On Thursday, November 10th, 2024, Major League Baseball confirmed what had been long rumored, that the league is officially expanding. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred announced that the league will be adding 2 new franchises for the 2025 season.
Reportedly, six applicants were considered: Portland, Las Vegas, Charlotte, Nashville, Austin and Montreal. Manfred announced on Thursday that Las Vegas and Nashville had been chosen as host cities.
The two organizations subsequently announced their team names and minor league affiliates. Las Vegas chose the moniker Vipers, specifically adopting the organization name “Vegas Vipers”. Fresno (AAA), Oklahoma City (AA), Tulsa (A+), Virginia Beach (A), and El Paso (R) were announced as the locations of Vegas’s minor league system.
Nashville elected to pay tribute to its former semi-pro Negro league team from the 1930s choosing the name Stars as its nickname. San Antonio (AAA), Albuquerque (AA), Memphis (A+), Jacksonville (A), and New Orleans (R) were confirmed as Nashville’s minor league locations.
With the 2 new additions there would be a restructuring of the league with both the AL and NL moving to 4 team divisions. A fourth “South” division would be added to each league. MLB announced that Nashville would join the American League and play in the new South division while Vegas would head to the NL. Here’s how the new MLB structure is expected to look for 2025.
AL East- Baltimore Orioles
- Boston Red Sox
- New York Yankees
- Toronto Blue Jays
AL Central- Chicago White Sox
- Cleveland Guardians
- Detroit Tigers
- Minnesota Twins
AL West- Los Angeles Angels
- Oakland Athletics
- Seattle Mariners
- Texas Rangers
AL South- Tampa Bay Rays
- Nasvhille Stars
- Kansas City Royals
- Houston Astros
NL East- New York Mets
- Philadelphia Phillies
- Washington Nationals
- Pittsburgh Pirates
NL Central- Chicago Cubs
- Cincinnati Reds
- Milwaukee Brewers
- St. Louis Cardinals
NL West- Colorado Rockies
- Los Angeles Dodgers
- San Francisco Giants
- Vegas Vipers
NL South- Atlanta Braves
- Miami Marlins
- Arizona Diamondbacks
- San Diego Padres
As for the playoffs, Manfred confirmed that the amount of wildcard teams would expand from 3 to 4 resulting in a true Wild Card series that will feature non divisional winners. This series will be a best of 3. The winners would move to the Divisional round to play in a 5 game series against the pennant winners. From there the current League Championship and World Series would stick to the same 7 game format.