I was certain I read somewhere on the Oregon Stadium Campaign board that Portland and Seattle were farther apart than KC and St Louis. Oh well I guess they don't know there geography like alot people on this board. I agree with Pounder alot of goofy realingments are taking place here, basically the only teams that logically can be switched to the AL would be Arizona and Colorado. That still would probally be pretty hard to do, but some cash under the table and better setup then it could be done. Personally Coors Field would be an awesome American League park.

...and KC leads into something else I was going to mention.

Virtually every western team would love to have a regular visit from the Dodgers. They all want in to the NL West. I believe this includes the Los Angeles, Simi Valley, and Rancho Cucamonga Angels of Anaheim.

My perception is that most East Coast teams wouldn't mind visits from the Yankees.

NOW, dave, take note of that. The major markets would easily be outvoted on free agency and salary caps if it wasn't for some complicity from the other clubs.

Anyway, my quiz for the day: could you realign under these realities + oh, Bud Selig's rather obvious self-serving move of the Brewers into the NL some time back?

I'm not there yet, obviously.

Not to mention that every Midwest team wants the St. Louis Cardinals or Chicago Cubs.

Hello! Has "anyone" taken a very good look at my post? My scheduling idea seems to fit perfectly. The others, for what I've just read in the last few days, don't seem to be at least like mine or better than mine. The same goes for the post-season format as well. Thanks for understanding my comments.

Yours truly,

John

P.S.: Observe and analyze this post "very well" and give me a reply for your opinions. As for the last 2 expansion franchises in the future, that depends on the commissioner and the rest of the MLB staff. Hey, Commissioner Selig, if you're out there, I hope you are looking this post as well so I can also hear your opinions. That is all. Take care, everyone and good luck. By the way. I LIVE FOR THIS!

_________________
Florida State Seminole fan for life (mostly on football, basketball and baseball)!

So guys, what do you think?

_________________
Florida State Seminole fan for life (mostly on football, basketball and baseball)!

The top four teams in AAA in terms of attendance right now are Sacramento, Round Rock (Austin market), Memphis, and Louisville. All but Louisville play in the Pacific Coast League.

Louisville is the smallest media market of the four (not even in top 50), despite having rich baseball heritage. The Cubs, Reds, and Cardinals would likely lobby hard against a team in Louisville as well.

Memphis is only slightly larger than Louisville. Memphis would likely only make small dents in the fan bases of Atlanta, Saint Louis, and Texas.

Sacramento is a considerably larger market. The two teams most affected by a Sacramento club, Oakland and San Francisco, share the nation's fourth largest market. San Jose, just down the road from San Francisco, is a larger media market than Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Louisville, and Memphis.

Austin, while not as large as Sacramento, is still larger than Memphis and Louisville. It's close enough to San Antonio as well to draw fans from there. Houston is the fourth largest market in the U. S., so the Astros shouldn't hurt too much from having a team ~80 miles down the road.

Portland and Charlotte each average about half the attendance Louisville does.

As far as realignment goes:

AL West: SEA, SAC, OAK, LAD, TEX, AUS
AL Central: KC, MN, CHW, DET, CLE
AL East: TOR, BAL, NYY, BOS, TB

NL West: CO, SD, SF, LAA, AZ, HOU
NL Central: STL, MIL, CHC, PIT, CIN
NL East: PHI, WAS, NYM, ATL, FL

You can move Round Rock (Austin) and Sacramento to Montreal and Edmonton.

Dayton (Midwest League, A) and Springfield, MO (Texas League, AA) pick up AAA expansion teams. Montreal moves to the International League, joining Dayton, while Springfield joins the Pacific Coast League.

PCL Northwest: Portland, Tacoma, Colorado Springs, Salt Lake
PCL Southwest: Albuqerque, Tucson, Fresno, Las Vegas
PCL Northeast: Iowa, Omaha, Edmonton, Springfield
PCL Southeast: Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans, Oklahoma

IL West: Indianapolis, Columbus, Dayton, Louisville, Toledo
IL North: Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Ottawa, Montreal, Pawtucket
IL East: Scranton/WB, Norfolk, Durham, Charlotte, Richmond

Now down to the AA level:

Springfield of the Texas League relocates to El Paso.
Lexington, KY and Greenville, SC (both South Atlantic League, A) upgrade to AA and both join the Southern League.

