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[Clovidequano Dovatha]

Might I suggest this, if you start with 28, instead of 30? Take the pre-1998 setup of teams, to start with here, modified to have only two divisions per subleague, until you expand your MLB setup. From there, when you expand, you can add Washington, Tampa Bay, Hartford, and Arizona at the same time. That could then move Milwaukee to the AL West to make room for the two new AL teams. While Arizona and Hartford would then occupy the corresponding spots in the two NL divisions, in like manner, of course.

You'd have a prospective setup as follows, then, I believe, when the expansion teams come in as needed and all:

AL East:

Baltimore
Boston
Cleveland
Detroit
New York
Tampa Bay
Toronto
Washington

AL West:

California (or Anaheim or Los Angeles)
Chicago
Kansas City
Milwaukee
Minnesota
Oakland
Seattle
Texas

NL East:

Atlanta
Cincinnati
Hartford
Miami (or Florida)
Montreal
New York
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh

NL West:

Arizona
Chicago
Colorado
Houston
Los Angeles
St. Louis
San Diego
San Francisco

That's supposing you don't actually start all the classic MLB franchises, at least, off in their traditional starting locations instead, of course, you know, jg2977. But I'm certainly not running this particular dynasty here, either, in any case whatsoever. CD out.

[jg2977]

Thanks for your suggestions. Your setup could definitely work, but I want the Hartford Huskies to be rivals of the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. And I will be using the Washington Nationals, who I feel belong in the National League. I wouldn't be opposed to using the Senators, but I want the team name to match the park that they will be playing in, Nationals Park.

Also, I'll just use the Guardians nickname for Cleveland. I've already gotten used to it, and the uniforms will automatically be installed for me.

I know that you prefer much less playoff teams, and that will be the case for the next 94 seasons. Starting in 1995, I will begin to expand the playoff field, as they did in real life. (The playoff expansion should have started in '94, but the strike delayed it for a year)

I will use your suggestion of starting with 28 teams instead of 30. That way each subleague can have an even number of teams. I will delay the arrivals of the Tampa Bay Rays and Arizona Diamondbacks.

[jg2977]

Who do you like between Fort Benton and Hillsboro in the 1900 Pro Cup?

[Clovidequano Dovatha]

Then why not put Tampa Bay in the NL, instead, if you want Hartford in the AL? That way, the two Florida teams could be rivals of each other here. That might work too, if you start with 28 in 1901, for MLB. Then sometime later, add the other four teams to make 32 total teams in MLB. Just a few thoughts here you may want to consider, then, I think. CD out.

[Clovidequano Dovatha]

I suppose you could save the use of the Senators team name for Ottawa, then, if you'd potentially include them as a possible expansion team later, jg2977, for your MLB. Okay, let me see if I can figure out a better possible setup for you, if you'd want Hartford in the AL, and Washington in the NL, then.

Maybe something like this, once you go to 32 teams, might work for you then here:

AL East:

Baltimore
Boston
Cleveland
Detroit
Hartford
Yankees
Tampa Bay
Toronto

AL West:

California/Anaheim/Los Angeles
White Sox
Kansas City
Milwaukee
Minnesota
Oakland
Seattle
Texas

NL East:

Atlanta
Cincinnati
Florida/Miami
Montreal
Mets
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Washington

NL West:

Arizona
Cubs
Colorado
Houston
Los Angeles
St. Louis
San Diego
San Francisco

If you would want to divide each of those four divisions in half apiece, we'll have to figure out how to do that most efficiently, though, I think. And then rename the resulting divisions accordingly, especially if we add teams past the 32-team planned numbers at some point in time, of course.

We could eventually divide them up by time zones, for instance, running from the east to the west, as then appropriate and all. The NFL actually had four divisions for a while, at least, prior to their eventual merger with the AFL in 1970, as you may already perhaps know fairly well here. Do you plan to have considerable interleague play during regular seasons or not, as well? I'd rather strongly recommend against it here, of course, jg2977. CD out.

[jg2977]

Your last proposal, that is exactly what I'll be doing.

To make things simpler, I'll just start with that 32-team setup.

[Clovidequano Dovatha]

Okay, how soon from now would you likely want to expand to 36 or more teams for MLB? I'd wait at least twenty years, if not at least 25, before you do so here. Which would then mean no expansion until 1921 or 1926, at the earliest, of course, in that case, jg2977. CD out.

