Five cities that deserve MLB expansion franchises

Major League Baseball hasn’t had an expansion team since 1998, but there are rumblings that could soon change. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred recently stated expansion fees could rise to $2.2 billion in the near future, and the fact he’s set his price indicates the potential for a new team (or two) to come onboard.

The question is, where would they come from? Let’s analyze a few possible destinations.

5. Buffalo

I’m admittedly going out on a limb here, but Buffalo was the team's home base a season ago since the Blue Jays cannot play in Ontario due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They’ve at least shown they can host MLB games in some way, and if the Bills’ resurgence has shown anything, it’s that Buffalo sports fans will rally behind a successful club.

4. Portland (Oregon)

Portland may not be the biggest city on the West Coast, but it has a long baseball history (partially chronicled in the excellent documentary, The Battered Bastards of Baseball). With no teams between Northern California’s Bay Area and Seattle, there’s certainly a gap to fill. The biggest hurdle may be the need for a new ballpark, which never materialized when a AAA team was in town more than a decade ago.

3. New Orleans

This is more of a geographic fit than anything else. In looking at the Gulf of Mexico, while Florida and Texas boast an abundance of MLB teams, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama do not. Going north, neither do Arkansas or Tennessee. New Orleans housed a AAA team for many years, but that team moved to Wichita, leaving the city without a squad.

2. Montreal

Montreal, of course, housed the Expos for 35 years before they moved south and became the Washington Nationals. Olympic Stadium still stands tall in the proud Canadian city, and while that ballpark may need a renovation, a new one doesn’t necessarily have to be constructed immediately.

1. Las Vegas

Vegas has suddenly turned into a baseball hotbed. Sin City’s produced Bryce Harper and Kris Bryant, among others, and the town has recently welcomed the Raiders into a brand new stadium just south of the Las Vegas Strip. Could a new baseball park be next? Rumors had swirled about potentially building one where the Rio currently stands, but that idea seems to have stalled.