Divisions for 32-team Expansion

Mister_G · 05-12-2014, 02:40 AM

So I'd like to add two expansion teams to the major leagues. I'd really like to place an Oklahoma City team in the NL (don't ask why). My problem is now setting up divisions. I really want it to be 4 divisions of 4 teams each. Geographically though, this presents some problems. Just looking for some input. This is what I have as of now...

AL
North
Minnesota
Detroit
Cleveland
Chicago

South
Kansas City
Houston
Texas
Tampa

East
Boston
New York
Baltimore
Toronto

West
Seattle
San Jose
Portland
Los Angeles

NL
North
Chicago
Pittsburgh
Cincinnati
Milwaukee

South
Oklahoma City
St. Louis
Arizona
Miami

East
New York
Atlanta
Washington
Philadelphia

West
Colorado
Los Angeles
San Diego
San Francisco

It seems pretty good to me, up until you get to the southern divisions. The idea of having a Florida team in each of those is annoying (as is the elimination of the Cubs-Cards division rivalry, but less so). Any ideas on how to setup the divisions? The AL team doe snot necessarily have to be in Portland. (BTW, I already moved Oakland to San Jose so that's where that comes from).

thriller13 · 05-12-2014, 08:54 AM

Oklahoma City would fit much more naturally in your AL South in place of Tampa, but not sure where you would put Tampa then.

One partial solution might be not adding a team in Portland and instead adding one in the Southeast and then doing a little NL-AL shuffling so you had Miami, Tampa, Atlanta, and the expansion team together.

mgom27 · 05-12-2014, 10:31 AM

Midwest Division with OKC,Texas,Houston,Kansas city,St. Louis? Northeast Mets/Yankees/Blue Jays Red Sox's? Altantic? Centraleast? Southeast? California? West? Northcentral?

Ruwisc · 05-13-2014, 01:27 AM

In the NL, I would do this:

West: Los Angeles / San Francisco / San Diego / Arizona
Central: Colorado / St. Louis / Chicago / Milwaukee
South: Oklahoma City / Miami / Atlanta / Washington
East: New York / Philadelphia / Pittsburgh / Cincinnati

This is how I've divided them up in the past, although it's usually Charlotte instead of OKC. That's what makes the most sense geographically for me; you kill some rivalries in the NL East for sure, but those have never meant as much as Cards/Cubs, and I myself quite like the prospect of a Phillies/Pirates rivalry.

I've done the same expansion with Portland in the AL, and I went with:

West: Seattle / Portland / Oakland / Los Angeles
Central: Minnesota / Kansas City / Houston / Texas
North: Detroit / Chicago / Cleveland / Toronto
East: New York / Boston / Baltimore / Tampa

I always felt odd putting Tampa in a division with the Texas teams and Kansas City, but Minnesota fits well in that spot, and I also like the idea of a Jays/Tigers division rivalry.

MrDov · 05-13-2014, 03:32 AM

Focusing on proximity but trying to keep division rivalries as intact as possible gave me:
AL
West
Oakland
Portland
Seattle
Los Angeles A

Midwest
Texas
Minnesota (can be swapped out for any Central team)
Houston
Kansas City

Central
Toronto
Detroit
Cleveland
Chicago WS

East
Tampa Bay
Boston
New York Y
Baltimore

NL
West
Arizona
San Diego
Los Angeles
San Francisco

Midwest
Colorado
Oklahoma City
St. Louis
Chicago C

Northeast
Milwaukee (I know far away from the rest of the teams, but I don't see a way to do any better)
New York M
Pittsburgh
Philadelphia

Southeast
Atlanta
Miami
Cincinnati
Washington

Le Grande Orange · 05-13-2014, 04:28 AM

Personally, I think 4-team divisions are too small, but be that as it may, the next big question you have to answer is how to structure your schedule. Four divisions in each league presents some problems in terms of how to equitably distribute the match-ups (and only having four teams in each division exacerbates that issue).

bwburke94 · 05-13-2014, 09:24 AM

GMO made a schedule for that a loooong time ago.

cheo25 · 05-13-2014, 11:31 AM

In at least a couple of these setups, you could switch Colorado and Houston and make a little better sense geographically.

Assos · 05-13-2014, 01:24 PM

I am in the same boat, I think divisions of 4 are way too small. I hated when the NFL did it. I like what the NHL did. Why not two leagues of two divisions of eight?

