Expansion - MLB got it all wrong

[frankbmd]

At least some of us grew up in the 50s with 16 major league teams in two leagues. Now we have 30.
Fourteen teams have been added and others have moved, but were those changes the best? Lets take a look.

The basis for the realignment presented is based on city populations, not metropolitan populations.
Either would work and the results would be different, but both could be criticized.

The first step is seeing what a 16 team league would look like today.

The American League would be

New York Yankees*
Chicago White Sox*
Toronto Blue Jays
Houston Astros
Seattle Mariners
Boston Red Sox*
Detroit Tigers*
Washington Nationals (or perhaps Americans-Senators)

The National League would be

New York Mets
Philadelphia Phillies*
Colorado Rockies
Los Angeles Dodgers**
Arizona Diamondbacks
San Francisco Giants**
San Diego Padres
Chicago Cubs*

*Seven of the 50s 16 teams to survive
**Two of the original 16 that only moved

Now the next steps is adding seven teams to each league based on population

To the American League the following could be added

Jacksonville Suns
Columbus Clippers
Indianapolis Indians
Charlotte Knights
Nashville Sounds
Memphis Redbirds
Dallas Roughriders

To the National League the following could be added

Oklahoma City Dodger Premies
Fort Worth Cats
Austin Rock Hounds
El Paso Chihuahuas
San Antonio Missions
San Jose Giant Babies
Portland Pickles

That leaves us with fourteen major league teams that could be demoted to triple A

Baltimore Orioles*
Milwaukee Brewers
Kansas City Royals
Atlanta Braves*
Miami Marlins
Minnesota Twins
"Arlington Rangers"
Cleveland Indians*
Anaheim Angels
St. Louis Cardinals*
Pittsburgh Pirates*
Cincinnati Reds*
Tampa Bay (St. Petersburg) Rays
Las Vegas Athletics***

*6 of the original 16 teams that do not survive
*** one team that moved three times from Philly to KC to Oakland to Las Vegas

Three teams on the list from the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, 2 major and one minor. As a metropolitan area two teams is not unreasonable.

The Cleveland Indians could be a farm team of Indianapolis.

Lots of major league baseball in Texas with a total of 6 teams

I can't wait for a World Series between the Sounds and the Pickles.

How about you?

This is all fantasy, the criteria are quite arbitrary, and I will not defend any of the above.

[KCRfan1]

Frank,

Do you believe the talent is better now or watered down due to the number of teams?

The 25 man roster would comprise 400 total players in 1955 to 750 current 2019.

It drives me nuts how many batters swing and miss or can't hit to the opposite field. And baseball actually considers banning the shift! Just hit to the opposite side of the field and the shift goes away.

Yes I know that I sound like an old man. You kids stay off my lawn!

[earlywynnfan]

So you're just taking the city population? Why??

Cleveland's county and region populations are notably larger than Indianapolis'.

[clydepepper]

Demoting the longest continually active team sports franchise in history?

You are out of your mind, Frank!

[frankbmd]

Originally Posted by KCRfan1

Frank,

Do you believe the talent is better now or watered down due to the number of teams?

The 25 man roster would comprise 400 total players in 1955 to 750 current 2019.

It drives me nuts how many batters swing and miss or can't hit to the opposite field. And baseball actually considers banning the shift! Just hit to the opposite side of the field and the shift goes away.

Yes I know that I sound like an old man. You kids stay off my lawn!

I sound like an old man as well. To answer your question the population of the United states is roughly double what it was in 1955, so an increase from 400 to 750 seems appropriate. Maybe there should be more teams, since half the population of the Dominican Republic plays MLB now and not in 1955.

Originally Posted by earlywynnfan

So you're just taking the city population? Why??

Cleveland's county and region populations are notably larger than Indianapolis'.

I realize that city vs metropolitan area populations would yield different results. I alluded to that in the original post. I welcome you to do the latter.

I also said that I wasn't going to defend any of the above.

Originally Posted by clydepepper

Demoting the longest continually active team sports franchise in history?

You are out of your mind, Frank!

I'm not demoting anyone, just going where the evidence (numbers) take me.

