MLB: Potential Destinations for Expansion
By David Hill
With 15 teams in each division and constant interleague play, it seemed as though MLB expansion would be inevitable. What locations should the next teams in baseball call home?
It has been almost twenty years since expansion came to Major League Baseball. With the introductions of the Tampa Bay Rays and the Arizona Diamondbacks, the MLB had expanded to thirty teams, causing both leagues to be uneven. Sixteen clubs called the National League home, as the Milwaukee Brewers moved from the American League, while the AL held fourteen squads.
With interleague play being introduced as a year long concept, the Houston Astros were moved to the American League, giving each league fifteen teams. This has made scheduling a bit more difficult, as Rob Manfred said, since it is easier to create a schedule with multiples of four instead of multiples of five.
As such, Manfred said that expansion is inevitable, even if it is not imminent. While the stadium issues in Tampa Bay and Oakland need to be resolved, and any possible relocation determined, expansion is definitely on the radar and will be coming to the MLB once again.
With expansion being such an inevitability, let us take a look at five possible locations for a new team.
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