NL
East
New York
Atlanta
Philly
Pittsburgh
Miami
Cincinnati
Chicago
Washington

West
Swap Milwaukee with Houston
OKC
San Fran
LA
Colorado
Arizona
San Diego
St Louis

AL
East
New York
Boston
Toronto
Tampa Bay
Baltimore
Cleveland
Detroit
Chicago

West
Milwaukee in place of Houston
Minnesota
Oakland/San Jose
LAA of Orange County in the state of California in the United States
Texas
Portland
Seattle
Kansas City

Kronos · 05-13-2014, 02:21 PM

You could do a little realignment, this is how I would do it..

AL:
East: nyy, Boston, Toronto, Baltimore
Central: Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Minnesota
South: OKC, Texas, KC, Houston
West: Seattle, Portland, LAA, Oakland
NL:
East: NYM, Philly, Washington, Pittsburge
Central: Chicago, Milwaukee, St.Louis, Colorado
South: Atlanta, Miami, Tampa, Cincinnati
West: LAD, San Francisco, San Diego, Arizona

The Wolf · 05-13-2014, 02:40 PM

This is my 32 team setup, courtesy of the XML exporter.

AL Eastern Division Baltimore Orioles
AL Eastern Division Boston Red Sox
AL Eastern Division New York Yankees
AL Eastern Division Cleveland Indians

AL Central Division Chicago White Sox
AL Central Division Detroit Tigers
AL Central Division Minnesota Twins
AL Central Division Milwaukee Brewers

AL Western Division Los Angeles Angels
AL Western Division Oakland Athletics
AL Western Division Seattle Mariners
AL Western Division Portland Beavers

AL Southern Division Tampa Bay Rays
AL Southern Division Texas Rangers
AL Southern Division Kansas City Royals
AL Southern Division San Antonio Ravens

NL Eastern Division New York Mets
NL Eastern Division Philadelphia Phillies
NL Eastern Division Washington Nationals
NL Eastern Division Pittsburgh Pirates

NL Central Division Chicago Cubs
NL Central Division Cincinnati Reds
NL Central Division St. Louis Cardinals
NL Central Division Colorado Rockies

NL Western Division Arizona Diamondbacks
NL Western Division Los Angeles Dodgers
NL Western Division San Diego Padres
NL Western Division San Francisco Giants

NL Southern Division Atlanta Braves
NL Southern Division Florida Marlins
NL Southern Division Charlotte Knights
NL Southern Division Houston Astros

It works great. (Toronto was moved to San Antonio, Portland and Charlotte are expansion teams.)

Assos · 05-13-2014, 03:25 PM

Been thinking on and off about this thread and it hit me, why does everyone expand to Portland? They took their AAA ball field and turned it into a soccer palace. I think and like the San Antonio route better as The Wolf has moved, but I would have kept the Jays in Canada and expanded south.

rferry · 05-13-2014, 03:51 PM

Could flip Milwaukee and Houston (Pitt to the east, Houston & OKC south, allowing Cubs & Cards in the same division w/ Cincy and Colorado. Or flip Cincy & OKC to create a Plains-focused central).

However, if you don't shift leagues, you're left with at least one outlier. That gets better if you move Atlanta out of the east (it's the same distance to St. Louis as Miami) and flip Arizona & Colorado.

The Wolf · 05-13-2014, 03:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Assos

Been thinking on and off about this thread and it hit me, why does everyone expand to Portland? They took their AAA ball field and turned it into a soccer palace. I think and like the San Antonio route better as The Wolf has moved, but I would have kept the Jays in Canada and expanded south.

It's your game, play it your way.

rferry · 05-13-2014, 04:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Assos

Been thinking on and off about this thread and it hit me, why does everyone expand to Portland? They took their AAA ball field and turned it into a soccer palace. I think and like the San Antonio route better as The Wolf has moved, but I would have kept the Jays in Canada and expanded south.

I like to expand to San Antonio too. Especially now that the NL is missing a Texas market.

The Wolf · 05-13-2014, 04:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Assos

Been thinking on and off about this thread and it hit me, why does everyone expand to Portland?

Here's mlb.com's article on why Portland:

Portland, Ore., ready and willing to become a Major League city | MLB.com: News

And some Portland facts from Maury Brown at Baseball Prospectus:

Portland, OR
Population (data): 593,820
Distance to Nearest MLB Market: Seattle (200 miles)
MLB Television Territories Impacted (data): Mariners
Median Household Income (2006-2010): $48,831
Television Information (data): (Ranks 22nd in DMA) 1,182,180 television households, 1.035 percent of US TV households
Radio Information (data): Arbitron ranking: 23rd (Metro 12+ population: 2,152,300)
Number of Major League Teams: 2 (NBA: Trail Blazers, MLS: Timbers)
Interim/New Facility location: PGE Park (seating capacity: 20,000, expandable to 25,000)
Population base per franchise (with MLB team): 197,940
Number of Fortune 1000 Companies: 5

The Wolf · 05-13-2014, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rferry

I like to expand to San Antonio too. Especially now that the NL is missing a Texas market.

