After months of expectations that the shortened 2020 season would usher in an expanded playoff format, the inability of MLB and the MLBPA to come together on an agreement instead maintained the 10-team postseason status quo. The March agreement under which commissioner Rob Manfred implemented a 60-game season stipulated that playoffs could not be expanded unless negotiated with the Players Association. Expanded postseason play (and revenue) was the union’s main piece of leverage in talks, but when no agreement was reached, the playoff structure went unchanged.
Might the two sides still look to work out an agreement, though? Asked by Ronald Blum of the Associated Press, MLBPA executive director Tony Clark wouldn’t rule it out. The lines of communication between the league and the union “remain open,” Clark explained. “I would simply say that if there’s interest to discuss something, I’ll be available to discuss it,” Clark added.
Major League Baseball, per Blum, could yet make another attempt to negotiate an expanded postseason format. The main sticking point for the union had been length of schedule and prorated play. With a 60-game season now set and prorated play in place, the union would likely look to other concessions. Previous proposals exchanged between the two sides had temporary elimination of the qualifying offer system in place, for instance, although it’s easy to imagine teams forgoing QOs for all but the market’s most elite free agents this winter thanks to revenue losses.
There’s a wide range of other possibilities for the union to pursue. An expanded share of postseason revenue — players are currently only owed a share of gate revenue — future QO concessions, increased forgiveness of the $170MM advance payout of salaries from the March agreement and any number of other topics could be put on the table. With the current collective bargaining agreement set to expire in Dec. 2021, the union could even proactively look to some broader issues that figure to prove critical in what will surely be a contentious negotiation next year.
Players have agreed to begin reporting to summer training camp by July 1, so it seems unlikely that this will be a drawn-out process. Clark and Manfred weren’t able to agree on much of anything over more than a month of contentious negotiations, which doesn’t exactly bode well for a swift accord in this case. That said, Manfred spoke to Blum of a need for both the league and players to have “less-charged” conversations. “We owe it to our fans to be better than we’ve been the last three months,” said the commissioner.
If the MLBPA is still amenable to postseason alterations, it stands to reason that ownership would have interest in one final attempt at the dramatic revenue increase that would accompany a larger postseason field.
Keep it at ten. The more you play, the more likely something can go very very wrong.
That’s a universally applicable argument to never, ever, under any circumstances, do anything.
I don’t think you people have an understanding of risk assessment.
Those t-shirts stating “No Fear” have prevented your brains from working.
Halo, will you PLEASE just STOP posting pure stupidity? Seriously!
Is it even remotely possible?
HaloKnowsItAll – suggestion for name name….kind of catchy
Clepto is one of the worst trolls on this site, just an absolute imbecile who hates human life. Should be banned @MLBTR
Clepto what you say doesnt matter at all. Your opinions are nothing but worthless trash, all of your posts have made everyone who read them way dumber. You have never made one post that wasn’t self-serving or contained any meaningful information. Go away forever, loser.
I disagree with Halofan11 a lot, but they at least are making solid points and bringing factual info to the table.
Right, the longer you play and the further into the year you play wont affect the odds of contracting the virus. Man you’re dumb.
I agree with Strike Four about you. So in one respect, I thank you for that.
Mlb-what-ifs Halo’s even thinks he knows more baseball
I’m familiar with the guy clepto. I think he didn’t like me because I was trolling better than him. He was a weak troll. To be a good troll you have to be able to be kind half the time
ok Halo so lets play 20 games and whoever has the best record is champion. Just because of some generic logic like “the longer this then the higher that” doesnt mean YOU know when is just the right time to stop. Who are you? the Goldilocks of logic?
Of course I don’t know “when” is the time to stop.
But I know when I roll the dice, the longer I roll the more chance I have of rolling a seven.
The longer you expose yourself to danger the greater chance of bad things happening.
It’s just common sense. I can’t believe stating the obvious is so controversial.
Stating stupidity is what is controversial. And you would think, at your age, you would know this….
Oh wait….AL fan. That explains it.
Halo11Fan: the chance of rolling a seven is exactly the same every time you roll the dice. Think about it.