[frankbmd]

1 New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA MSA 20,320,876 19,567,410 +3.85% New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA CSA
2 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA MSA 13,353,907 12,828,837 +4.09% Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA CSA
3 Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI MSA 9,533,040 9,461,105 +0.76% Chicago-Naperville, IL-IN-WI CSA
4 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX MSA 7,399,662 6,426,214 +15.15% Dallas-Fort Worth, TX-OK CSA
5 Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX MSA 6,892,427 5,920,416 +16.42% Houston-The Woodlands, TX CSA
6 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV MSA 6,216,589 5,636,232 +10.30% Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA CSA
7 Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL MSA 6,158,824 5,564,635 +10.68% Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Port St. Lucie, FL CSA
8 Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD MSA 6,096,120 5,965,343 +2.19% Philadelphia-Reading-Camden, PA-NJ-DE-MD CSA
9 Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA MSA 5,884,736 5,286,728 +11.31% Atlanta-Athens-Sandy Springs, GA CSA
10 Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH MSA 4,836,531 4,552,402 +6.24% Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH-CT CSA
11 Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ MSA 4,737,270 4,192,887 +12.98%
12 San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA MSA 4,727,357 4,335,391 +9.04% San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA CSA
13 Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA MSA 4,580,670 4,224,851 +8.42% Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA CSA
14 Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI MSA 4,313,002 4,296,250 +0.39% Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor, MI CSA
15 Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA MSA 3,867,046 3,439,809 +12.42% Seattle-Tacoma, WA CSA
16 Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI MSA 3,600,618 3,348,859 +7.52% Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI CSA
17 San Diego-Carlsbad, CA MSA 3,337,685 3,095,313 +7.83%
18 Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL MSA 3,091,399 2,783,243 +11.07%
19 Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO MSA 2,888,227 2,543,482 +13.55% Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO MSA
20 Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD MSA 2,808,175 2,710,489 +3.60% Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA CSA
21 St. Louis, MO-IL MSA 2,807,338 2,787,701 +0.70% St. Louis-St. Charles-Farmington, MO-IL CSA
22 Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC MSA 2,525,305 2,217,012 +13.91% Charlotte-Concord, NC-SC CSA
23 Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL MSA 2,509,831 2,134,411 +17.59% Orlando-Deltona-Daytona Beach, FL CSA
24 San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX MSA 2,473,974 2,142,508 +15.47%
25 Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA MSA 2,453,168 2,226,009 +10.20% Portland-Vancouver-Salem, OR-WA CSA
26 Pittsburgh, PA MSA 2,333,367 2,356,285 −0.97% Pittsburgh-New Castle-Weirton, PA-OH-WV CSA
27 Sacramento–Roseville–Arden-Arcade, CA MSA 2,324,884 2,149,127 +8.18% Sacramento-Roseville, CA CSA
28 Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV MSA 2,204,079 1,951,269 +12.96% Las Vegas-Henderson, NV-AZ CSA
29 Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN MSA 2,179,082 2,114,580 +3.05% Cincinnati-Wilmington-Maysville, OH-KY-IN CSA
30 Kansas City, MO-KS MSA 2,128,912 2,009,342 +5.95% Kansas City-Overland Park-Kansas City, MO-KS CSA
31 Austin-Round Rock, TX MSA 2,115,827 1,716,289 +23.28%
32 Columbus, OH MSA 2,078,725 1,901,974 +9.29% Columbus-Marion-Zanesville, OH CSA
33 Cleveland-Elyria, OH MSA 2,058,844 2,077,240 −0.89% Cleveland-Akron-Canton, OH CSA
34 Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN MSA 2,028,614 1,887,877 +7.45% Indianapolis-Carmel-Muncie, IN CSA
35 San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA MSA 1,998,463 1,836,911 +8.79% San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA CSA
36 Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin, TN MSA 1,903,045 1,670,890 +13.89% Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro, TN CSA
37 Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC MSA 1,725,246 1,676,822 +2.89% Virginia Beach-Norfolk, VA-NC CSA
38 Providence-Warwick, RI-MA MSA 1,621,122 1,600,852 +1.27% Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH-CT CSA
39 Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI MSA 1,576,236 1,555,908 +1.31% Milwaukee-Racine-Waukesha, WI CSA

So Milwaukee is the current smallest market team. Cleveland, Cincinnati, Kansas City and now Las Vegas would also be out, if you allot two teams for NYC, LA, CHI and Dallas.

Without a second team in Dallas, Sacramento would be added.

Replacement teams for the five small market teams above would be in Riverside, Charlotte, San Antonio, Orlando and Portland.

[Steve D]

San Jose would need to be in the American League, then you could have a World Series between the Giants and the Giants' Babies.

Also, El Paso and Austin need to be in opposite leagues, enabling a World Series between the Hounds and the Chihuahuas.


Steve