[jg2977]

If I divide up the divisions to create 8 4-team divisions, maybe something like this:

AL East
NY Yankees
Boston
Hartford
Toronto

AL Central
Cleveland
Detroit
Baltimore
Tampa Bay

AL Midwest
ChiSox
Kansas City
Milwaukee
Minnesota

AL West
Texas
Seattle
Oakland
Anaheim

NL East
NY Mets
Montreal
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh

NL South
Houston
Atlanta
Miami
Washington

NL Central
Chi Cubs
St. Louis
Colorado
Cincinnati

NL West
Arizona
Los Angeles
San Francisco
San Diego

[Clovidequano Dovatha]

Personally, for certain classic teams, I normally prefer classic team names, such as Indians, Devil Rays, et cetera. But this dynasty isn't mine here, of course. So what I'd prefer here isn't as important as what you might prefer here, for sure.

The Guardians name in this context seems rather weak to me at this point, and I doubt it will ever grow on me enough for Cleveland here, at least. IF they were going to change the name in question, and didn't use Spiders, it wouldn't have been the name I'd have chosen for them, most definitely. I don't know what I would have called them instead of the Indians or Spiders, just yet, but I certainly wouldn't have chosen Guardians, in any case. CD out.

[jg2977]

Although with a balanced schedule, I'd rather not have all those divisions. I'd just rather choose the top 4 records in each league to go to the playoffs. If there is a bad division where all teams are below .500, one of those teams might make it, while in a strong division, a 100-win team could be left out.

And by having no divisions, there's always the chance that we could have a Hartford-Boston or Hartford-NY Yankees playoff series, which I would love to see.

[jg2977]

There are plenty of Cleveland Indians and Spiders uniforms on this forum, so I'll flip a coin and go with one of those. I like the Cleveland Spiders name, actually, and I wish they went with that for the new team name. Devil Rays is great too, for Tampa. I know that there are Devils Rays throwback uniforms on this forum too.

I already see that txranger has made an incredible Spiders set. So I will use that.

[Clovidequano Dovatha]

It would be best to save the four-division setup for when you'd go to at least 20 to 24 teams per subleague, I think, jg2977. But you'd definitely want to keep certain teams together, in any case, for sure.

I'd use the classic teams at least as a base for such configurations, though, I believe. Washington and Baltimore belong together, but I'm not running this dynasty, you know. Using them as a base, whether or not you'd start them off in their classic locations, you could then easily put them into pairs or greater, and then go from there as the need or desire then arose.

IF you used the configuration I often use to start things off with for MLB in 1901, you could perhaps easily divide the teams up into pairs or quartets, at least for rivalry's sake. Let me explain, if I can, please.

I often go this way or nearly this way when I create the MLB to start in 1901:

National League (Or Division, if I start with two divisions per subleague):

Boston Braves
Brooklyn Dodgers
Chicago Cubs
Cincinnati Reds
New York Giants
Philadelphia Phillies
Pittsburgh Pirates
St. Louis Cardinals

American League (Or Division, if I start with two divisions per subleague):

Boston Red Sox
Chicago White Sox
Cleveland Indians (or another team name that isn't Guardians)
Detroit Tigers
New York Yankees
Philadelphia Athletics
St. Louis Browns
Washington Senators

Federal League (Or Division, if I start with two divisions per subleague):

Chicago Whales
Florida Marlins
Milwaukee Brewers
Montreal Expos
New Jersey Generals
New York Metropolitans (Mets)
Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Toronto Blue Jays

Continental League (Or Division, if I start with two divisions per subleague):

Arizona Diamondbacks
California Angels
Colorado Rockies
Houston Colt .45's (if not Astros at first)
Kansas City Royals
San Diego Padres
Seattle Mariners
Texas Rangers

If I start MLB with 32 teams instead of 16, I typically pair the FD with the ND, and the CD with the AD. If I start with 16 MLB teams, however, I often create the American Federal Baseball Union as a rival league to MLB, and associate them, along with at least two other leagues, with each other, for association-related matters. In the latter case, the AFBU would then consist of the Federal League and the Continental League ending up in another overall league together here. Just so you know. CD out.

[Clovidequano Dovatha]

With the above proposed configuration, you could probably create several good rivalries between various teams, especially as the later team names come into play here, like Orioles and Pilots, et cetera, for instance. Even if you'd eventually break the teams up into four or eight divisions per subleague, later on, jg2977. Just so you know. CD out.

[Clovidequano Dovatha]

For four divisions per subleague, you'd take two teams from each of the two eight-team divisions for each of the new four-team divisions per subleague, and join them together, as you'd then see fit. Of course, if you move some teams out of their classic locations, you would likely have to do a lot of mixing about here, you know, to get those divisions set up properly and all.

