bay Rays, Nashville Ballads(just a random name I made up), Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, Cleveland Guardians, Detroit Tigers

West - Los Angeles Angels, Las Vegas Athletics, Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers, Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals, Minnesota Twins, Chicago White Sox

(07-09-2023 09:18 PM)AllTideUp Wrote:  The Expos were actually successful for a long time before the strike of 94. It was only after that, a year in which many think the Expos had their best team of all time, that the fan support started to dwindle.

Also, I think they had fan engagement issues back in that time. I want to say they didn't even broadcast the games on radio in French despite the fact a hefty portion of the population speaks it.

Give them a decent stadium, apply some common sense, and I think it would work.

I still don't think a team in Montreal is viable. It's a cultural thing.

(07-09-2023 09:01 PM)_C2_ Wrote:  

(07-09-2023 03:15 PM)Porcine Wrote:  AL East-New York, Boston, Baltimore, Toronto
AL-South-Tampa Bay, Texas, KC, Nashville
AL North-Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago, Minnesota
AL West-Seattle, LA, LV, Colorado

NL East-New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Pittsburgh
NL South-Miami, Atlanta, Houston, New Orleans
NL North-Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis, Milwaukee
NL West-LA, SF, SD, Arizona

Arizona is interchangeable with Colorado, as is Nashville with New Orleans.

I'm guessing you missed the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Even before that, New Orleans was/is too poor, doesn't have enough disposable income and is too small of a market for 3 major league sports teams, especially sports that play host to at least 81-94 home dates per year in a given market. I'm still trying to figure out how the city hosts more than one major league sports team (obviously talking about the Pelicans, as the Saints rule the Big Easy).

Well, golly, I guess they will go somewhere else like OKC or maybe Charlotte.

(07-09-2023 01:49 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  If MLB wants to keep Florida baseball alive, I think they would need to continue grouping any Florida teams with the northeastern ones to take advantage of snowbird interest. So, chargeradio's alignment in post 15 above would be better from that perspective than the one in post 17.

Here's that alignment with Montreal instead of Portland:

NL Atlantic - New York, Montreal, Washington, Miami
NL East - Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Atlanta
NL Central - Chicago, Milwaukee, Saint Louis, Houston
NL West - Colorado, LA Dodgers, San Diego, San Francisco

The AL is the same except for Arizona taking Portland's spot in the AL West. Alternatively if Houston doesn't want to go back to the NL, you can swap them with Nashville.

NL Atlantic - New York, Montreal, Washington, Miami
NL East - Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Atlanta
NL Central - Chicago, Milwaukee, Saint Louis, Nashville
NL West - Colorado, LA Dodgers, San Diego, San Francisco

AL West: Seattle, Arizona, Las Vegas, LA Angels
AL East: NY Yankees, Boston, Baltimore, Tampa Bay
AL North: Toronto, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago White Sox
AL Central: Texas, Houston, Kansas City, Minnesota

Here's a geographic realignment of MLB with 32 teams that I thought was interesting:



The top 3 teams in the each of the East and Central Divisions and the top 2 teams in the West Division automatically qualify for the playoffs, plus the 4 other teams with the best record regardless of division. Division champs and best 2nd-place team get first-round byes.