Southern League West: West Tenn, Mississippi, Huntsville, Montgomery, Mobile, Birmingham
Southern League East: Jacksonville, Chattanooga, Carolina, Greenville, Tennessee, Lexington

Texas League West: Midland, San Antonio, El Paso, Frisco
Texas League East: Corpus Christi, Arkansas, Wichita, Tulsa

No changes to the Eastern League.

The Lexington and Greenville A franchises relocate to Penscaola and Tallahassee, Florida and move to the Class A Advanced Florida State League.

Dayton's A team relocates to Bowling Green, Kentucky and remains a "standard" class A team in the Midwest League.

Evansville and Kalamazoo move from the independent Frontier League to the Midwest League, while expansion teams in Columbia (SC) and Macon (GA) join the South Atlantic League to bring A ball to 32.

Florida State League North: Pensacola, Tallahassee, Dunedin, Daytona, Clearwater, Brevard County, Tampa
Florida State League South: Lakeland, Sarasota, Fort Myers, Palm Beach, Jupiter, St. Lucie, Vero Beach

Midwest League West: Burlington, Clinton, Beloit, Cedar Rapids
Midwest League North: Quad Cities, Kane County, Peoria, Wisconsin
Midwest League South: Bowling Green, Evansville, South Bend, Fort Wayne,
Midwest League East: West Michigan, Southwest Michigan, Kalamazoo, Lansing

Sally North: Delmarva, West Virginia, Lake County, Lakewood, Hagerstown
Sally Carolina: Columbia, Charleston, Asheville, Hickory, Kannapolis, Greensboro
Sally Georgia: Savannah, Rome, Macon, Columbus, Augusta

wbyeager,

First of all MLB has a rule top 30 market. Sorry Austin doesn't cut it. Also MLB doesn't look into minor league attendance that much when considering a city. Right now only 3 cities stand out as viable MLB cities - Portland, Nashville, Charlotte.

The better plan:
Move Oakland to Portland
Expand to Nashville and Charlotte.
Move Colorado to AL.

AL West - Colorado, Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle
AL South - Kansas City, Nashville, Tampa Bay, Texas
AL North - Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Minnesota
AL East - Baltimore, Boston, New York, Toronto

NL West - Arizona, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco
NL South - Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston, Florida
NL North - Chicago, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, St. Louis
NL East - New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington

I will do Minor League Baseball later. Alot of those cities are wrong.

SportsKC, I like your alignment plan, but give me your opinion of my scheduling format. I can't wait to hear it from you. :)

MLB Intra-Divisional Schedule Format

Team: Boston Red Sox

AL East

Baltimore (v.*3, @*3, v.*3, @*3, v.*3, @*3)
Boston (n/a)
N.Y. Yankees (v.*3, @*3, v.*3, @*3, v.*3, @*3)
Toronto (v.*3, @*3, v.*3, @*3, v.*3, @*3)

AL North

Chicago White Sox (v.*3, @*3)
Cleveland (v.*3, @*3)
Detroit (v.*3, @*3)
Minnesota (v.*3, @*3)

AL South

Kansas City (v.*3, @*3)
[Nashville] (v.*3, @*3)
Tampa Bay (v.*3, @*3)
Texas (v.*3, @*3)

AL West

L.A. Angels [a.k.a. Anaheim] (v.*3, @*3)
Colorado (v.*3, @*3)
Oakland (v.*3, @*3)
Seattle (v.*3, @*3)

NL East

N.Y. Mets (v.*3 [Year A], @*3 [Year B])
Philadelphia (v.*3 [Year B], @*3 [Year A])
Pittsburgh (v.*3 [Year A], @*3 [Year B])
Washington, D.C. (v.*3 [Year B], @*3 [Year A])

