Time for expansion?

[Chrispy]

Where should baseball expand? The first city is obvious. As I wrote, Montreal is one of North America's biggest markets and a city that embraced the game in the past. (There were stretches when the Expos outdrew the Yankees and Mets.) Baseball is looking to grow abroad, which is good, but while doing so, the league should not forget its first international major league city.

The second expansion city? This is where my plan gets interesting and, potentially, game-changing. Because the other city that would get a team is Brooklyn.

There was a time, remember, when New York had three baseball teams: the Yankees, Giants and Dodgers. The East Coast Media refers to part of that time as baseball's "Golden Age," though very few fans ever saw it that way in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Chicago, St. Louis, Baltimore, D.C., Boston or anywhere else beyond staggering distance of Billy Martin's neighborhood bars.

With a population base nearly twice that of Pittsburgh, Milwaukee and Cincinnati combined, New York could easily support a third team. And Brooklyn, which already is adding the NBA's Nets, would be the perfect spot. Just imagine the excitement generated by building a replica of Ebbets Field named Jackie Robinson Park. Mets CEO Fred Wilpon would have to take a cold shower before the home opener.
Maybe a new team and a stadium named after Jackie Robinson would keep Brooklyn fans from whining about the good old days.

Even better, you could finally shut up all those annoying old Brooklyn Dodgers fans who go on and on pining for the Boys of Summer.

That in itself is incentive enough to expand to Brooklyn, but there is an even better reason. By putting a third team back in New York, you might significantly handicap the Yankees. You won't eliminate their financial edge -- the Yankees are far too rich -- but you mitigate their unfair advantage by making them share the lucrative New York broadcast market with more than just the Mets.

Not only would the Yankees miss the occasional postseason -- which would be far more effective in leveling the competitive playing field than two wild cards in each league does -- they might be strapped enough for cash that they won't be able to sign Bryce Harper as a free agent in 2018.

Found this on ESPN from 2012

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/8369293/a-proposal-expand-mlb-two-teams-eliminate-wild-cards

What are the expansion fees like for a new team?

MLS is pretty much going with the idea of trying to include as many teams as possible. They will have 23 teams in a couple of years.

[Villain]

I don't know if a team in Brooklyn would make me happy or sad.

[JeremyHight]

Just add the DH to both leagues. Although I like the idea of players having to play both sides, it is a little stupid that one major sports organization has two different sets of rules.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Just add the DH to both leagues. Although I like the idea of players having to play both sides, it is a little stupid that one major sports organization has two different sets of rules.

The DH is the last thing differentiating the AL from the NL. That's a good thing. If it were up to me, i'd dump interleague except for natural rivals (NY, CHI, LA, CIN/CLE, maybe a few others), bring back the league offices, and use separate umps again, too.

9-man baseball should be preserved at all costs. I don't mind the DH in the AL, but leave my 9-man baseball alone.

[Youk]

The DH is the last thing differentiating the AL from the NL. That's a good thing. If it were up to me, i'd dump interleague except for natural rivals (NY, CHI, LA, CIN/CLE, maybe a few others), bring back the league offices, and use separate umps again, too.

9-man baseball should be preserved at all costs. I don't mind the DH in the AL, but leave my 9-man baseball alone.

Remember that time you said "this ^^"?

this ^^

[Villain]

Just add the DH to both leagues. Although I like the idea of players having to play both sides, it is a little stupid that one major sports organization has two different sets of rules.

[Youk]

Just add the DH to both leagues. Although I like the idea of players having to play both sides, it is a little stupid that one major sports organization has two different sets of rules.

One major sports organization that is really two different leagues. I enjoy having the pitcher bat in the National League. It adds an extra element of strategy that you just don't see with the DH.

[Guest]

Speaking of that. The Orioles and Nats on MASN extend all the way down into NC so it would not only affect The Barves but also the O's and

On second thought, no team in Charlotte.

Well, there is precedence in the NFL for that at least. The Redskins territory used to extend down NC and plenty of folks would come up for games and were fans of them. Some still do. Given that Angelos already gave up DC/VA to the Nationals, I can't see MLB asking him to do this before asking someone else first.

So far as what was mentioned in the original tweet about diluting the pitching, there are other ways to combat that. Force teams to spend money, or give them different ways to retain their players. Some teams are already doing that with extensions to take out arbitration years, but there has to be other ways to do that.