The odds of rolling a seven are one out of six. If you roll the dice ten times, the likelihood is you will roll a seven.
I imagine you don’t play craps. If you did, you would have understood the reference.
Strike Four promised to leave for 3 months. He broke his promise. Another lie concocted by one of the most ill-informed posters on this site.
Rolling a “7” is always 50-50.
You either will roll a 7, or you won’t.
I would rather have Clepto babysit my children over Strike Four. In fact I’d rather have Clepto do pretty much anything over Strike Four.
I believe you are referring to your owns posts
So road trips are a big no no for you then
Nick that’s funny, good one!
lol, yes stay holed up in your house and never leave because you can crash and die on the road. or die in an airplane crash.
Bo Schembechler used to say “three things can happen when you pass the ball, and two of them are bad”. Three yards and a cloud of dust ruled the day.
zero national championships because he never took a chance.
So that’s the reason he didn’t win National Championship?
In Superbowl #3, Joe Namath didn’t throw the ball once in the 4th quarter.
In 1967 when USC won the National Championship…. Who was their QB? Who was their running back?
Sometimes you have to take chances, and sometimes you don’t. Wisdom is knowing when to take chances and when not to.
Some people have wisdom, and some people don’t.
Bo had an awful time in bowl games. He lost his first 7 bowl games, and the Big Ten had bowl obligations with the Rose Bowl a couple times when they could have played for the national title otherwise.
No halo! I get what you’re saying and I agree with it but you just said it wrong. You may have to slow down, relax. But you are making a good point and I agree with it. It’s like gut instincts and knowing when to attack, like a lion in the wild
By that logic, you run the ball, there’s FOUR things that can happen and three are bad (fumble, no gain, a loss). That’s 75% chance of failure; Two out of three is 66%. chance of failure.
That was a common retort, but then there’s
– first down
– touchdown
– big gain
– broken leg
– broken arm
All pointing out the silliness of the comment to begin with
Nope! John……your over thinking. You may want to look at what are the percentages of fumbling. In other words how many times has a particular runner ran with the ball and fumbled. Simple math….How many times he succeeded running with the ball and did not fumble to how many times he ran with the ball and fumbled. Throw in the guy handing the ball off to him too. How many times has he succeeded handing the ball off to how many times he failed to hand it off successfully. How about the center? How many times has he hiked the ball correctly? There’s too many facts to be involved for you to make this speculation of 66 percent accurate. Just believe me, I’m an expert! Also keep in mind that you may become predictable if you go with the highest percentage.
Unless he’s the guy who fired Ernie Harwell, I know nothing about the man.
He was president of the Tigers when Ernie was fired, so it was him, but radio station WJR was behind the move.
Like fans being happy? Kermudgeon.
I’m actually for expanded playoffs this year as the 60 game sample size is primed for lesser teams to sneak in over a better team. I’m frankly not that worried about Covid as I think it’s going to have the same risk two months from now as it has now.
Test everyone continually, quarantine those that get it, and move forward. Once players are in their home areas and following protocols, I think there will be less risk than there currently is. I am not naive to the fact that there will be positives during the season and probably a significant number as players arrive in the coming days.
“Once players are in their home areas and following protocols, I think there will be less risk than there currently is. ”
I think we have all learned by now, people can only be locked down for so long.
These people are human beings. The longer you restrict their movements, the more they will refuse to have their movements restricted.
This is not going to work if the players don’s sacrifice and they are only going to sacrifice for so long.
Basically the season depends on the self control of 20 somethings. That’s not a recipe for failure. 🙂
Halos—-a playoff with 10 teams has EXACTLY the same number of rounds as a playoff with 16. Only difference I would suggest is the higher seed in a 16 team playoff should host all three games, played on consecutive days. You are added a grand total of two days to the schedule. Granted, something could go wrong in those two days….but going from 16 to 8, takes the same amount of efforts as it does to go from 10 to 8.
We have all pandered for baseball all spring and now they are taking away from a short term possibility and the majority seems OK with less baseball.
If you finish the season before November, I don’t have an issue.
