What if MLB was like this?

[Clovidequano Dovatha]

What if MLB reconfigured itself this way, for example, possibly even merging certain teams together, at times?

American League:

Baltimore Orioles
Boston Red Sox
Chicago White Sox
Cleveland Indians
Detroit Tigers
Minnesota Twins
New York Yankees
Toronto Blue Jays

National League:

Brooklyn Dodgers
Carolina ? (new team)
Cincinnati Reds
Kansas City Royals
Montreal Expos
New York Giants (merging San Francisco and New York Mets)
Philadelphia Phillies
Pittsburgh Pirates

Federal League:

Atlanta Braves
Chicago Cubs
Florida Sunrays (merging Tampa Bay and Florida/Miami)
Havana ? (new team)
Milwaukee Brewers
New Orleans ? (new team)
St. Louis Cardinals
Texas Astros (merging Houston and Texas)

Continental League:

Arizona Diamondbacks
California Angels
Colorado Rockies
Mexico City ? (new team)
Oakland Athletics
Portland ? (new team)
San Diego Padres
Seattle Mariners

That should hopefully provide a good mix of old and new, I think. And teams that merged could also merge their histories together, if possible. But I don't know how that could theoretically be done somehow in OOTP just yet, if I ever will.

Seeing as each league would then have eight teams in it, that would allow schedules to go back to the classic 154-game seasons, I think, with very little or no interleague play during the regular season. Perhaps a midseason All-Star tournament each year might be possible as well between the four leagues? As far as playoffs, perhaps the leagues could have their respective champions seeded in a four-team tournament for variety in postseason play, with the winners of the relevant series facing off in the World Series?

Just a few thoughts here, that's all. Take them or not as you will, folks. Would like to see what you all might think of these thoughts here later, if possible. CD out.

[Westheim]

Just no. Just simply, no.

[Clovidequano Dovatha]

And why not? Just curious, that's all, Westheim. CD out.

[Orioles1966]

There's not enough teams.

My OOTP leagues usually have 250+ teams(I like expansion to the max).

[Westheim]

Off the top of my head...

1. MLB can't afford expansion; there is enough talentless scum in the league already.

2. Merging teams is wrong. Period.

3. For a multitude of reasons, including but not limited to embargoes, visas, an autocratic regime, and raging poverty, MLB won't add a team in Havana.

4. One team in L.A. (vaguely) ...?

5. Why not just make everybody an All Star? That would be so millenial! Everybody gets a participation ribbon!

6. How is the postseason supposed to work? One team per league? Two? Four? Participation ribbons for everybody?

7. Instead of getting the A's f.e. into a proper stadium, we move the Nationals back into the crumbled ruins in Montreal? I mean, I despise the Gnats, but they'd be better off in the Coliseum in Rome...

8. If the Rays and Marlins were to merge, in whose shambling den are they going to play? Are they going to be a travelling team? What would their name be? The Arielles? Half fish, half human. Don't forget, fish stinks from the top.

Those are just off the top of my head. I am sure somebody with more time and insight will find another 24 reasons why these proposals, and all the other genius realignment proposals that crop up from time to time, are thoroughly unworkable if not downright outrageous.

MLB has some homework to do; foremost that means getting the A's and Rays out of their ****holes (quite literally) without moving them to Japan altogether. I have the utmost confidence in Rob Numbfred to do the wise thing.

But this is madness.

[Bluenoser]

Originally Posted by Westheim

Off the top of my head...

1. MLB can't afford expansion; there is enough talentless scum in the league already.

2. Merging teams is wrong. Period.

3. For a multitude of reasons, including but not limited to embargoes, visas, an autocratic regime, and raging poverty, MLB won't add a team in Havana.

4. One team in L.A. (vaguely) ...?

5. Why not just make everybody an All Star? That would be so millenial! Everybody gets a participation ribbon!

6. How is the postseason supposed to work? One team per league? Two? Four? Participation ribbons for everybody?

7. Instead of getting the A's f.e. into a proper stadium, we move the Nationals back into the crumbled ruins in Montreal? I mean, I despise the Gnats, but they'd be better off in the Coliseum in Rome...

8. If the Rays and Marlins were to merge, in whose shambling den are they going to play? Are they going to be a travelling team? What would their name be? The Arielles? Half fish, half human. Don't forget, fish stinks from the top.

Those are just off the top of my head. I am sure somebody with more time and insight will find another 24 reasons why these proposals, and all the other genius realignment proposals that crop up from time to time, are thoroughly unworkable if not downright outrageous.

MLB has some homework to do; foremost that means getting the A's and Rays out of their ****holes (quite literally) without moving them to Japan altogether. I have the utmost confidence in Rob Numbfred to do the wise thing.

But this is madness.

Not to worry, Vegas Golden Knights, Las Vegas Raiders - The A's are not going to be very far behind (How does Las Vegas Athletics sound?). Whether it makes sense or not, if the NHL and NFL have success there, MLB won't be far behind. Owners want make money, and there's a ton of it in Vegas.