NL North

Chicago Cubs (v.*3 [Year A], @*3 [Year B])
Cincinnati (v.*3 [Year B], @*3 [Year A])
Milwaukee (v.*3 [Year A], @*3 [Year B])
St. Louis (v.*3 [Year B], @*3 [Year A])

NL South

Atlanta (v.*3 [Year A], @*3 [Year B])
[Charlotte] (v.*3 [Year B], @*3 [Year A])
Florida (v.*3 [Year A], @*3 [Year B])
Houston (v.*3 [Year B], @*3 [Year A])

NL West

Arizona (v.*3 [Year A], @*3 [Year B])
L.A. Dodgers (v.*3 [Year B], @*3 [Year A])
San Diego (v.*3 [Year A], @*3 [Year B])
San Francisco (v.*3 [Year B], @*3 [Year A])

This is a sample team schedule for future moments of the teams of Major League Baseball. Each will be 3 games per series. MLB will expand 32 teams and it will split in 2 leagues, with 4 divisions of 4 teams for each league. The American League and National League will respectively have their divisions named as the following: East, North, South and West. “??????” will represent a new franchise for the American League. “v.*3” represents a home series and “@*3” represents a road series.

The scheduling format will be the following:

Intra-Divisional Play – Each division consists 4 teams. Therefore, each team in that division will face another team from the same division 18 times (9 at home and 9 on the road). It’s the same as facing in 6 series (3 at home and 3 on the road). Since the division has 4 teams, it will be the following:

18 games per team faced from same division * (3 other divisional teams except own self) = 54 games

Ex: NL West – Arizona Diamondbacks – vs. NL West

vs. L.A. Dodgers (v*3, @*3, v*3, @*3, v*3, @*3) = 18 games
vs. San Diego (v*3, @*3, v*3, @*3, v*3, @*3) = 18 games
vs. San Francisco (v*3, @*3, v*3, @*3, v*3, @*3) = 18 games

Inter-Divisional Play (a.k.a. League Play or Conference Play) – This is when a team faces teams outside its own division but inside the same league or conference. Therefore, each team would face another team from another division 6 times (3 at home and 3 on the road). It’s the same as facing in 2 series (1 at home and 1 on the road). It will be the following:

6 games per team faced from another division * 4 non-divisional teams = 24 games

or

24 total games of the 4 teams faced "combined" from a different division * 3 other divisions = 72 games

Ex: AL West – Anaheim Angels – vs. AL North

vs. Chicago White Sox (v*3, @*3) = 6 games
vs. Cleveland (v*3, @*3) = 6 games
vs. Detroit (v*3, @*3) = 6 games
vs. Minnesota (v*3, @*3) = 6 games

Inter-League Play (a.k.a. Non-Conference Play) – This is when a team faces all of the teams outside its own league or conference. Therefore, each team would face all the teams from another league or conference 3 times (3 at home or 3 on the road). It’s the same as facing in 1 series (1 at home or 1 on the road). The oppositions will depend under a 2-year rotation. It will be the following:

3 games per team faced from another league * 16 inter-league teams = 48 games

Ex: AL East – Boston Red Sox – vs. NL East

vs. N.Y. Mets (v.*3 [Year A], @*3 [Year B])
vs. Philadelphia (v.*3 [Year B], @*3 [Year A])
vs. Pittsburgh (v.*3 [Year A], @*3 [Year B])
vs. Washington, D.C (v.*3 [Year B], @*3 [Year A])

Ex: AL East – Boston Red Sox – vs. NL North

vs. Chicago Cubs (v.*3 [Year A], @*3 [Year B])
vs. Cincinnati (v.*3 [Year B], @*3 [Year A])
vs. Milwaukee (v.*3 [Year A], @*3 [Year B])
vs. St. Louis (v.*3 [Year B], @*3 [Year A])