The owners’ proposal was to have 16 teams start with a best of 3 series and finish the World Series by the end of October.
The players proposals would not, but not because of the expanded playoffs. Because they were trying to play more regular season games.
I take risk assessment as a perfectly valid consideration. However, I believe that the motivation for the owners is monetary. They don’t want to have the pandemic blow up the post season revenue stream.
The motivation for the owners is monetary. Which is why I think they’ll do a better job protecting the players than the players.
Why not November finish? You got a date, you won’t be available to watch games? Don’t worry you’re not alone in the same mind frame. Me I think it’s silly but I guess it’s popular belief that we don’t play baseball November and people go with the flow
Halo: the longer you play and the further into the year you play
Mike: playoff with 10 teams has EXACTLY the same number of rounds as a playoff with 16
Mike, you are superficially right but substantially wrong. Some points:
Right: if you count the wild card game as a “round” for which 80% of the playoff teams get a bye.
Wrong: if the WC “round” is only one game. That is much shorter than a full series. In 2019, two division series covered seven days. And seven is greater than 1.
You do try to address this, suggesting the first round cover only three days, with a big home field advantage to the better team. Again, superficially good but substantially bad.
Right: Three is not that much bigger than one.
Wrong: If several teams tie and qualify for the wild card — a possibility increased by a short season — the tie-breaking games send us that much deeper into the calendar year, and wipe out the benefits of your scenario. Also, we don’t know if teams will be able to play in their home cities in the playoffs. That could substantially wipe out any theoretical advantages (what if a team playing in a big park has acquired several fly ball pitchers…but is forced to use homer-happy Rogers Centre — chosen as a neutral site because it is a dome, has a hotel inside, and is not in a current hot spot — as its “home” park?)
Terry—clarification–team with the higher seed bats last, is the home team–doesn’t have to host…
In a shorter season, yes a greater possibility for ties–I agree.
Whether there are 10 teams or 16 you are playing down to 8.
Season ends on Sept 27th this year—you’ve bought a couple days there.
Still can work it and end by Oct 25 easily
Right: wear masks and social distance
Wrong: riot, loot, damage public property and takeover public property during a pandemic
Thanks for all that TerryM.
Why? I say make it 12 team playoff more exciting for the fan base. Right now we need something exciting to happen in baseball. yes in 2021-2022 expand and add two teams as well if things have settled down.
There should be no playoffs. 60 game season is just like a extended spring training.
Yeah like playing baseball in December!!!
The March agreement also stipulated that player salaries would be subject to negotiation if games were played without fans in attendance. We saw how far that went with the MLBPA.
No it didn’t.
There is no language in the March agreement tying fans at games to salaries. It’s not there.
The Language was ambiguous, but it was there.
Anyway, unless the owners agreed to pay for the full 60 games regardless if the season was finished or not was the real reason the players didn’t sign the agreement.
Players and Owners both realize this season may not be completed. They understand risk assessment.
“MLB and the union will discuss the economic feasibility of playing games at neutral sites or without fans”
Nothing about salaries.
And, On May 22, MLB lawyer Pat Houlihan wrote a letter to MLBPA lawyer Jeff Perconte that said, “We agree with the Association that, under the Agreement, players are not required to accept less than their full prorated pay.”
Two related clauses provided for discussions about expanded playoffs and expanding the regular season. The former one got some traction, the latter was shot down by the owners almost immediately.
Anyway, if they’re going to schedule a 60 game season and full playoffs, they’re not going to worry about a 3 game series that brings in > 100 million.
you seem always right. because you use truthful facts!
There were fans and wiggle room in the contract. I don’t want to get into semantics when we are talking about legal documents.
I’m not qualified.
I read somewhere, can’t remember where, an interpretation of the clause by a lawyer. Basically, he said that, as written, this applied to the “as many games as possible” clause, recognition that economic feasibility could reduce the number of games played in those circumstances. It was then a not-too-long leap, although still a leap, that if games were not economically feasible and could not be played because there were no paying fans, the union would want to negotiate something that was economically feasible. As it turned out, they didn’t want to let go of the full pro rated salary. In sum, neither side violated the agreement, there was just no meeting of minds; each side worded the agreement to protect what they wanted and the result was a standoff.