But I don't think you'd want to have to do that here, in truth, jg2977. Especially if it would require teams shifting like the Astros and Brewers did in the real world to the opposite leagues from the ones they started out in here. Right? CD out.

[Clovidequano Dovatha]

As I said, you'd probably want to save the idea of four divisions per subleague until you'd have at least 20 teams per subleague, if not 24 or more. To do otherwise would probably not be very wise here, I think, in any case.

Divisions would best be created according to a power of two, if used for a subleague, I think. Two, four, eight, et cetera, as the need and desire then arose. Not three, six, twelve, et cetera, for example. That way, we avoid needless wildcards in the mix, when it comes to playoffs for a particular season, for sure. CD out.

[Clovidequano Dovatha]

If you wanted to have a 48-team version of MLB at some point, you could perhaps go with a lineup like this, I think, jg2977. Or not, if you so chose, of course:

American League East:

Boston Red Sox
Brooklyn Dodgers
Cincinnati Reds
New York Yankees
Philadelphia Athletics
Pittsburgh Pirates

American League North:

Chicago White Sox
Cleveland Indians
Detroit Tigers
Milwaukee Brewers
Minnesota Twins
Toronto Blue Jays (Canada)

American League South:

Baltimore Orioles
Carolina Pilots
Memphis Blues
New Orleans Pelicans
St. Louis Browns
Washington Senators

American League West:

Las Vegas Aces
Mexico City Jaguars (Mexico)
Oakland Oaks
Oklahoma Outlaws
Portland Beavers
Vancouver Grizzlies (Canada)

National League East:

Boston Braves
Buffalo Lakers
Havana Sugar Kings (Cuba)
New York Mets
San Juan Storm (USA/Puerto Rico)
Virginia Fury

National League North:

Chicago Cubs
Green Bay Loggers
Kansas City Royals
Montreal Expos (Canada)
Ottawa Capitals (Canada)
St. Louis Cardinals

National League South:

Atlanta Thrashers
Florida Marlins
Houston Astros
Kingston Hummers (Jamaica)
Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Texas Rangers

National League West:

Arizona Diamondbacks
California Angels
Colorado Rockies
San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants
Seattle Mariners

Just a suggestion here, of course, which you can take as you will or not. Maybe you could set up your MLB in 1901 so that no team would have to change leagues later on, after you start it. It would change up the normal configuration of where teams would begin play, certainly, but if MLB had been more logical, and peaceful, starting in 1901, maybe something like this configuration would exist today, or eventually, sometime along the line. CD out.

[jg2977]

The IPA has the Pro Cup, and MLB has the World Series. What should I name the championship series between the IPA and MLB?

I'm thinking of renaming the MLB Finals the Fall Classic. Then the IPA-MLB championship will be the true World Series.

[Clovidequano Dovatha]

The next cities or locations I'd probably add to MLB after the above teams and their respective locations and all would then most likely include several of the following places:

Hartford or Worcester or Providence
Honolulu and/or Hilo
Nashville
Louisville
Birmingham
Nassau (Bahamas)
Winnipeg (Canada)
San Antonio
Albuquerque or Santa Fe
Austin
Salt Lake City
Omaha
Anchorage
Fairbanks
Juneau
Edmonton (Canada)
Calgary (Canada)
Saskatoon (Canada)
Whitehorse (Canada)
Halifax (Canada)
Quebec (Canada)
Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic)
Santiago (Cuba)

Of course, it's your dynasty here, totally, but if you were ever to expand past 48 teams for MLB, these are the cities I think I'd probably most recommend you consider for any potential expansion teams later on here, in truth. Just so you know, jg2977. CD out.

[Clovidequano Dovatha]

Well, in that case, let's then put Islandia in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, perhaps, at least when it comes to your dynasty here, and then it could actually be a World Series when you have the IPA and MLB champions face off in it. Right now, they'd both seem to be on two somewhat different worlds, or at least in two different dimensions here, anyway, to me. For MLB, I'm sure we could both then think of a good championship name for them, besides the Fall Classic, if you don't want to use the World Series as its title. Let me think about that for a bit, please. Thank you. CD out.

[jg2977]

It's okay, you don't have to think about it. I'll use Fall Classic, there's nothing wrong with that name. Or, perhaps the Babe Ruth Cup. When the average joe thinks of baseball, even people who don't care about baseball, the first name they think of is The Babe.