If the MLB were to grant an expansion franchise...

[HDMAVS760CA]

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I think Las Vegas baseball would be a complete failure.

Hey, they can't do any worse than DC which failed thrice, & the 2 baseball teams in Florida. Besides, there don't need 2 be anymore expansion in baseball. Contraction is what baseball needs. Vegas should be the place if there was gonna be anymore expansion or relocation. Portland, if that's gonna happen they'll need a dome. I remember someone saying years ago that Portland would be another Tampa Bay situation.

[HDMAVS760CA]

I'd like to see how many fans Tampa would draw if they were actually good...

Most likely the same as they do normally. There was a year when the D.Rays actually impersonated a legitimate MLB team & had a good period of winning in the summer, even had a winning interleague record for the 1st time ever & the fans still didn't show up. The best chance 4 them selling out is that they play all their games in Orlando like they did some games in the 2007 season.
Year i'm referring to was between 2004 & 2006.

[WEFFPIM]

Most likely the same as they do normally. There was a year when the D.Rays actually impersonated a legitimate MLB team & had a good period of winning in the summer, even had a winning interleague record for the 1st time ever & the fans still didn't show up. The best chance 4 them selling out is that they play all their games in Orlando like they did some games in the 2007 season.
Year i'm referring to was between 2004 & 2006.

Completely disagree. That's a city with diehard fans if there's a team worth watching. After championships for both the Buccaneers and the Lightning, they sell out every game.

Hate to break it to you, but interleague play doesn't draw out too many more people. When they had something like 10 straight interleague wins a few years back, all on the road, almost 40,000 people showed up to their first game at home. If that team starts winning, I have no doubt in my mind that Tampa will come out and see them. But after what they have been for pretty much their entire duration, who would want to rush out to go see them?

And what's to say that if the team ever moved to Orlando (which they won't), why would the people of Orlando stick with them? If the team is bad, no one will show up no matter where the team is located.

[HDMAVS760CA]

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Completely disagree. That's a city with diehard fans if there's a team worth watching. After championships for both the Buccaneers and the Lightning, they sell out every game.

And what's to say that if the team ever moved to Orlando (which they won't), why would the people of Orlando stick with them? If the team is bad, no one will show up no matter where the team is located.

I didn't say they would move to Orlando. I heard that the capacity is about 10,000 or less & they average under 20,000 a game in T.Bay. Every place has a big attendance on opening day in baseball. And the Lightning....they don't sell the place out anymore. And they were the only southern NHL team 2 do so.

[34Celtic]

I can't believe there is hockey in Tampa Bay but not Connecticut...

[SportsWorld]

Portland, if that's gonna happen they'll need a dome.

Why would they need a dome?

[greenbeans]

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Why would they need a dome?

it rains crazy like 180 days out of the year or something like that

[WEFFPIM]

I didn't say they would move to Orlando. I heard that the capacity is about 10,000 or less & they average under 20,000 a game in T.Bay. Every place has a big attendance on opening day in baseball. And the Lightning....they don't sell the place out anymore. And they were the only southern NHL team 2 do so.

They operate at 95% capacity, and draw more than hockey hot beds like Minnesota, NY Rangers, and Detroit. And I don't see how their location has anything to do with that. Carolina won the Stanley Cup two seasons ago and failed to sellout.

And no one mentioned Opening Day.

[SportsWorld]

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it rains crazy like 180 days out of the year or something like that

http://www.city-data.com/city/Portland-Oregon.html

[studcrackers]

how did u become a mod spamming all over the place like that, you're a joke little boy

[ldnk]

How many teams have won 2 or more World Series in the past 11 years? Let's see theres the Yankees, Red Sox, and Marlins.

I would say what they are doing is working. Being stuck in mediocrity is not fun, I'm sure there are a few fans here who have gone through that.

The Marlins will never ever be a big market team, they have a small window and when they realize they aren't going to win in that window they rebuild. Some other teams could actually learn from them.

Edit-Ah, maybe you guys were saying how the fans suck.

A big difference between awful ownership and good management. The scouting staff in Florida is top notch, but the fans don't come out because they don't have a team to root for. Any time a player gets good enough to be a fan favourite, he is traded away because he would cost money. Sure they won two World Series titles, and then they unloaded the team by the very next year. Hard to fall in love with Championship teams when they aren't even around the appreciate past the winning moment.

Imagine if a team like the Red Sox started trading away guys like Papelbon because "they were due for arbitration".

[VinnyTheMick]

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Imagine if a team like the Red Sox started trading away guys like Papelbon because "they were due for arbitration".

I'd be happy.

[greenbeans]

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http://www.city-data.com/city/Portland-Oregon.html

im not trying to do a book report on the city, thanks though

[Tom Chambers]

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im not trying to do a book report on the city, thanks though

Well allow me then. It doesn't rain very much at all in the summer, most of the rain is in the winter.

[greenbeans]

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Well allow me then. It doesn't rain very much at all in the summer, most of the rain is in the winter.

really? weird. when i go out there it usually rains 10-12 out of the 14 days im there and i usually go in spring

[Dirty Water]

Unless they would do continuous interleague play throughout the season, which I highly doubt the MLB would do - this won't happen. In order to balance the leagues, they'd need two new AL teams. The way "3-game series" works is that they need even amount of teams in American and National Leagues. Although baseball will never get rid of interleague play because of the revenue and rivalries it brings, there is growing resentment about how fair the scheduling is (brought up this year by a few ballclubs.) Continuous interleague play would only increase this resentment.

And I don't think they are ready to do that. I'd see contraction is more plausible than expansion for the MLB at this point.

[High 5]

If Seattle doesn't need a dome, Portland wouldn't need a dome.

[trwi7]

If Seattle doesn't need a dome, Portland wouldn't need a dome.

Seattle has a retractable roof.

[High 5]

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Seattle has a retractable roof.

For real? I never knew that.

[TSC25]

I could see both good and bad reasons why a team should be put in Vegas,and I'd say Oklahoma City seems to be a hot topic for NBA teams so why not with MLB also.