I don’t know if that’s a valid interpretation. Lawyers see things differently than the rest of us. A legal battle would probably be decided in something we wouldn’t even think about.
if the owners expected to have fans in the stadium in the middle of a pandemic they are the biggest morons!
I agree Halo!
There were two parts that said they would discuss in good faith should no fans be allowed at games. No one said it stated they had to agree to reduced salary, but the good faith was there. The MLBPA even acknowledged that it was there while still saying they didn’t have to negotiate, which is true.
If fans sit 6 feet away from one another, why can’t fans show up to the park? That might blow your mind Viz, but technically it obeys the law.
I would be interested in hearing how you believe that could be feasible enforced.
@Patrick
You must have read Eugene Freedman’s piece breaking all of this down. He wasn’t the only lawyer to do so, but his was the best that I’ve read.
Unfortunately, many fans still misinterpret what that clause applied to and continue to argue in circles while MLBs final offer serves as proof that prorated salaries weren’t a must-have.
The conversation should be about dividing the dough associated with postseason games, which could do wonders to prevent a grievance from getting costly and simultaneously address one of the biggest issues they’ll need to tackle in the next CBA negotiations.
But hey, at least we’ll have baseball, regardless of what anyone thinks they know.
Sit in the seat assigned on your ticket? Give space when people go to buy something or head to the washroom? Wear a mask? You say you are interested yet it’s not a difficult solution. This is simple if people follow rules. Might need to make it a dry event as alcohol could push people to disobey rules.
The only thing that Zaza this is an email between two peeps who work with the league
That’s a lie. Stop repeating lies.
They’re leaving money on the table
– Expanded playoffs worth $ 100- 125 million per year- ish
– Revenue from advertising on uniforms
– Players currently get NO pay for playoffs unless there are fans
– Many players will be playing for little or no pay, since the advance covers close to 37% of minimum salary
And there’s the DH for 2021 which was dropped
What’s missing? Oh yeah, the grievance. That would be a deal breaker.
By not agreeing the players left money on the table.
And in my opinion, they didn’t do it for the betterment of the game, but the game is better off because they did.
I would not dispute that.
There is money on the table for both sides, if they can talk to each other long enough to divvy it up. Can they just talk about the expanded playoffs and playoff pool, with money for minimum wage players?
Leave the grievance out of it. Trade that for some benefits in future seasons, and maybe avoid a big(ger) CBA fight. ?
At this point, just keep it at 10 teams.
No, not ten teams. 12 is better
totally agree 12 team playoffs we as fans need some excitement since this has been a real joke up to this point.
At this point I don’t think Manfred and Clark could come to an agreement on which appetizer to share at a restaurant, let alone what the playoff structure should be.
Can’t get the vision out of my head…
Manfred: “Jalapeño poppers!”
Clark: “NO WAY! Potato skins or nothing!”
The documentary they make about this in 2025 had better be called “Potato Skins or Nothing!”
That’s why you get samplers. I’ve got several places where I get samplers but they all have a good variety. Here are some of them…
Hot wings/southwest egg rolls/mozzarella sticks/potato skins
Hot wings/mozzarella sticks/onion rings/nachos
Mini cheeseburgers/southwest egg rolls/chicken fingers
Buffalo fingers/mozzarella bites/fried pickles
Of course, they probably wouldn’t agree on which wing sauce to get…
Of course, they couldn’t agree on who would pay.
I’d rather see them stick with 10, but I’d have no problem with each series being extended. For example, best of 5 for the wild cards; best of 7 for the divisions, championships, and WS.
yeah, Wild Card “round” should at least be longer.
I’d rather see a 3 game series for wild card games at a neutral site (so travel days aren’t an issue). The only pushback I see for an extended wild card round is the longer lay-off for division champs who’d have to wait around. Baseball is different from the NFL in that a “bye week” is actually a disadvantage
I’ve been an advocate for a best-of-three wild card series, but a little compromise for this season could do wonders. I wouldn’t want the divisional series to be more than 5 games outside of 2020, either.
