Major League Baseball will expand in the future. That is a given.
What’s not given is when it will occur, and what locations will gain teams.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has shown interest in a 32 team expansion, plotting teams in Montreal and Mexico, respectively.
Returning the Expos is a risky bid. Putting a team in Mexico simply makes no sense. The majority of Mexico does not speak English, in contrast to Canada, which does. You also can’t deny the fact that the US and Canada are extremely close, far closer than the US is with Mexico. Putting a team in Mexico is an odd proposal at most, but simply just does not make sense when analyzed.
That’s when I came across a Reddit post (which has since been deleted) of a fan-made map of MLB teams if a six-team expansion were to occur. Yes, under this proposal, the MLB would gain not two, but six teams, and have 36 teams.
“Six new teams? 36 teams total? That’s never gonna happen, Chris!”
Well, you may be right. It might not happen. Not all at once. I believe it will happen eventually, maybe ten, twenty years down the line. But for now, no.
But something about this map caught my eye, and after analyzing it, it just makes sense. Maybe Commissioner Manfred needs to take a look at this map.
For now, let us take a look.
In this proposal, each division (AL East, NL West, AL Central, etc.) would gain one team, for a total of six new teams and 36 teams total. In this way, there would not have to be an entire league realignment that would occur if two teams were added. Now, the only thing that would change is the addition of one team per division (and scheduling changes, of course, but that would come regardless of how many teams are added).
For the AL East, a team in Charlotte, the Clutchers, would be added. For the NL East, a team in Montreal, the Maroons, would be added. It’s quite odd that the mapmaker chose to name the team the Maroons, referencing a former hockey team in Montreal (besides the Canadiens) rather than the Expos. The creator chose to give the Expos name to a Las Vegas team, maybe because Las Vegas hosts a lot of expos. I’m not so sure.
Anyway, let’s continue. For AL Central, a team in Nashville, the Sounds (which is currently the name of Nashville’s Minor League Baseball team, but maybe that would have to be changed) would be added. For NL Central, a team in New Orleans, the Bourbons, would be added, despite New Orleans being located far away geographically from the other NL Central teams.
For NL West, a team based in San Antonio, the Stackers, would be added. Finally, for AL West, the Athletics–who are currently facing a stadium crisis–would be eliminated and replaced by either the aforementioned Las Vegas team, or a new Portland, Oregon team, named the Beavers. I personally think the name “Beavers” for a Portland MLB team would fit so well, as it’s the name of former Portland baseball teams, and we all know Oregon is known for their beavers (among other things). The other team names are also really clever.
All the other teams would stay. I personally really like this proposal, and think it makes a lot of sense. It does its best to retain the current MLB situation (besides the Athletics) while adding new aspects.
But what do you think of this map? Does it make sense to you, and why or why not? What cities do you think should host future MLB franchises? And will those franchises be successful, like the Vegas Golden Knights in their inaugural year? Let me know below.
Chris is a writer and publisher who travels America, and loves doing it. He also loves pizza, video games, and sports, and can tell you a thing or two about each. Follow him on Medium to be informed of new articles.