[NAHSTE]

The idea behind this proposal, from Zimmerman's perspective I think, was to dilute the pitching a bit. Adding a DH to the NL isn't going to correct what has happened to the run environment. A surplus of power arms has sent the league wide K rate skyrocketing over the past few years, and 50% of post-7th inning plate apperances now result in a strike out.

That's way too predictable and makes for some anti-climactic games.

Everyone loves seeing strike outs and home runs, but when you go 4 innings without seeing a runner on base the game can feel a bit stale. Three true outcome baseball is less appealing than seeing baserunners in action, fielders making diving catches etc.

We need to strike more of a balance between the TTOs and actual baseball plays being made. If you spread the pitching talent that much thinner across the league, perhaps you get a few less starters and high leverage relievers on each team firing 95-99, and perhaps the run environment jumps up a quarter of a run per game.

[Woy]

One major sports organization that is really two different leagues. I enjoy having the pitcher bat in the National League. It adds an extra element of strategy that you just don't see with the DH.

And it can bring some humor to the game too.

[Warner2BruceTD]

The idea behind this proposal, from Zimmerman's perspective I think, was to dilute the pitching a bit. Adding a DH to the NL isn't going to correct what has happened to the run environment. A surplus of power arms has sent the league wide K rate skyrocketing over the past few years, and 50% of post-7th inning plate apperances now result in a strike out.

That's way too predictable and makes for some anti-climactic games.

Everyone loves seeing strike outs and home runs, but when you go 4 innings without seeing a runner on base the game can feel a bit stale. Three true outcome baseball is less appealing than seeing baserunners in action, fielders making diving catches etc.

We need to strike more of a balance between the TTOs and actual baseball plays being made. If you spread the pitching talent that much thinner across the league, perhaps you get a few less starters and high leverage relievers on each team firing 95-99, and perhaps the run environment jumps up a quarter of a run per game.

I'd lower the mound to fix this before i'd expand, but with that said I don't have an issue with the current run scoring environment. The game constantly evolves, and for most of us this is the first evolution happening in front of our eyes because the majority of us knew nothing but post 1987 home run baseball which bled into the steroid era. I like the balance as it is currently. I will say I don't want to see runs go any lower.

Let baseball adjust on its own, which aside from lowering the mound in the 60's, is exactly how things have always evolved. Teams are already starting to exploit the stolen base again, as its value has increased as home runs have gone down. Teams will likely start to employ players with good bat control who make better contact over some one dimensional sluggers, in order to combat the K's. Pre Ruth every team had several players who were great at chopping the ball into the ground between the holes or slapping soft liners the opposite way. If they could do it then, they can do it now. It just wasn't efficient to employ too many David Eckstein's in the last 25 years.

Expansion seems like an overreaction to something that really isn't that much of a problem, and can probably be corrected on the field.

[MVPete]

I don't mind the two separate sets of rules, just make sure when you smug pricks are pulling your dicks out and discussing NL pitchers to tack on at least a half run to their ERA/Increase their H/9/lower K/9/ etc etc etc.

We all know what the dominant pitchers in the AL would do if they got to face the pitcher and all the only useful in double switch-empty bat shit bums that are on most NL teams 25 man.




The scary part is most pitcher's velocity will go up slightly over the next few months, and those that are having trouble locating will have corrected it to some degree(Unless you are Robin Ventura and let your young stud pitcher throw a career high in pitches in April). If you did what I've been wanting and opened up the scheduling a little more that also might lower scoring even more, because you wouldn't have pitchers facing the same lineups so many times throughout the year. I don't even like Interleague but at least it prevents more inter division games. How many times do people want to see Mariners-Astros, White Sox-Twins, Rockies-Dbacks, etc. Even the big matchups get old fucking quick, Yankees-Red Sox every week and guess what IT'S ON ESPN.

[Warner2BruceTD]

A good example of my previous post re:evolution, is how 3B used to be a bat control position manned by agile, smaller slap hitter types who could deftly field bunts and choppers. A bi-product of the explosion in home runs post Ruth saw teams change that position into a power position, as the fielding requirements changed with less infield balls in play, including a severe drop in bunts, so as a result teams took bigger, stronger guys who could hit for power and stuck them there, sacrificing defense to keep up the home run pace.

[MVPete]

You also have to factor in that players are more athletic now and making unreal plays on defense, and teams are employing shifts this year more than they ever have.

[NAHSTE]

If you don't like pitchers batting you are a fucking communist.