San Antonio is a very suitable city for MLB expansion. Likewise Portland, Charlotte, Las Vegas, and Sacramento.

Assos · 05-13-2014, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Wolf

San Antonio is a very suitable city for MLB expansion. Likewise Portland, Charlotte, Las Vegas, and Sacramento.

Agreed! We always hear the Charlotte relocation threat from some fool in the media about the Rays. The only relocation we will get from them is to Tampa.

I would love for the A's to be set whether it be in Oakland or San Jose so I can set up the future to reflect properly when predicting my 2025 World Series winner.

tward13 · 05-13-2014, 04:33 PM

Maybe for a fantasy baseball league, but Charlotte isn't really major league ready. And they know it. They just built a brand new on-expandable downtown AAA park. It'll sell 9-10 thousand a night for awhile, but that will die off. Already have two major league teams here plus NASCAR. No way MLB is getting over 20K here on week nights.

rpriske · 05-13-2014, 04:40 PM

Toronto and Detroit should always be in the same division.

And yes, I realize that they are NOT in the same division right now.

05-12-2014, 02:40 AM	#1
Mister_G All Star Reserve Join Date: Jan 2012 Posts: 576	Divisions for 32-team Expansion So I'd like to add two expansion teams to the major leagues. I'd really like to place an Oklahoma City team in the NL (don't ask why). My problem is now setting up divisions. I really want it to be 4 divisions of 4 teams each. Geographically though, this presents some problems. Just looking for some input. This is what I have as of now... AL North Minnesota Detroit Cleveland Chicago South Kansas City Houston Texas Tampa East Boston New York Baltimore Toronto West Seattle San Jose Portland Los Angeles NL North Chicago Pittsburgh Cincinnati Milwaukee South Oklahoma City St. Louis Arizona Miami East New York Atlanta Washington Philadelphia West Colorado Los Angeles San Diego San Francisco It seems pretty good to me, up until you get to the southern divisions. The idea of having a Florida team in each of those is annoying (as is the elimination of the Cubs-Cards division rivalry, but less so). Any ideas on how to setup the divisions? The AL team doe snot necessarily have to be in Portland. (BTW, I already moved Oakland to San Jose so that's where that comes from). __________________ A man doesn't make mistakes, mistakes make the man @MisterG90

05-12-2014, 10:31 AM	#3
mgom27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 3,532	Midwest Division with OKC,Texas,Houston,Kansas city,St. Louis? Northeast Mets/Yankees/Blue Jays Red Sox's? Altantic? Centraleast? Southeast? California? West? Northcentral? __________________ Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

05-13-2014, 03:32 AM	#5
MrDov Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Aug 2012 Posts: 281	Focusing on proximity but trying to keep division rivalries as intact as possible gave me: AL West Oakland Portland Seattle Los Angeles A Midwest Texas Minnesota (can be swapped out for any Central team) Houston Kansas City Central Toronto Detroit Cleveland Chicago WS East Tampa Bay Boston New York Y Baltimore NL West Arizona San Diego Los Angeles San Francisco Midwest Colorado Oklahoma City St. Louis Chicago C Northeast Milwaukee (I know far away from the rest of the teams, but I don't see a way to do any better) New York M Pittsburgh Philadelphia Southeast Atlanta Miami Cincinnati Washington Last edited by MrDov; 05-13-2014 at 03:37 AM.

05-13-2014, 03:51 PM	#13
rferry All Star Reserve Join Date: May 2002 Location: DC Posts: 549	Could flip Milwaukee and Houston (Pitt to the east, Houston & OKC south, allowing Cubs & Cards in the same division w/ Cincy and Colorado. Or flip Cincy & OKC to create a Plains-focused central). However, if you don't shift leagues, you're left with at least one outlier. That gets better if you move Atlanta out of the east (it's the same distance to St. Louis as Miami) and flip Arizona & Colorado. __________________ please excuse my grammar, i read baseball weekly in my high school english classes.