[Clovidequano Dovatha]

Done right, expansion can work, I think. And having new cities to operate in might help grow the sport, as well.

Then instead of Havana, what about San Juan instead? That would not require embargoes or visas at all, seeing as Puerto Rico belongs to the USA.

The Cleveland Barons merged with the Minnesota North Stars, so merging of teams in pro sports is not unknown in real-world history. Sometimes the resulting team is better in certain ways, and sometimes not, of course.

The Dodgers belong more in Brooklyn than Los Angeles, and the Giants in Manhattan more than the Bay Area, I think, but I could be wrong about that, of course. That would perhaps help solve Oakland's current financial situation as well, along with giving LA to the Angels which seems more appropriate here to me.

As for All-Stars, each league would have only a certain number of roster spots available, just as is the case now for the real-world MLB, of course, subject to required conditions to make said rosters. Not everyone would be able to meet them, no doubt.

As for the number of teams in the postseason, I already mentioned my thoughts on that, Westheim. One team per league, and only one team apiece. That might make the postseason more exciting, not to mention shorter, as well.

With proper management of baseball decades ago, Montreal could perhaps have been able to survive until now, I think. But many people, especially people like Bud Selig, misran baseball, so ultimately the Expos left Montreal for D.C., of course.

In regards to Florida, perhaps a more central location in the state would be better than either Miami or Tampa Bay, which might draw people from all over the state easier. Like Orlando, maybe? And Florida is also called the Sunshine State, after all, if I remember correctly. So Sunrays might work for a merged Rays/Marlins team, as well, whether or not there's ever been a real-world team nicknamed that.

I hope these suggestions do make at least some sense to everyone better. Especially after I've tried to explain my relevant thought processes here better to at least some degree, if not yet to a great degree here, of course. Until next time, then, I'll have to close here for a while, it seems. CD out.

[rudel.dietrich]

Puerto Rico lost between 10-15% of it's population and 35-40% of its GDP after Hurricane Maria.
It will not be seeing a baseball team or any kind of professional sports team anytime soon.

[Clovidequano Dovatha]

How about Nashville, Memphis, or Birmingham, then, to provide another rival for Atlanta and the other teams in its league? Just wondering, that's all. CD out.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by Bluenoser

...Las Vegas Raiders...

Or as I prefer to call them, the Oakland/Los Angeles/Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders.

Originally Posted by Clovidequano Dovatha

Then instead of Havana, what about San Juan instead?

The per capita income of the city is not good compared to similar-sized continental U.S. cities, meaning the money just isn't there to support a major league club.

[AirmenSmith]

I would go in reverse. Time to contract teams.

Start with the following;
Oakland
Tampa
Florida

[Clovidequano Dovatha]

I'd never allow the elimination of the Athletics, because they're one of the classic 16 MLB franchises, if I could possibly avoid it and if I were the Commissioner of Baseball. And I wouldn't allow the dissolving of the other 15 applicable teams either, for that matter, if I didn't have to. As for where all 16 of those teams would be located, where possible and appropriate, I'd want them to be in their classical locations, as best as possible, where possible, one way or another. But if they couldn't be, then perhaps in certain other North American cities, of course.

As for the Expansion-Era teams, I'd perhaps assign them to new major leagues, and maybe have those be regional leagues, at least for the most part, I think. Those in the eastern half of North America would probably be placed in the Federal League, and those in the other half of North America probably would end up in the Continental League.

With eight teams in each league, that would allow a classic 154-game schedule for each team, and perhaps keep the World Series from stretching into November from then on, once and for all. I'm not a fan of needlessly over-expanded playoffs or the wild card system, nor three-division setups in any league, for sure.

As for playoffs, I'd probably make it so that the four league's championships would face each other in best-of-seven game series for the right to go to the World Series, and seed those champions by winning percentage, as best as possible, et cetera, with the winners of those series, no matter which leagues they might represent, going to the World Series. So some years might have the AL winner facing off against the FL winner, for instance, as a result.

I do believe Montreal can still be a good market for Major League Baseball, but the way that things ultimately played out after that 1994-95 mess, it sure didn't help Montreal one bit, attendance-wise, at least, I'm sure. I daresay, although we may never know for sure, that if Montreal had been able to play out the rest of the season, and had won the World Series, or at least made the playoffs, certain later events may not have happened like they did, or maybe not even at all, for that matter.

But what's done is done, and now, Montreal will most likely not get another MLB team anytime soon, based on the current economic realities of organized professional sports in North America, I think, at the very least. If not other non-sports-related realities as well, for sure.

There is only one team, in my view, that should be in Washington, in terms of MLB, and that should be the Washington Senators. But they're gone, and both still-existing incarnations are in Minnesota and Texas, respectively. I do not believe the Nationals should even be in Washington now. They should be back in Montreal where they belong.

I have other thoughts, of course, about certain franchises that have left their classic locations and/or team names behind in the past, but I'll save them for at least one other post this time, folks. Take care, and all, I hope, then. CD out.