It's the big topic right now. Rumor has it that Major League Baseball wants to realign and get an even number of teams in each league. I say that's great, except for one thing. There are currently 30 teams in the Major's. If you have 15 and 15 it will cause scheduling nightmares as there would have to be one team from each League that doesn't play every day. The only way to combat this with the current 30 teams that are playing would be to incorporate Interleague Play into a season-long event. Instead of putting all the Interleague games at the end of June/beginning of July portion of the schedule, the Interleague matchups would be happening everyday. I am not completely opposed to this but I have an even better idea. Expand. There are many markets that come to mind when I think about expansion. Let's take a look.
Las Vegas, NV - The big knock on Vegas is not the gambling issue. It's more the Transplant issue. Everyone contends that people in Vegas aren't from Vegas. They just moved there. They have their own favorite team. They won't support the local team. I say bunk. A new ballpark in Vegas would bring tourists and fans alike. It's not always easy to follow your hometown team and who says you can't root for two teams? I think Vegas is a great location for a team.
Charlotte, NC - Think about the American League and National League East divisions. There is a complete lack of Mid-East Coast teams. From Baltimore/Washington D.C. down to Atlanta there are no Major League teams. The Carolina's are full of Minor League teams but it is time for them to get a Major League team down there for the good folks of North and South Carolina.
New York, New York - The city has over eight million people. It supported three teams at one time and could easily do it again. Another team in New York, specifically the Brooklyn Area, would be great for the sport and the city. Especially with the Nets getting ready to move as well, you could have an Arena/Ballpark area much like Detroit is proposing and Cleveland has.
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada - The western part of Canada has no sports representation other than hockey. The Winter Olympics revived the area and gave them a great sense of local pride. Major League Baseball needs to capitalize on this and put a team in Vancouver.
Other possible locations that come to mind include San Juan, Puerto Rico and Nashville, Tennessee. By adding two teams, you can do a number of things that would be good for the game. First, you realign with both of the new teams in the American League. Then, you create four four-team divisions within each League. This gives you playoff expansion by giving you four Division winners and two Wild Card teams. The top two records in each League would receive a first round bye and the Wild Card teams would play a three-game series in which they are the visitor for all three games. They are a Wild Card. They've got to earn that birth into the next round.
Realigning is easy from that point. Make sure you keep the good rivalries (i.e. Boston/NY, LA/San Fran, Cle/Det/Chi) and then just go geographically from there. No one needs to switch Leagues a la Milwaukee. It's clear that something is going to happen. I just really hope expansion is involved as well. Something just feels wrong about an American League team opening up against a National League team on the first day of the season. Whatever the case, more baseball means that we all win!
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