When we see expansion, which seems even more likely now, perhaps realignment and adding two more wild cards wouldn’t be a bad idea. But rather than the wild cards playing each other, maybe at least two of them should play the teams with the best overall records in their divisions?
Plenty of possibilities,
I’m not a fan of the one game playoff. That is the stupidest s*** possible. We all know in baseball that the best team can be beat on any given day. 3 game series for the wild card teams
I don’t think of the wild card as a playoff game, I think of it as a play in game.
It’s the only way I can make sense of it.
That’s why you dont want to be a wildcard,and regular season games more meaningful.
What about a three-team double-elimination round robin at a neutral site for the Wild Card round? The winner would get to rest each time while the loser would play the next game. Once two teams have lost twice then the remaining team moves on to the LDS. It gives the wild cards a tougher path but also guarantees them a minimum of two postseason games.
Best-of-five is too long for the WC round but it should definitely be a best-of-three
10 works pretty well – anything else would require going all the way to 16 (a bit too much probably, though id be okay with it) or some major revamp of the playoff system.
10 is already too many. What are we, the nhl?
Keep the playoffs the same.
With a limited playoff field and a shorter, more variance prone schedule, the result should be pennant race baseball from start to finish.
When the NHL played lockout shortened 48 game seasons in 1995 and 2013, the result was a push for the playoffs that started the first game instead of the last month or two like most years.
Players are smart by not passing this non-sense 16 team playoff. Besides the obvius of the mediocre competition. Why would teams invest in the premium 30MM+ players if half the teams made playoffs.
Exactly. What is the use of playing sonmany regular season games if half the field qualifies for post season. Baseball used to understand this.
Let’s hope the Mariners beat the Tigers for the World Series Championship!
They’re in the same league.
Besides, if the Tigers are going to screw up a good draft pick, they’d better beat a team like Seattle in the playoffs!
As a Mariners fan, I concur although they couldn’t play each other in the World Series
I meant the Marlins! Sorry!
There are many unsettled issues between the players and owners – and they will need to get together to settle those – which is an opportunity to expand playoffs and address other issues they couldn’t overcome before. Now that they are playing and the # of games and salaries are settled, cooler heads might work this stuff out. I am guessing they will.
There went the White Sox’ chances of making the post-season.
if womanfred can mandate a season, he can mandate the number of playoff teams
“womanfred?” so funny
Troll attack dude womanfred is showing retaliation towards the owners by taking away something that they want “more playoff games” and holding it for ransom. I believe womanfredrick wants the owners to come back and agree to give the players a share of the profits if they agree to an expanded playoffs format and that is simply the weak un-sneaky plan by womanfredericko
Well, if that isn’t sexist, what is?
Laaaaame.
Appropriate user name, however.
i should have put womanfredrica
Imagine thinking this season will be anything but a complete disaster.
No way is MLB going to be an active league on September 1.
Evil capitalists risking thousands of peoples lives just to make a buck out of a thing that should not be happening under these conditions.
Burn MLB to the ground for this.
And see there is so many things we disagree on. 🙂
I’m a huge believer in risk assessment. It’s not “no fear” and it’s not “the sky is falling”
As with everything else, it requires balance and discernment.
Halo! Tell him the some of us eat the covid-19 for breakfast every morning and we still come and post here everyday and so far with no ill effects, just smarter, faster and stronger
glad to see you’re still crazy. anything consistent is nice in a crazy time like this.
On this issue, I get hammered from both sides. It makes me feel very confident my position is the correct one.
Dreamer
Evil capitalists “risking lives”? A virus that kills 0.04% of people under age 70….you might as well say they are risking lives playing outdoors where a meteor might strike a player in the head.
And the percentages of being more than two degrees of separation from a 70 year old is probably less that that.
I get a little upset when I read stuff like this. It makes it sound like people don’t get it.
This is the most serious pandemic in more than 100 years. But it’s also not the end of the world. People need to be smart and I haven’t seen a lot of smart from either side.
This dumb and outdated talking point is why your guy running for president to is getting crushed right now by a guy who doesn’t have to leave his basement to do so.
