Should MLB Expand Again?

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As I turned on my TV following Shabbos, the Minnesota Twins broadcast team were discussing MLB expansion. You couldn’t blame them for doing so since the Twins were blowing out the Arizona Diamondbacks. It’s been 25 years since MLB last expanded by adding the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Rays. Is it time to expand by two more teams?

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred discussed expansion back in 2015 and 2017. However, Tampa Bay and Oakland’s stadium issues needed to be addressed before MLB could even consider expansion. Tampa Bay’s plans to move to Ybor City fell through so they’re playing at Tropicana Field through 2027. Oakland announced their plans to move to Las Vegas starting in 2025.

“I know the Mayor of Montreal has been very vocal about bringing baseball back to Montreal,” Manfred said. “Charlotte’s a possibility. And I’d like to think that Mexico City or some other place in Mexico would be a possibility.”

Manfriend discussed the topic later in 2017 during a stop in Seattle.

“Portland would be on the list,” he said. “I think Portland is a possibility. You can think about the prospects on the West Coast probably as effectively as I can.”

Nashville, Orlando, and Salt Lake City also have organizations in place to land MLB expansion teams.

The right time for expansion was a few years ago when MLB decided to move the Houston Astros over to the American League in 2013 after playing 51 seasons in the National League (1962-2012). They didn’t have the decency to move the Milwaukee Brewers back, which is what they should have done. I said it then and I say it again right now: they moved the wrong team. The Brewers started out in the AL back when they were the Seattle Pilots (an expansion team) in 1969, before moving to Milwaukee in 1970. The Brewers moved into the NL Central during the last MLB expansion.

Interleague play had been introduced back in 1997. It gave NL fans and AL fans an opportunity to see teams from different leagues compete against each other. It was initially limited to teams in the same divisions before expanding to playing teams from other divisions. During the 2013-2022 seasons, each team played 20 interleague games a season, up from 15-18 games per season. MLB expanded interleague play to 46 games under the Collective Bargaining Agreement signed in 2022. Adding two more teams would place each league at 16 teams at piece and it’s safe to assume that interleague play would continue.

Is it time for MLB to add another pair of teams? What do you think?