Ex: AL East – Boston Red Sox – vs. NL South

vs. Atlanta (v.*3 [Year A], @*3 [Year B])
vs. [Charlotte] (v.*3 [Year B], @*3 [Year A])
vs. Florida (v.*3 [Year A], @*3 [Year B])
vs. Houston (v.*3 [Year B], @*3 [Year A])

Ex: AL East – Boston Red Sox – vs. NL West

vs. Arizona (v.*3 [Year A], @*3 [Year B])
vs. L.A. Dodgers (v.*3 [Year B], @*3 [Year A])
vs. San Diego (v.*3 [Year A], @*3 [Year B])
vs. San Francisco (v.*3 [Year B], @*3 [Year A])

Under this format, a team will play under a season-high schedule of 174 games. Interesting, huh?

To be sure, the teams with the brackets can represent the 2 new expansion teams (1 for the American League and 1 for the National League; and if Colorado heads to the AL). I'm not sure about you guys but feel free to make your opinions about it. Take care.

John

P.S.: Each league will have 4 division champions and 4 additional qualifiers (with the best won-lost record outside division leaders) for the post-season. Here is an idea from last season's final standings

Ex: 2004 Season (with predicted division alignment)

E = East, N = North, S = South, W = West

In bold - Division champions
Italic - Eliminated from post-season
In bold and italic - Clinched playoff berth

American League

#1 - N.Y. Yankees (101-61) E
#2 - Anaheim (92-70) W
#3 - Minnesota (92-70) N
#4 - Texas (89-73) S
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
#5 - Boston (98-64) E
#6 - Oakland (91-71) W
#7 - Chicago W. Sox (83-79) N
#8 - Cleveland (80-82) N
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
#9 - Baltimore (78-84) E
#10 - Detroit (72-90) N
#11 - Tampa Bay (70-91) S
#12 - Toronto (67-94) E
#13 - Seattle (63-99) W
#14 - Kansas City (58-104) S

National League

#1 - St. Louis (105-57) N
#2 - Atlanta (96-66) S
#3 - L.A. Dodgers (93-69) W
#4 - Philadelphia (86-76) E
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
#5 - Houston (92-70) S
#6 - San Francisco (91-71) W
#7 - Chicago Cubs (89-73) N
#8 - San Diego (87-75) W
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
#9 - Florida (83-79) S
#10 - Cincinnati (76-86) N
#11 - Pittsburgh (72-89) E
#12 - N.Y. Mets (71-91) E
#13 - Colorado (68-94) W
#14 - Milwaukee (67-94) S
#15 - Montreal [now as Washington, D.C.] (67-95) E
#16 - Arizona (51-111) S

I hope that gives anybody an idea about this.

_________________
Florida State Seminole fan for life (mostly on football, basketball and baseball)!

Baseball only sells 60% of their ticket capacity. Therefore, they play too many games, therefore I don't think much of your plan to add games.

For that matter, given climate issues, there really isn't a place to add games, short of adding doubleheaders that teams aren't scheduling for a reason. There's actually very little good reason for an expanded interleague schedule. If anything, there's an argument to be had for two or three divisions and promotion/relegation, which isn't politically realistic.

If MLB does go to 32, it won't be Nashville, and it shouldn't be Nashville. This isn't about giving every "major" market all 4 sports, and it hasn't for a long time, especially when the market is already over its sports capacity. San Antonio (with Austin not far away) seems to be the emerging market that possesses a growing immediate population base (short commute), and a fairly extensive fan base within 100 miles (Austin) that makes for a decent TV market (though wrestling TV market away from Dallas and Houston won't be easy, but Laredo and Corpus Christi and West Texas are just sitting there). It probably won't be ready for 15 years minimum, but only Portland could be ready before then.