And Hillary was crushing him as well.
Polling is not as accurate as it use to be. People don’t even pick up their phone anymore.
The guy who doesn’t leave the basement is the same guy who can’t remember his name, LOL
Right, because it’s one or the other.
There is the guy who drives his car, reasonably obeys traffic laws, doesn’t use his cell phone, or drinks and drive.
There is the kid who drives his car and does none of that and thinks he’s indestructible.
But to some you either drive or you don’t drive, the risk is the same.
By the way, I just pulled this off the internet. No group under 10 is .04 percent. My group is 3.6 and I don’t like that. I can live with a factor of ten, which us .36, but even so, that’s not .04. Who is giving you .04?
For children under nine years old, the mortality rate is 0 percent.
For the age group 10 to 39 years old, the mortality rate is 0.2 percent.
For the age group 40 to 49 years old, the mortality rate is 0.4 percent.
For the age group 50 to 59 years old, the mortality rate is 1.3 percent.
For the age group 60 to 69 years old, the mortality rate is 3.6 percent.
For the age group 70 to 79 years old, the mortality rate is 8 percent.
For the age group 80 years old and above, the mortality rate is 14.8 percent.
35% of all new cases is now from ages 16 to 35 was on the News today and also confirmed by the CDC and the doctors on the interview. Stop thinking your invisible because you’re not.
waaaah. grow up.
So if people want to take the risk and go to a game, it’s someone else’s fault if they get sick?
Tony Clark is the most useless player to ever hit 250 home runs. Why did they think that that would make him a good union rep
affirmative action?
I still say give players the option of renewing their deal at 2020 salaries and remove tax implications for 2021. Players will need all teams bidding and as it stands many players like JBJ may not even get an offer. While his offense has been bad, players entering free agency who aren’t injured deserve a full year to showcase themselves. As they will be a year older, not every mid tier player will take this if offered.
As long as tax implication in 2022 are kept.
By the way, does everyone’s cap reset this year?
Caps don’t reset. They are prorated over 162 games for player salaries, and the benefits are at 100%. The same teams that would have been over before COVID 19 will still be over.
Patrick. Thanks for the info.
In my example yes as a bone to throw the MLBPA.
I don’t wear a cap.
I had said that MLB needed to expand to 36 teams if they were going to go to 16 postseason teams but I now believe 40 is necessary to have that many postseason teams. I wouldn’t go to more than 12 or MAYBE 14 with a 36-team league. Here’s how a 40-team MLB sets up…
AL East: Baltimore, Boston, Buffalo (expansion), New York (Yankees), Toronto
AL Central: Chicago (White Sox), Cleveland, Detroit, Kansas City, Minnesota
AL South: Houston, Mexico City (expansion), New Orleans (expansion), San Antonio (expansion), Texas
AL West: Colorado, Los Angeles (Angels), Oakland, Portland (expansion), Seattle
NL East: Montreal (expansion), New York (Mets), Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington
NL Central: Chicago (Cubs), Cincinnati, Indianapolis (expansion), Milwaukee, St. Louis
NL South: Atlanta, Charlotte (expansion), Miami, Nashville (expansion), Tampa Bay
NL West: Arizona, Las Vegas (expansion), Los Angeles (Dodgers), San Diego, San Francisco
You have way too many expansion teams listed cut it back to two for now and then realign your assessment for divisions. I would say Las Vegas and Nashville or Charlotte.
That many expansion teams is necessary if they want to have SIXTEEN postseason teams. That’s still 40 percent of the league making the postseason if you have 40 teams.
Replace Montreal with a more suitable city.
Like what? I already put Buffalo in the AL East. I can’t think of anything in that region except for Brooklyn and maybe Hartford (and they won’t try Hartford). Maybe a New Jersey team? I don’t see it honestly. Montreal at least has history in the league.
Montreal seems to be high on Manfred’s list to get a team.
There could be three or four cities that get teams, but just two new expansion franchises. Any relocation probably involves a lease buyout, which is expensive, but if a new owner wants it bad enough, it could happen.
