[The Game]

Originally Posted by abefrohman

MLB expanded to 28 teams in 1993 putting 14 teams in the AL, 14 teams in the NL. Both leagues divisions were even and attendance was good in Colorado and Florida. Then, MLB decided to expand to 2 MORE teams just 5 years later in 1998 in Tampa Bay and Arizona. It has been suggested that one of the reasons why MLB expanded to two more teams was to make up for money lost during the 1994 strike. Tampa Bay also had been led to believe that they were going to have the Chicago White Sox during the late 1980s and the San Francisco Giants during the early 1990s, but neither was meant to be.


Tampa Bay has been one of the best teams in baseball since 2008 and yet their attendance is consistently one of the worst every year. They've also been trying, unsuccessfully, to get a new stadium as are the Oakland Athletics. Neither appears to be happening anytime soon. One possibility is that both Tampa Bay and Oakland relocate to new cities which I wouldn't mind, but another is contraction. Hypothetically, if Tampa Bay and Oakland were to both get eliminated, this would bring the balance back to 28 teams as it was in 1993. This works for me. So what would the new divisional alignments look like? Here would be my proposal:


AL East
Baltimore Orioles
Boston Red Sox
New York Yankees
Toronto Blue Jays
Washington Nationals (the Senators played in the AL and now the Nationals go there as well, creating a natural rivalry with the Baltimore Orioles)


AL Central
Chicago White Sox
Cleveland Indians
Detroit Tigers
Kansas City Royals
Minnesota Twins (this division stays the same)


AL West
Houston Astros
Los Angeles Angels
Seattle Mariners
Texas Rangers


NL East
Atlanta Braves
Miami Marlins
New York Mets
Philadelphia Phillies
Pittsburgh Pirates (Pittsburgh goes back to the NL East, renewing their PA rivalry with Philadelphia)


NL Central
Chicago Cubs
Cincinnati Reds
Colorado Rockies
Milwaukee Brewers
St. Louis Cardinals (Colorado moves from the NL West)


NL West
Arizona Diamondbacks
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants


Thoughts?

Let's contract the Cubs & Brewers. God knows the Cubs will never win anything in my lifetime and I hate the Brewers.