05-13-2014, 04:40 PM	#20
rpriske Hall Of Famer Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Spencerville, ON, Canada Posts: 26,606	Toronto and Detroit should always be in the same division. And yes, I realize that they are NOT in the same division right now. __________________ Rusty Priske Poet, Canadian, Baseball Fan ````````````````````````````````````````

05-12-2014, 08:54 AM	#2
thriller13 Minors (Single A) Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Peoria, Arizona Posts: 85	Oklahoma City would fit much more naturally in your AL South in place of Tampa, but not sure where you would put Tampa then. One partial solution might be not adding a team in Portland and instead adding one in the Southeast and then doing a little NL-AL shuffling so you had Miami, Tampa, Atlanta, and the expansion team together.

05-13-2014, 01:27 AM	#4
Ruwisc All Star Reserve Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Southwestern Illinois Posts: 667	In the NL, I would do this: West: Los Angeles / San Francisco / San Diego / Arizona Central: Colorado / St. Louis / Chicago / Milwaukee South: Oklahoma City / Miami / Atlanta / Washington East: New York / Philadelphia / Pittsburgh / Cincinnati This is how I've divided them up in the past, although it's usually Charlotte instead of OKC. That's what makes the most sense geographically for me; you kill some rivalries in the NL East for sure, but those have never meant as much as Cards/Cubs, and I myself quite like the prospect of a Phillies/Pirates rivalry. I've done the same expansion with Portland in the AL, and I went with: West: Seattle / Portland / Oakland / Los Angeles Central: Minnesota / Kansas City / Houston / Texas North: Detroit / Chicago / Cleveland / Toronto East: New York / Boston / Baltimore / Tampa I always felt odd putting Tampa in a division with the Texas teams and Kansas City, but Minnesota fits well in that spot, and I also like the idea of a Jays/Tigers division rivalry.

05-13-2014, 04:28 AM	#6
Le Grande Orange Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Up There Posts: 15,644	Personally, I think 4-team divisions are too small, but be that as it may, the next big question you have to answer is how to structure your schedule. Four divisions in each league presents some problems in terms of how to equitably distribute the match-ups (and only having four teams in each division exacerbates that issue).

05-13-2014, 09:24 AM	#7
bwburke94 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Belchertown, MA, USA Posts: 4,507	GMO made a schedule for that a loooong time ago.

05-13-2014, 11:31 AM	#8
cheo25 All Star Starter Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Louisiana Posts: 1,272	In at least a couple of these setups, you could switch Colorado and Houston and make a little better sense geographically.

05-13-2014, 01:24 PM	#9
Assos All Star Starter Join Date: May 2004 Location: Just on the fair side of the foul pole! Posts: 1,772	I am in the same boat, I think divisions of 4 are way too small. I hated when the NFL did it. I like what the NHL did. Why not two leagues of two divisions of eight? NL East New York Atlanta Philly Pittsburgh Miami Cincinnati Chicago Washington West Swap Milwaukee with Houston OKC San Fran LA Colorado Arizona San Diego St Louis AL East New York Boston Toronto Tampa Bay Baltimore Cleveland Detroit Chicago West Milwaukee in place of Houston Minnesota Oakland/San Jose LAA of Orange County in the state of California in the United States Texas Portland Seattle Kansas City

05-13-2014, 02:21 PM	#10
Kronos Major Leagues Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Northern Ky. Posts: 318	You could do a little realignment, this is how I would do it.. AL: East: nyy, Boston, Toronto, Baltimore Central: Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Minnesota South: OKC, Texas, KC, Houston West: Seattle, Portland, LAA, Oakland NL: East: NYM, Philly, Washington, Pittsburge Central: Chicago, Milwaukee, St.Louis, Colorado South: Atlanta, Miami, Tampa, Cincinnati West: LAD, San Francisco, San Diego, Arizona

05-13-2014, 03:25 PM	#12
Assos All Star Starter Join Date: May 2004 Location: Just on the fair side of the foul pole! Posts: 1,772	Been thinking on and off about this thread and it hit me, why does everyone expand to Portland? They took their AAA ball field and turned it into a soccer palace. I think and like the San Antonio route better as The Wolf has moved, but I would have kept the Jays in Canada and expanded south.

05-13-2014, 04:33 PM	#19
tward13 All Star Starter Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 1,964	Maybe for a fantasy baseball league, but Charlotte isn't really major league ready. And they know it. They just built a brand new on-expandable downtown AAA park. It'll sell 9-10 thousand a night for awhile, but that will die off. Already have two major league teams here plus NASCAR. No way MLB is getting over 20K here on week nights.