Thursday: MLB Expansion Plans

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Rob Manfred, who's the Commissioner of Baseball. He was on
a talk show today, I think in New York, and
he said, as soon as we figure out the CBA,
as soon as we get the stadiums she resolved in Tampa,
and as soon as Vegas gets settled with the A's,
we're going to expand Major League Baseball by two teams,
and we're gonna geographically realign. There'll be sixteen teams in

(00:24):
each league. There'll be four divisions, there'll be four division winners.
There likely will be two wildcard teams, six teams from
each league, and we'll have a playoff, and we'll have
baseball in November, which I'm fine with. I'm just as
I'm gonna have baseball in December. Far as far as
I'm concerned.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yeah, I mean, the calendar isn't the That's the concern
for me.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
But as a as a Ranger fan that had to
grow up with the Rangers playing in a division where
three teams were two time zones away from them, and they.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Were the all they still are.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
I mean, well they have Houston now, well you have Houston,
but but Arizona and Seattle and in Vegas are now
Oakland or wherever they're all in the on the Pacific
time zone.

Speaker 3 (01:09):
Yeah, and that's where you know it's it has gotten
better having Houston because at least you have another Central
time Zone team now. But yeah, I mean Seattle, Sacramento
A's still going to be Vegas A's and then uh,
you know, La Angels. It's it's something that needs to

(01:29):
be done, needed to be done. And there's really you know,
the way MLB has interleague play every month now, there's
not really a whole lot of mystique or tradition of playing.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
I do think you got to have the Cubs and
Cardinals in the same division, a couple of reports probably
Dodgers Giants. Dodgers Giants have to be together, and I
would say Astros and Rangers have to be together, absolutely,
But the rest, I mean, is Detroit Chicago really a rivalry?
I may be for Detroit and Chicago, but I don't

(02:06):
see it on a national scale. And I mean, who's
the rival of Toronto? So so does it really matter
what league, what league or division they're in. And now
that we play with a universal designated hitter, you don't
have to worry about one league playing with it and
one league playing without it.

Speaker 3 (02:21):
Yeah, and it makes more sense, you know, the thinking
about the Southern you know, Southeastern with the Marlins the
Rays being a l n L. Now they can be
together right there with the Braves just up the road
in Atlanta.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
I think the designated hitter rule, when everybody was split
on that, it was yeah, I want to be in
the National League.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
I want to be in the American League.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
And now that we're playing with the same rules and
the umpires go back and they used to have American
League umpires and National League umpires, and now they go
back and forth between the leagues, so that's more universal.
I don't think what league you're in matters anymore, just
a league and try to win that pennant.

Speaker 3 (03:01):
The more interesting question to me is what cities get
the expansion because I fill in Portland. You think Portland's
the other one. Nashville is the one that gets talked
about the most. They tease the idea of giving you know,
trying baseball in Canada. Montreal would be a good choice.
In Montreal another chance, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
I think I think Montreal in Montreal or Portland in Nashville,
those seem to be the best three choices. I really
don't see anybody west of the you know, the there's
New Mexico's not getting a team.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
Salt Lake City, I guess might.

Speaker 1 (03:37):
They're probably big enough to be able to pull it off,
but they already have hockey in the NBA and that's
a small market city, so that's difficult. But yeah, I
think I think Montreal, Nashville, Portland.

Speaker 3 (03:49):
Why not a third team in Texas?

Speaker 2 (03:52):
Well.

Speaker 1 (03:52):
I'd love one in San Antonio, but unless the Spurs
own it, they're not going to want one because they're
not sharing the wealth.

Speaker 3 (03:57):
I mean that whole I thirty five Corridor. There's a
lot of real estate there. PLoP it ride in between,
you know, call.

Speaker 2 (04:03):
Them, but see, I don't think you can.

Speaker 1 (04:05):
I don't think any sports franchise is going to work
well in San Marcus.

Speaker 2 (04:09):
I just don't think.

Speaker 1 (04:10):
It's not Austin's seam, it's not San Antonio's team, And
I just I don't think we have enough people yet.
Maybe in fifteen years you will, but I just don't
think we have enough. It's the same argument, why don't
they build the Spurs Arena in San Marcos or North
New bronfls People.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
If if people are gonna come to a Spurs game
from Austin.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
They're gonna drive other twenty minutes to come to the game,
and they want the river walk, and they want the
city experience and all that kind of stuff. And maybe
if we'd have built the airport in San Marcus, which
we should have done a few years ago, and had
this big regional hub where every airline in the world
would make it a hub, that would have been different.
But we didn't do that. But I just think you
either have to go to Austin or go to San Antonio.

(04:50):
And if you're San Antonio, the Spurs are gonna have
a domain over the revenue that's available here, and UT
is going to have a domain over the revenue that's
in Austin. So that's the thing holding back more professional
expansion from those cities. All Right, see you next week, Sam,
and I'll see you tomorrow. Everybody else tomorrow. Shane'll be
back tomorrow. Have a terrific Thursday night Miami and ole

(05:12):
Miss underway and we'll talk about that in more tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (05:15):
Six fifty six on the Ticket