I could see MLB expansion as a way to cull the minors even further. Adding two AAA markets to MLB causes two relocations and two new AAA teams to be created, or four new AAA markets. Assuming you move down the food chain, MLB can promote a total of 14 markets and then turn around and part with one of the Single A levels or Rookie ball.

For example:

Nashville and Charlotte to MLB
Nashville AAA and Charlotte AAA relocate to Hartford, CT and Richmond, VA
Nashville and Charlotte create new AAA affiliates in Kodak (Knoxville), TN and Madison (Huntsville), AL

Hartford (AA/Eastern), Richmond (AA/Eastern) relocate to Charleston, SC and Myrtle Beach, SC and move to Southern League
Tennessee (Knoxville; AA/Southern) and Rocket City (Huntsville; AA/Southern) relocate to Greenville, SC and Zebulon, NC
New AA teams created in Hudson Valley, NY and Brooklyn, NY; they join the Eastern League

Brooklyn, Hudson Valley, and Greenville (High A/South Atlantic) relocate to Salisbury, MD; Salem, VA; and Lynchburg, VA
New High A teams created in Fredericksburg, VA and North Augusta, SC (Augusta, GA market), they join the South Atlantic League

With 8 of the 12 Carolina League markets having been displaced by higher levels, MLB discontinues the Single A level, ending the California, Carolina, and Florida State Leagues. Fresno (Single A/California) gets back to AAA as the Las Vegas Aviators relocate there to make way for the Athletics.

That's ultimately 22 teams that get culled (8 California League, 4 Carolina League, 10 Florida State League), while only 12 get created (3 MLB, 3 AAA, 3 AA, 3 High A).

(07-20-2023 10:35 PM)chargeradio Wrote:  I could see MLB expansion as a way to cull the minors even further. Adding two AAA markets to MLB causes two relocations and two new AAA teams to be created, or four new AAA markets. Assuming you move down the food chain, MLB can promote a total of 14 markets and then turn around and part with one of the Single A levels or Rookie ball.

For example:

Nashville and Charlotte to MLB
Nashville AAA and Charlotte AAA relocate to Hartford, CT and Richmond, VA
Nashville and Charlotte create new AAA affiliates in Kodak (Knoxville), TN and Madison (Huntsville), AL

Hartford (AA/Eastern), Richmond (AA/Eastern) relocate to Charleston, SC and Myrtle Beach, SC and move to Southern League
Tennessee (Knoxville; AA/Southern) and Rocket City (Huntsville; AA/Southern) relocate to Greenville, SC and Zebulon, NC
New AA teams created in Hudson Valley, NY and Brooklyn, NY; they join the Eastern League

Brooklyn, Hudson Valley, and Greenville (High A/South Atlantic) relocate to Salisbury, MD; Salem, VA; and Lynchburg, VA
New High A teams created in Fredericksburg, VA and North Augusta, SC (Augusta, GA market), they join the South Atlantic League

With 8 of the 12 Carolina League markets having been displaced by higher levels, MLB discontinues the Single A level, ending the California, Carolina, and Florida State Leagues. Fresno (Single A/California) gets back to AAA as the Las Vegas Aviators relocate there to make way for the Athletics.

That's ultimately 22 teams that get culled (8 California League, 4 Carolina League, 10 Florida State League), while only 12 get created (3 MLB, 3 AAA, 3 AA, 3 High A).

I think MLB has already culled the minors as much as they wanted to. They had virtually complete control over the process back in 2020.

(07-19-2023 08:47 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(07-19-2023 08:27 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  

(07-18-2023 04:51 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(07-18-2023 02:21 PM)Porcine Wrote:  There really isn't a way to avoid that without multiple teams switching leagues or blowing it up and starting over. A division of Houston, Texas, KC, and Minnesota doesn't look appealing,

I can do it with just 2 teams switching leagues: the most recent expansion teams, specifically.

American League
East: Baltimore, Boston, NY Yankees, Toronto
North: CHI White Sox, Cleveland, Detroit, Minnesota
South: Houston, Kansas City, Nashville, Texas
West: Arizona, LA Angels, Oakland/Las Vegas, Seattle

National League
East: NY Mets, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington
North: CHI Cubs, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, St. Louis
South: Atlanta, Carolina, Miami, Tampa Bay
West: Colorado, LA Dodgers, San Diego, San Francisco

I'm not particularly in favor of this realignment, but it seems to work well enough. You of course have some time zone bleed over in both North Divisions and the NL West, but it's an improvement over the current alignment.

I actually like that quite a bit and it would be the least offensive option for the vast majority of baseball.

