Nashville Stars, proposed MLB expansion team discussion

[Big Z Man 1990]

And regarding why Miami takes the place of Brooklyn in the new-look NL that otherwise has teams in the exact same cities as in 1957...

As Brooklyn is a borough of NYC, and NYC already has two teams, current rules prevent any more teams from being established in the NYC area. Even though I would love Brooklyn to have its own MLB team again.

Put it this way. The NL had 8 teams between its 7 cities in 1957. One of those seven is now limited to one NL team. So Miami is the new 8th team in the NL.

As far as Brooklyn, the best they can probably do down the line is getting a team in the AAA International League, but they would have to be a Yankees farm team, as the Mets are firmly tied with Syracuse (in contrast, Brooklyn's current minor league team is a Mets affiliate, but I'm sure Brooklyn would be fine with being the top farm team of the Yankees).

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

Once the structure for the 2021 minor league season is announced, I will post what changes I would like to see when MLB goes to 32 teams. All that I know now is that I want a third AAA league consisting of the AAA teams in the Central US, and that the rookie level would add the Lone Star League for the rookie affiliates of the MLB teams that would move spring training to Texas.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

And by the way, the amount of living MLB players whose careers concluded before 1958 is actually 64. So, yeah only 64 living players left who played their entire careers while MLB was just in the Midwest and Northeast.

 

[KevFu]

If need be, Arizona League games can be scheduled locally after 9 PM to combat the heat

I am a late-night person, I love late night sports. I'd be watching those games at midnight eastern if I lived back east just because they were on.

That being said, 9 pm is "better" but like "out of fire into the frying pan" better.

It's still 95-105 at 9 pm.
Phoenix, AZ Weather History | Weather Underground

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

My proposed schedule format calls for PCL teams to play only 18 interleague games compared to 36 for ET/CT teams. I'm sure MLB would be fine with that inequity in order to reduce travel. They put up with not all NL teams playing the same amount of interleague games for 15 years.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

I feel 2025 would be a good year to close the book on MLB's two-league era, since it would mark the quasquicentennial (125th anniversary) of MLB's modern era, which began when the American League declared itself a major league in competition with the National League in 1901, though before the turn of the 21st century, the AL and NL stopped being independent entities.

 

[KevFu]

I feel 2025 would be a good year to close the book on MLB's two-league era, since it would mark the quasquicentennial (125th anniversary) of MLB's modern era, which began when the American League declared itself a major league in competition with the National League in 1901, though before the turn of the 21st century, the AL and NL stopped being independent entities.

I agree and want to see the Montreal Expos and Nashville (whatevers, Stars is lame because Dallas hockey has it and their branding is clip-art stuff).

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

Nashville Volunteers is my preferred name

 

[KevFu]

Nashville Volunteers is my preferred name

The way trademark stuff is these days, I doubt that could happen since UT would protect their brand.

(Which, I'm not sure why the Dallas Stars wouldn't as well?).

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

The old minor league team in Nashville was officially called the Volunteers but was called Vols for short

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

Here is a good TV schedule for opening day 2026 on ESPN if my alignment is in place:

1 PM: Baltimore Orioles VS. Washington Nationals (would be Nationals first game in American League, and the first time Washington had an AL team since 1971; by extension it would be the first intraleague Beltway Series game since that season - the name Beltway Series being retroactively applied to all Baltimore-Washington baseball games, even those that predate the Interstate Highway System)

4 PM: Philadelphia Phillies VS. Pittsburgh Pirates (a matchup of Pennsylvania's two teams, who would rekindle their rivalry after over 30 years of being in separate divisions, and represent the second-longest and third-longest tenured teams still in the National League)

7 PM: Minnesota Twins VS. Atlanta Thrashers (this name should replace the Braves) (first game in Continental League history, and a rematch of the famous 1991 World Series; teams represent the only Classic 16 franchises to move to the CL - Minnesota was originally the first AL Washington Senators, and Atlanta was originally the Boston Red Stockings of the National Association, after joining the NL in 1876, they changed names several times before settling on Braves in 1912, though they became the Bees for 5 years pre-WWII, the team moved to Milwaukee in 1953 then Atlanta in 1966)

10 PM: Los Angeles Dodgers VS. San Francisco Giants (first game in Pacific Coast League history, Dodgers and Giants have shared a league longer than any other pairs of would-be PCL teams, and thus have the PCL's oldest rivalry, which was an intracity affair in New York City from 1890-1957, although Brooklyn wasn't actually part of NYC until 1898, and have been in their current markets longer than any other PCL team, both first moving to California in 1958)

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

Update

As part of the proposed geographic realignment of spring training (which I reiterate would take years of preparation), instead of receiving teams in the American Association as I earlier proposed, Tempe Diablo Stadium in Tempe and Scottsdale Stadium in Scottsdale would now receive teams in the Pioneer League, which is being converted from a Rookie Advanced league to an independent MLB Partner League, and has all its teams in the Mountain States, which Arizona is part of (though no Pioneer League teams are currently in Arizona); in contrast all current American Association teams are in the Central Time Zone.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

My proposed changes to the minor leagues after MLB would expand to 40 teams would see several AA teams elevated to AAA with a new AA league in the Western US, the Cowboy League, being formed, which means the other AA leagues might see a reduction in the number of their teams.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

So, here's what the team colors for the Nashville Volunteers should be:

1 and 2. Columbia Blue and Scarlet Red, as a way of trolling the Astros and their fans, as many were Oilers fans in the past before the team relocated to Nashville as the Tennessee Titans

3 and 4. Predators Gold and Navy Blue, in honor of the Predators

5. Orange, from the UT Volunteers

6 and 7. Old Gold and Black, from Vanderbilt

Every color would have an alternate uniform for it, in an attempt to top the flamboyance of the Atlanta Thrashers (proposed new name for the Braves) uniforms, as Atlanta and Nashville would consider each other their biggest rival in the new CL.

