(Below: Where Braves Field/Boston used to be, now used among other things for Nickerson Field/B.U.)
Posted on 06/11/2011 1:57:58 PM PDT by rawhide
As Major League Baseball continues to discuss possible realignment, one idea that has come up is going to a league with 15 teams per league, reports ESPN's Buster Olney.
Currently, the National League has 16 teams and the AL 14 for scheduling purposes. Should baseball go to two 15-team leagues, that would likely require interleague play every day of the season. Given baseball likes to treat interleague play as an event, that could dilute the appeal of interleague play to the point it would no longer be a moneymaker. However, there is still real resistance to the idea which has not been presented to owners yet, although the player's union is reportedly open to it.
"I'd still say the odds of it happening are less than 50-50," the source said.
CBSSports.com's Danny Knobler says that players are open to it because they are not happy about AL West teams having a 25 percent chance of making the playoffs, the NL Central just 18 percent and the rest all at 20 percent.
To switch to a 15-team alignment, one team from the NL would have to move to the AL. According to Olney, two highly-ranked executives think the Astros could receive the call in order to tap into a rivalry with the Texas Rangers. Picking the Astros would also allow baseball to remove one team from the NL Central and slot Houston into the AL West, which would address the issue of playoff percentages.
They would also need a $6bil ball park with a roof...as would Las Vegas.
The other locations could go with your run of the mill $2.5-$3.0bil ball park.
Portland being the weakest candidate due to 30 years of conditioning as Mariners fans.
(Below: Where Braves Field/Boston used to be, now used among other things for Nickerson Field/B.U.)
Riverside, CA is actually the largest, but the three you mention follow it in order. After that come Orlando, Las Vegas and Columbus.
Sacramento may be too close to the Oakland team/San Francisco team area to be considered?
What about San Juan, PR? Two hour flying time from Miami.
Jacksonville is in no real danger of the Jaguars moving to LA. There have not been any blackouts in Jackonville the last season. The Stadium got a new sponser, the Jaguars drafted a promising franchise quarterback, and also sold more season tickets in 2010.
If any city is in danger of losing a team to LA, then it is Oakland, San Diego, or Minnesota. Probably one of the two California team mentioned that will move.
A second team in Boston? Why did the Boston Braves move out of Boston in the first place? Has Boston grown significantly since then? I thought they were the “other” team in Boston, and moved due to terrible attendance.
It seems that not too many big markets can support two teams very well.
If you want a huge market, try Mexico City. We’ve already got a team in Canada—why not Mexico. Half the players are latino anyway.
Hell, the Mexicans are slowly taking over our country anyway.
Wow, you are about 40 years behind the times. I figure you’re messing with us.
Did you know that the Montreal Expos are now the Washington Nationals, and the Seattle Pilots are now the Milwaukee Brewers??????
I'd bet my house, job and first born on that.
I know all about Braves field. My late father was a Braves fan until they left when he was 21. I have his ticket stub from Game 2 of the 1948 World Series.
San Antonio would be a good candidate as it has a strong economy and I think there would be fans.
Yes, I thought of Mexico City for the reasons you mentioned. However, the crime rates all over Mexico are terrible.
I would love to see a return to a 154 game season, and a shorter season. I would love to see more doubleheaders. I would like to see doubleheaders on Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day. I would like to see occasional Sunday doubleheaders too.
I would like the season to start around April 20th, so as to avoid as much as possible the early spring bad weather. And end the regular season by mid-September, so there is plenty of time to get the playoffs in before the bad fall weather hits.
I would even like to see a day game in the World Series. Can you imagine such a concept???????
While baseball fans in my area might like it, there probably isn’t room for two teams here. In Howie Carr’s book Hitman about gangster Johnny Martorano, Martorano calls when he was young his father and a bunch of his friends would go to either Braves Field or Fenway Park to catch a game and bet on
who would hit a HR, the final score, whether the next pitch would be a strike, or whatever. He recalls (paraphrasing here)
that “this was before the Braves moved to Milwaukee. Back then the Sox didn’t draw as many people as they do now,
and the Braves drew _nobody_. That’s why they moved.”
Outside of a short-term novelty (and inevitable bitterness
by Sox owners—how did you think the Orioles owner felt about the poss. of a team in nearby D.C., the Nationals?)
a second team probably wouldn’t succeed. The Sox would dominate it all.
The Sox owners spent $700 million on the team, did some improvements to the ballpark, spend a lot of money on payroll and have done well in the standings, with 2 World Series titles in the past 8 yrs or so. The last thing they would want is...competition! Hence I would not expect John Henry and company to be enthusiastic about the senior circuit moving back here!
Nine hour flying time from the west coast.
calls = “recalls”
but Riverside is so close to LA, which already has the Dodgers and Angels. Hard to believe they would ever get a major league team there, unless one of the two teams moved.
heck with all the troubles with gangs at Dodger Stadium, maybe they might look to move east????
The first thing baseball should do is get rid of Bud Selig. In fact, they should send a letter of apology to everyone that’s bought a ticket to a game since Bud became commissioner. Then add a few inches to the mound and loosen the stiches on the baseball. Then cut 20+ games from the season and make all playoff games back to back so that we stop having to watch ‘the boys of summer’ play when it’s 10 degrees outside.
Oh, and interleague play should be limited to two series a year.
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