Time zones aren’t bad either.

It does create some questions:

What’s the schedule structure? How many divisional games do you play when you only have 3 divisional opponents?

To cut down on travel, do you play more games against your inter-league counterpart?

13 x 3 division opponents = 39
6 x 12 other league opponents = 72
6 x 1 interleague opponent = 6 (designated "rival")
3 x 15 other interleague opponents = 45
162 games total

Taking a stab at those Inter league rivals after the adjustments:

BOS-ATL (former Braves home)
NYY-NYM
TOR-PHI
BAL-WASH

CLE-CIN
DET-TOR
CWS-ChiC
MIN-MIL

NASH-CAR
KC-STL
TEX-TB
HOU-MIA

LAA-LAD
ARZ-COL
SEA-SD
LV-SF

I saw an a social media post by “Basketball Forever” that Front Office Sports is reporting the NBA will likely expand to 32 with Las Vegas and Seattle. For whatever it’s worth, Basketball Forever has 5M Facebook followers but 97K X followers.

If it is these 2 cities:

Eastern Conference
Atlantic: Boston, Brooklyn, Charlotte, Miami, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Washington
Midwest: Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Indiana, Milwaukee, Minnesota, Toronto

Western Conference
Pacific: Golden State, Los Angeles 1, Los Angeles 2, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento, Seattle
Southwest: Dallas, Denver, Houston, Memphis, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Utah

BP: that’s the alignment I predict as well. When I build a schedule, it’s 76 games (2x h/h in division, h/h v everyone else). How much would an owner lose by losing 3 home games?

(10-28-2023 11:00 AM)Erictelevision Wrote:  BP: that’s the alignment I predict as well. When I build a schedule, it’s 76 games (2x h/h in division, h/h v everyone else). How much would an owner lose by losing 3 home games?

Don't forget the NBA Cup tournament with the accompanying extra games for teams than don't qualify for the knockout stage.

With only four divisions, I think you see the East/West crossover games cut back to 28. Play your 15 conference mates 3 times each, and an extra game against your 7 division rivals for 52 games in conference and a total of 80 overall. The group stage would be entirely within your division and come out of that block of games. The two extra games for teams that do not make the knockout stage would be non-conference games, which could be used to mitigate most of the asymmetry, i.e., if possible you play two of the four opponents you were not already scheduled to face twice.

I am keeping the Atlantic and Central Divisions the same except for Minnesota, Atlanta, and Charlotte joining the Central; and Orlando, Miami, and Washington join the Atlantic. Portland and the two expansion teams join the Pacific, while the Northwest and Southwest divisions merge as the Southwest.

Based on the 2022-23 NBA Standings, these would be the groups for the NBA Cup.

Pacific 1 - Sacramento, Golden State, LA Lakers, Seattle/Vegas
Pacific 2 - Phoenix, LA Clippers, Portland, Seattle/Vegas
Southwest 1 - Denver, Oklahoma City, Dallas, San Antonio
Southwest 2 - Memphis, New Orleans, Utah, Houston
Central 1 - Milwaukee, Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit
Central 2 - Cleveland, Minnesota, Indiana, Charlotte
Atlantic 1 - Boston, Brooklyn, Miami, Orlando
Atlantic 2 - Philadelphia, New York, Toronto, Washington

https://www.si.com/nba/2023/11/14/nba-ex...exico-city

3 International Candidates: Mexico City, Montreal, Vancouver

I’d also add 3 American Cities: Las Vegas, Seattle, St. Louis

Eastern Conference
Atlantic: Atlanta, Boston, Brooklyn, Charlotte, Miami, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Washington
Midwest: Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Indiana, Milwaukee, Minnesota, Montreal, St. Louis, Toronto

Western Conference
Pacific: Golden State, Las Vegas, Los Angeles 1, Los Angeles 2, Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento, Seattle, Vancouver
Southwest: Dallas, Denver, Houston, Memphis, Mexico City, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Utah


At 84 games:
- 48 division games (3x H/H)
- 18 cross-conference games with other division (1x H/H)
- 18 cross-league games (9 vs other conference's division, total of 9H/9A)

Tom Dundon, owner of the Carolina Hurricanes is making a lot of noise with MLBRaleigh about trying to get a franchise to the area.

I’m a little doubtful that the MLB will add both Charlotte and Nashville. That would have the Braves extra salty, albeit that’s the part of the country that the MLB needs franchises. I really do think 8 is enough in the MTN/ PAC time zones.

I really am curious though as to what alignment route they take:

Minimalistic: just add the new teams to existing divisions
8 divisions of 4
4 divisions of 8