 

[MMC]

No idea what the original timetable for expansion was or how much it was pushed back, but this is significant.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

2026 should still be OK

 

[KevFu]

No idea what the original timetable for expansion was or how much it was pushed back, but this is significant.

The "original timetable" for expansion was pushed back.... how many of us knew there WAS an original timetable. I knew they had Dombrowski on their staff in Nashville, but I'm guessing most did not.

 

[rojac]

I assume that all the leagues have unofficial timetables for expansion. But until they're really ready to do something, they're not going to say anything publicly.

And my first thought when I heard that Dombroski was looking at the Phillies job was that he must have heard that expansion had become less likely in the near future.

 

[rojac]

I feel the 40-team alignment could happen as soon as 2040 (provided Montreal and Nashville begin play in 2026) if the four-league plan is ultimately successful, which it should be. In any event the days of the AL and NL stretching from coast to coast appear to be numbered.

MLB has added 6 teams in the past 50 years. Do you really think they're going to suddenly add 10 teams in the next 20?

 

[KevFu]

I assume that all the leagues have unofficial timetables for expansion. But until they're really ready to do something, they're not going to say anything publicly.

And my first thought when I heard that Dombroski was looking at the Phillies job was that he must have heard that expansion had become less likely in the near future.

Their hold up isn't lack of desire to expand, or even pandemic uncertainty.

It's that the governments of California, Florida, Oregon and Montreal are not going to shell out $$$ to build stadiums during/immediately after the pandemic. Nashville's is going to be privately financed.

But with Oakland and Tampa Bay needing new stadiums, you have to get three more stadium deals done before you can pull the trigger on expansion

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

MLB has added 6 teams in the past 50 years. Do you really think they're going to suddenly add 10 teams in the next 20?

Crazier things have happened. In 10 years the NHL went from 6 to 18, and a rival league, the WHA, formed in this time. One of the NHL's first expansion teams folded in 1978, but the next year they took four teams from the WHA. So in less than 15 years, the NHL increased the amount of its teams by 350%.

The NHL added another 9 teams in the last decade of the 20th century.

MLB's four-league alignment being successful after 10 years would naturally inspire them to pursue further expansion ASAP.

 

[rojac]

Their hold up isn't lack of desire to expand, or even pandemic uncertainty.

It's that the governments of California, Florida, Oregon and Montreal are not going to shell out $$$ to build stadiums during/immediately after the pandemic. Nashville's is going to be privately financed.

But with Oakland and Tampa Bay needing new stadiums, you have to get three more stadium deals done before you can pull the trigger on expansion

Where did I say anything about MLB's desire to expand? I just said that I thought it had become clear to Dombroski that expansion was less likely. I said absolutely nothing about the reasons for it. Your response seems to be trying to put words in my mouth.

 

[rojac]

Crazier things have happened. In 10 years the NHL went from 6 to 18, and a rival league, the WHA, formed in this time. One of the NHL's first expansion teams folded in 1978, but the next year they took four teams from the WHA. So in less than 15 years, the NHL increased the amount of its teams by 350%.

The NHL added another 9 teams in the last decade of the 20th century.

MLB's four-league alignment being successful after 10 years would naturally inspire them to pursue further expansion ASAP.

The NHL was massively behind the other leagues in terms of numbers of teams. In 1967, when the NHL went from 6 to 12 teams, MLB had 20 teams, the 16-team NFL had already agreed to merge with the 10 team AFL, and the NBA had just gone from 10 to 12 teams (with the ABA also starting with 11 teams).

And in 1990, the NHL had fallen behind again with 21 teams. MLB was at 26 teams. The NFL was at 28 teams. And the NBA had just gone from 25 to 27 teams. So, once again, the NHL was just playing catch up.

 

[oknazevad]

Crazier things have happened. In 10 years the NHL went from 6 to 18, and a rival league, the WHA, formed in this time. One of the NHL's first expansion teams folded in 1978, but the next year they took four teams from the WHA. So in less than 15 years, the NHL increased the amount of its teams by 350%.

The NHL added another 9 teams in the last decade of the 20th century.

MLB's four-league alignment being successful after 10 years would naturally inspire them to pursue further expansion ASAP.

Those were very different times.
Please just stop. It's obnoxious to have you prattle on about a stupid idea that will never happen. No league is going to 40 teams. And please stop proposing a dumb geographic alignment that f***s up the AL and NL. Those will not go away, those will not be supplemented with two additional leagues. Seriously, it's really obnoxious and stupid to have to read this constantly. You've ruined two threads about discussion actual news of real facts with idiotic fantasy. Please just shut up already.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

You shut up. If you don't like what I say say nothing at all. Besides the four league plan wasn't even my idea to begin with, I merely modified it.