Where should the next MLB expansion teams be placed?

[MasterJedi]

If I had my druthers I'd create teams in Charlotte and Monterrey and move Milwaukee to Salt Lake.  (Technically, Milwaukee could move to any of the three new cities, but I like the incongruity of the Brewers being the name of the team there.)  The move of Milwaukee does three things.  It gets a small market team into what should be a better situation where the team would not be overshadowed by the two nearby Chicago clubs.  It also is the cleanest way to preserve the existing rivalries of the other four NL Central teams if baseball goes to a four division structure, which it likely would if it expands to 32 teams. Last but not least, going to Salt Lake returns the Brewers to the American League.  For reasons of geography, if Milwaukee loses its team and Charlotte, Monterrey, and Salt Lake gain theirs, this is how I would align the divisions:

AL Central   Chicago White Sox   Cleveland Indians   Detroit Tigers   Minnesota Twins AL East   Baltimore Orioles   Boston Red Sox   New York Yankees   Toronto Blue Jays AL South   Houston Astros (from AL West)   Kansas City Royals (from AL Central)   Salt Lake Brewers (ex-Milwaukee from NL Central)   Tampa Bay Rays (from AL East) AL West   Anaheim Angels   Oakland Athletics   Seattle Mariners   Texas Rangers

NL Central   Chicago Cubs   Cincinnati Reds   Pittsburgh Pirates   St. Louis Cardinals NL East   Charlotte Knights   New York Mets   Philadelphia Phillies   Washington Nationals NL South   Atlanta Braves (from NL East)   Colorado Rockies (from NL West)   Miami Marlins (from NL East)   Monterrey Sultans NL West   Arizona Diamondbacks   Los Angeles Dodgers   San Diego Padres   San Francisco Giants

 

Why move a team from Milwaukee where there is actually support for the team? Why not move a team where nobody really cares about them like the Oakland A's, Cleveland Indians, Tampa Bay Rays and they have trouble filling the stands?

[MasterJedi]

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/2013-misc.shtml

Looking at attendance figures, I might move the Rays or Royals instead of Milwaukee actually. As bad as Cleveland's figures are, I'm hesitant to move a team that has been in the same place for 100 years (this also applies to the Pirates and Reds).

And last year the Brewer's attendance was the lowest since 2006 (which was lower then last year). No reason to move the Brewers at all, support their team a lot more then a ton of other underperforming teams.

[MasterJedi]

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/2013-misc.shtml

Looking at attendance figures, I might move the Rays or Royals instead of Milwaukee actually. As bad as Cleveland's figures are, I'm hesitant to move a team that has been in the same place for 100 years (this also applies to the Pirates and Reds).

And last year the Brewer's attendance was the lowest since 2006 (which was lower then last year). No reason to move the Brewers at all, support their team a lot more then a ton of other underperforming teams.

The problem is, unless you decide geography is more important than tradition and break up the Cardinals-Cubs rivalry by moving St. Louis into the new NL South so that they don't play in the same division, then the Brewers seem to be the most logical candidate to cut from the NL Central to make it a four team division.  But geographically, leaving them in the NL would be odd as they'd be smack dab in the middle of the NL Central.  Moving them to the AL Central just switches one problem for another.

About the only other alternative would be to move Pittsburgh from the NL Central into the NL East so they can reintensify their rivalry with the Phillies and put the new Charlotte team in the NL South instead of the NL East, and then either place the Monterrey expansion team in the AL South (which would eliminate any chance of a Toronto-Monterrey World Series) or shift the Rockies there and except for returning the Brewers to the AL from which it came, I'd like to avoid league shifts.

Now are you just talking about switching leagues or actually moving the team to another city? If it's just switching leagues I'm opposed because I like the pure baseball with the pitcher hitting that the NL plays but other then that it's not as big a deal switching leagues though the Brewers do have strong rivalries with the Cardinals and Cubs and outside last year have owned the Pirates.

If you're talking about moving the team to another city, well then hell no.

[MasterJedi]

Portland doesn't even have a minor league team at the moment and they have hopes of landing a major league team?  Hope really does spring eternal.  With a decent stadium, I can see them luring yet another incarnation of the Portland Beavers in the PCL, but even with expansion, I don't think Portland can support a major league team.

Montreal doesn't have a minor team and yet is seriously hoping getting back a team. The stadium is an issue, through. Stade Olympique is too far from the downtown.

Their hopes may be serious, but the reality is they won't.  They might be able to revive the Montreal Royals of the IL

Ernest, you just don't understand that expansion is inevitable. It's just a matter of when and not if. All of the big sports (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL) will expand within the next 10-20 years.