Where to Expand (If At All)?

With the A's finally set to move from Oakland to Las Vegas, that would seemingly take Las Vegas off the table as a potential MLB expansion destination.  Now, to be fair, Major League Baseball has given no indication that expansion is imminent or even on their radar.  But that hasn't stopped cities from making their interest known.

Although, there is a school of thought that MLB didn't even want to think about expansion until Oakland's stadium situation was resolved.  Now that it is, they can presumably move on to the expansion conversations.  There are even some who think the next round of expansion is already a done deal.  It's just a matter of when (which some suggest could be as early as 3-5 years).

So, assuming those expansion rumors are legitimate and that is the timeline we're looking at, you'd have to think there'll be significantly more movement as cities angle to be one of the two that's chosen.  We've heard about two cities so far--Nashville and Salt Lake City.  One of which seems more likely than the other.  Especially because you'd have to think that any future MLB expansion will include a serious look at Montreal.

We all know what happened with the Expos.  We also know that things are different now than they were 20 years ago, when MLB bought the Expos and moved them to Washington.  Part of the reason for that was MLB wanted a team in Washington.  There was no doubt about the passion of the fans in Montreal.  The Blue Jays exhibition games in the city in recent years have proven that.  It was really just a bad set of circumstances, mainly the stadium situation and the lack of an owner, that doomed the Expos.

However, the interest in bringing Major League Baseball back to Montreal is there.  There was even that ridiculous plan where the Rays would play half the season in Tampa and half the season in a new stadium in Montreal, which was presumably paving the way for an Expos return.  While that, fortunately, never happened, the fact that they were talking about a new stadium in Montreal is a good thing.  Because it would be an absolute requirement.  And it would have to have a (working) retractable roof.  Otherwise, Montreal would be a non-starter.

Should there be an interested ownership group in Montreal and they get the stadium figured out (both the financing and location), it would be very hard to foresee a situation where Montreal isn't one of the two expansion cities.  I'm not saying it would be guaranteed.  I'm just saying I would be extremely surprised if it didn't happen.  Just like how Washington deserved to have Major League baseball again, so does Montreal.

Now let's talk about Salt Lake City, another city that has been mentioned.  I don't know how realistic that is, though.  There's a Triple-A team in Salt Lake City, and they've unveiled plans to build a new stadium in the city's downtown area.  That would seem to be an obvious point in Salt Lake City's favor.  As would the fact that the Colorado Rockies, the only Major League team in that area of the country, are all for it.  But still, I'm skeptical if Salt Lake City would be the call.

There is one advantage to a potential team in Salt Lake City, though.  You'd have to assume that a 32-team MLB would split into eight divisions of four.  And Salt Lake City would be easy enough to plop in there as the fourth team in the AL West without having to either split the Texas teams (which almost certainly won't happen) or make the Diamondbacks switch leagues (although, it would leave the Rockies without an obvious division since the NL West would then be Arizona and the three California teams).

For now, I'm thinking Salt Lake City would be a "No."  Same with Portland.  Other than being a natural rival for the Mariners (and do you really need two teams in the Pacific Northwest?), I'm not sure what Portland brings.  Yes, it's one of the largest media markets in the country without an MLB team (No. 22), and it's a bigger market than Salt Lake City (No. 29), but, for some reason, I feel Salt Lake City would still be considered above Portland.  And if I'm not high on Salt Lake City's chances, I'm obviously not high on Portland's then.

Two other cities that haven't been mentioned but maybe will if expansion talks get more serious are Charlotte and Indianapolis.  Rob Manfred has specifically mentioned Charlotte as a potential expansion location in the past and it makes sense, since it's one of the fastest-growing cities in the country.  Indianapolis, meanwhile, would probably be hurt by its location in the Midwest, right in the middle of a bunch of other teams.  They've got a Triple-A team there, but it might be tough building a Major League fanbase when a lot of people there likely already support either one of the Chicago teams or Milwaukee and live close enough to go to their games.

New Orleans have never really shown much interest in landing an MLB team, and I'm not entirely sure why.  They haven't even had a Triple-A team since the Baby Cakes (yes, that was their actual team name) moved to Wichita after the 2019 season.  So, I think that reason alone means New Orleans would be out.

That doesn't mean the entire Southeast would be out, though.  Because Nashville does make a lot of sense as Montreal's expansion partner.  They just approved the funding for a new, retractable-roof stadium for the Titans, which will presumably land Nashville a Super Bowl somewhere down the line.  There are plenty of potential ownership groups interested in bringing an MLB team to Nashville, and some have even entered into discussions with the city about areas for a downtown ballpark.

Nashville doesn't just have the Titans.  There's obviously the Predators, too, but also Nashville FC in MLS, and the WNBA is reportedly considering a Nashville expansion team.  It's the 21st-most populous city in the country, so there's definitely room for an MLB team, as well.  Plus, the soundtrack of baseball IS country music, which obviously makes Nashville a perfect fit for that reason alone.  And, if you've never seen it, the Nashville Sounds have the coolest scoreboard in all of Minor League Baseball.

Placing a team in Nashville (or Charlotte, for that matter) would also put an MLB team in an area that's completely without one.  Atlanta and Cincinnati are the closest MLB cities to Nashville.  Both are more than three hours away.  St. Louis is a 300-mile trip.  More significantly, though, there are no MLB teams in that entire area between Atlanta/Cincinnati and St. Louis.  Granted, Nashville is sort of in between Atlanta and Cincinnati, but that still covers an entire area of the country that doesn't have an MLB team.

And, just like my earlier point about divisions, Nashville would make for a very tidy NL South with the Braves, Marlins and Nationals.  Or, if you didn't want to make the Diamondbacks switch leagues, the AL South could just as easily be Houston, Tampa Bay, Kansas City and Nashville (Dallas is further west than Houston, so the Rangers would have to stay in the AL West in this scenario).

It does seem like Major League Baseball expanding to 32 is inevitable somewhere down the line.  (The new schedule format actually lends itself pretty easily to two additional teams, which furthers the argument that it's gonna happen sooner or later.)  When and if it happens, those are my two choices.  Montreal and Nashville.