Here is how I would break down the new realingment and still play 162.
Division Games 48
+Rival 8
Rival Division 24
Other Divisions 64
Interleague Games 18

EXAMPLE

Kansas City Royals

(numberH and numberA is # of series while the last number is number of games)

Division Games
Nashville 2H 2A 16
Tampa Bay 2H 2A 16
Texas 2H 2A 16

Rival/Travel Partner Game
Texas 1H 1A 8

Rival Division
AL WEST
Colorado 1H 1A 6
Los Angeles 1H 1A 6
Portland 1H 1A 6
Seattle 1H 1A 6

Other Divisions
Baltimore 1H 1A 6
Boston 1H 1A 6
New York 1H 1A 6
Toronto 1H 1A 6
Chicago 1H 1A 6
Cleveland 1H 1A 6
Detroit 1H 1A 6
Minnesota 1H 1A 6
Colorado 1H 1A 6
Los Angeles 1H 1A 6
Portland 1H 1A 6
Seattle 1H 1A 6

Interleague Games
Atlanta 1H 3
Charlotte 1H 3
Florida 1A 3
Houston 1A 3
St. Louis 1H 1A 6


Rival/ Travel Partner Teams
Baltimore/Toronto
Boston/New York
Chicago/Minnesota
Cleveland/Detroit
Kansas City/Texas
Nashville/Tampa Bay
Colorado/Los Angeles
Portland/Seattle
New York/Philadelphia
Pittsburgh/Washington
Chicago/St. Louis
Cincinnati/Milwaukee
Atlanta/Charlotte
Florida/Houston
Arizona/San Diego
Los Angeles/San Francisco

(All rival teams are travel partners expect NL North and NL West teams. Travel partners are Chicago/Milwaukee; Cincinnati/St. Louis; Arizona/San Francisco; Los Angeles/San Diego)

Interleague Rivals
Baltimore/Washington
Boston/Atlanta
New York/New York
Toronto/Philadelphia
Chicago/Chicago
Cleveland/Cincinnati
Detroit/Pittsburgh
Minnesota/Milwaukee
Kansas City/St. Louis
Nashville/Charlotte
Tampa Bay/Florida
Texas/Houston
Colorado/Arizona
Los Angeles/Los Angeles
Portland/San Diego
Seattle/San Francisco

Also each year the interleague and rival division change ala the NFL. So every 3 years you switch through your own league and every 4 for the other league. Also on the years where your interleague rival is in that division - well you just have 9 games against them instead of 6.

Here is Minor League baseball realingment for AAA to AA.

Triple A Baseball
PCL moves
Nashville to San Antonio
Portland to Reno

PCL
East – Iowa, Memphis, New Orleans, Omaha
South – Albuquerque, Oklahoma, Round Rock, San Antonio
North – Colorado Springs, Reno, Salt Lake, Tacoma
West – Fresno, Las Vegas, Sacramento, Tucson

IL moves
Charlotte to Orlando
Ottawa to Allentown
Expansion to Birmingham and Jacksonville

IL
South - Birmingham, Durham, Jacksonville, Orlando
West - Columbus, Indianapolis, Louisville, Toledo
Central - Allentown, Norfolk, Richmond, Scranton
North - Buffalo, Pawtucket, Rochester, Syracuse


AA changes
SL lose Birmingham and Jacksonville
TL lose San Antonio

EL stays the same

SL
Birmingham moves to Biloxi
Jacksonville moves to Lexington

SL North -Carolina, Chattanooga, Huntsville, Lexington, Tennessee
SL South – Biloxi, Mississippi, Mobile, Montgomery, West Tenn

TL
San Antonio moves to Lubbock
Expansion to NW Arkansas (Fayetteville, Rogers, Springdale) and Baton Rouge

TL East- Arkansas, NW Arkansas, Springfield, Tulsa, Wichita
TL West – Baton Rouge, Corpus Christi, Frisco, Lubbock, Midland

Nashville isn't a top 30 market, at least as far as radio is concerned-it's #44 (Austin is #42; San Antonio is #30). Charlotte (#36) is also outside the Top 30.

In terms of TV, Sacramento is #19, Orlando/Daytona is #20, Portland is #24, Indianapolis is #25, Hartford is #27, Charlotte #28, Raleigh-Durham #29, Nashville #30, San Antonio #37, Austin #54.