The regions that need a team the most are the Pacific Northwest, which only has Seattle, and the Southeast, which only has Atlanta and the two Florida teams and Tampa Bay probably won’t even have a team in a few years.
Where are all the players going to come from to fill ALL those expansion teams, not going to happen that way. Two Cities at best for the next five years. Population will have a lot to do with the two Cities as well as current stadiums in place with domes for Canada.
Tampa would be smart to move to Nashville or Charlotte the folks in Fla are to football crazy and not hot on baseball
I wish they would add four. Sure, two divisions would have an extra team but it used to be that way anyway. The first four I would add would be Charlotte and Nashville in the East and Portland and Las Vegas in the West.
If you did real research on Montreal you’d never put them on any 48-team list.
Another AAA affiliate who draws well would be more suitable, like Columbus. Or to the heart of NCAA baseball in Omaha. Montreal would need billionaire(s) to fund a new stadium or else they’ll draw nothing by season 2. Again, do your research.
I have no problem with Columbus but there’s no way they’ll put a third team in Ohio. I could only see New York or Texas getting a third team. I don’t see any other state that already has at least one team getting a new team…not even California.
There is no way 48 teams are in MLB yet you continue to push the idea. Why suddenly bring logic into your absurd equation now??
Any of the 10 expansion cities I listed are actually realistic. Obviously they won’t use more than two or possibly four of them but they’re all at least worth considering.
Of course, 40-plus teams might not be that far fetched when they’re trying to have MLB in Europe…
Nothing about your premise is realistic. But since you have refused to do actual research on Montreal, like I requested, here’s why Montreal isn’t realistic:
-The province is in serious debt. They can’t fund a stadium.
-Few buyers willing to put forth money for a franchise
-Few buyers would then want to put anything into a new stadium
-private funding? Good luck in that province.
-locations are few and far between. Province is packed
-City interest in a baseball team is meh. More fans across Canada
-Tampa’s worst attendances would have been a good year post-strike Expos.
Save your “realistic” rhetoric. Keep dreaming.
Well, MLB seems pretty dead-set on putting a team there anyway. Manfred has mentioned it every time that expansion has come up…along with Charlotte, Nashville, Las Vegas, Portland, Vancouver and possibly somewhere in Mexico.
If you bring four teams in at one time many MLB teams would lose a good deal of their active roster to these expansion teams, doesn’t make sense…
I would rather they just relocate the Florida teams to Charlotte and Nashville and then put expansion teams in Las Vegas and Portland or Vancouver but I don’t see the Marlins moving since they just got that stadium eight years ago. They have added four teams in the past…Montreal, San Diego, Kansas City and Seattle (Pilots…now the Milwaukee Brewers) in 1969 and they added four teams in a two-year span between 1961 and 1962 (Houston, NYM, LAA and the new Washington Senators (now the Texas Rangers).
Expand? Some of the teams don’t draw flies right now.
put houston back in the nl and milwaukee back in the al
If you want to be completely serious then I would move the Florida teams to Nashville and Charlotte and put expansion teams in Las Vegas and one of Portland/Vancouver.
Some other teams could relocate too. There are several markets that could use a team.
Honestly California would be fine with three teams and I still don’t know why Chicago needs two teams. Florida definitely doesn’t need more than one team and they should honestly try a different market than the two they’ve tried already (either Orlando or Jacksonville…and I doubt they’d try Jacksonville).
There won’t be any playoffs, so they can make any plans or say whatever they want. It is absolutely not going to happen.
Get used to it and get over it.
won’t even get the season started
The owners will do almost anything to make even more money.
Isn’t that pretty much what business is?
More playoff teams works for me
Two at the most by 2022, must have a dome stadium in Canada and at least a City of 700,000 or more population.. Remember each current team can only protect the first round of 18 players of the 26 team roster.
Next we’ll have three weeks of these charlatans bickering about whether to call it “playoffs” or “postseason”
Florida and Arizona have some of the steepest surges of coronavirus now. They won’t make it out of training camp before they will have to shut it down. That’s reality.
If the players follow all the rules for safety it will be OK, but if these players get together after the games and stop wearing masks and social distancing there will be a problem