Category Archives: Expansion

August 9, 2024

Talk About Power Speed Numbers

MLB will play a game at a race track next summer:

Officials from MLB and the track known as “Thunder Valley” that holds more than 146,000 fans for NASCAR races announced Friday that the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds will play in the Speedway Classic there on Aug. 2, 2025.

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It will be a Reds home game, with the first two of the series being played at Cincinnati.

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The game will be the first National League or American League regular-season game played in the Volunteer State and continues MLB’s push to break new ground. There have been major league games in recent seasons at Fort Bragg in North Carolina in 2016; Omaha, Nebraska, in 2019; Iowa’s Field of Dreams in 2021; and Rickwood Field in Alabama earlier this year.

Those games were the first MLB contests in those respective states.
ESPN.com

MLB will likely expand in the next few years, and having games like this gives the MLB front office a chance to see how engaged these fans are in difference parts of the country. While the thought is that two teams would be added, and we would get eight four-team divisions, MLB could go whole hog, add six teams, and go with six six-team divisions. Six team divisions work really well in a 162 game schedule.

I’ve heard announcers saying they miss all the intra-division games. With six-team divisions, teams could play 90 games in division, and 72 games against two other divisions, the two outside divisions changing every year.

February 28, 2024

Some Futures

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Here are some long-term odds from SportsBetting.ag. The first list looks at possible Rob Manfred replacements as commissioner:

Next MLB Commissioner
Theo Epstein 4/1
Dan Halem 5/1
Chris Marinak 5/1
Noah Garden 6/1
Morgan Sword 7/1
Tom Werner 8/1
Nick Khan 10/1
Dave Checketts 12/1
Barack Obama 15/1
Don Garber 15/1
Ryan Howard 20/1
Cal Ripken 22/1
Greg Sankey 25/1
Tony Clark 25/1
Sam Kennedy 28/1
Brett Yormark 30/1
Steve Garvey 33/1
Doug Glanville 33/1
Casey Wasserman 40/1
Bob Iger 40/1
Mark Attanasio 45/1
Paul Beeston 50/1
Bob Costas 66/1
Tony Petitti 66/1
Jayson Stark 75/1
Tim Kurkjian 100/1
Jeff Passan 100/1
Derek Jeter 100/1
Chris Russo 150/1

Epstein would be a good choice, but he tends not to last long in these high stress jobs. Doug Glanville would make an interesting choice. He is a well educated former player who has a good public record. I know Tim Kurkjian and think he would do a tremendous job promoting the game.

Of course, it doesn’t matter what I think, it matters who the owners believe will protect their interests the most.

Second is the location of the next expansion teams.

Next MLB Team Location
Nashville 3/1
Charlotte 4/1
Portland 5/1
Salt Lake City 6/1
New Orleans 8/1
San Antonio 9/1
Mexico City 10/1
Oklahoma City 25/1
Montreal 33/1
Indianapolis 40/1
Jacksonville 40/1
Memphis 40/1
Sacramento 50/1
Vancouver 50/1
Virginia Beach 60/1
Buffalo 75/1
San Juan (Puerto Rico) 100/1

Seoul 100/1
Tokyo 100/1

I am always seeing Portland (I assume Oregon), but Portland doesn’t strike me as a baseball city, and I don’t know why it always ranks so high. I like that there are international locations on the list, but Seoul and Tokyo are likely out until we have suborbital flights to those distant locations.

I am surprised Durham, NC, is not on the list.

April 12, 2023

The Other Great Lake

Opry Baseball

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Former pitcher, agent, and general manager Dave Stewart works diligently to build a group that can put an expansion team in Nashville, Tennessee. MLB will not move on expansion until Oakland and Tampa Bay resolve their stadium situations, but Stewart wants everything in place:

The uncertain timetable creates a quandary for groups like Music City Baseball. How do you build a baseball team without the guarantee of ever even having a baseball team? Stewart and his colleagues described the effort as something akin to building a home. The foundation must be ready by the time MLB opts for more construction. “Truth is, what we have time to do is just think,” Stewart said. “And paint a picture, paint a canvas, paint our vision.”

Added managing director John Loar, “We’re trying to control things we can control. And build our organization and build a brand and a team — before it’s a team.”
TheAthletic.com

The group is recruiting people who tried to buy a baseball team in the past but fell short.

Unstated in the article is another advantage to building now. Both Oakland and Tampa Bay could move if their stadium situations stall. This group could buy one of those teams and move to them to Nashville as well, which might be cheaper in the long run and could even lead to a championship season quicker.

April 19, 2022