Originally Published on the Florida Sports Report blog.
So imagine this:
The Tampa Bay Rays are done. The ownership no longer believes in Tampa Bay, no longer believes in Central Florida, and the mayor of St. Petersburg refuses to budge on the situation concerning the split-season nonsense. The relationship is fractured beyond repair, and the team is as good as gone after a couple decades playing in Tropicana Field.
Imagine this becoming the circumstance of events that leads to the salvation of Major League Baseball.
So MLB has recently dipped slightly in value when compared to the NBA, with now the basketball league’s teams averaging higher financial numbers when compared to baseball teams. There are a variety of factors behind this; from commissioners and their decision-making to superstar culture dominating the headlines to baseball’s inability to fix some of its lingering issues right down to the advertising now seen on the NBA jerseys. Nonetheless, baseball as a whole isn’t slipping, but its growth remains stagnant as the NBA and the MLS’ starpower continues to rise.
Major League Baseball really hasn’t had much of a shakeup in recent years, with the inclusion of the extra Wild Card being their most progressive decision in the past decade. But, interleague play still exists, there is still no salary cap/base, the minor league system remains a mess, and now more and more teams are choosing to dismantle their franchises for multiple years in favor of emulating what was accomplished in Chicago and Houston. The game of baseball remains a beautiful work of art, and to this day I’ll argue nothing beats playoff baseball in the slightest. But the league refuses to adjust, and with other leagues like the NHL, MLS, and NBA creating many major changes in favor of improving the product, its making MLB appear more dated than usual.
The Rays leaving the Sunshine State and transforming into the Montreal Expos would be the shake-up baseball needs, and would become the catalyst that leads to many other changes within the league.
Montreal Expos getting their team back will immediately improve the overall revenue of the league, as the city remains the second-largest North American city without a baseball team—-with Mexico City holding the top spot. This would provide a second team in Canada, automatically creating a rivalry with the Blue Jays as they not only have to split the fans within the country, but will even be in the same division as the Rays occupy a spot in the American League East. Not only could it serve as a second Canadian representative, but can even serve as the main representative for French baseball, as Montreal is the largest French-speaking city in the world outside of Paris. You can expand baseball in Europe starting with a strong French presence across the Atlantic Ocean. Imagine a division with the Expos, Blue Jays, Yankees, and Red Sox. That’s Rivalry and Revenue Heaven.
Rob Manfred had discussed not even considering expansion until all stadium issues were resolved. With the Expos emerging again, and more than likely playing in the Big O while a new stadium be built in the meantime, the last remaining piece of the puzzle is the Oakland Athletics—who are already one step closer to getting their new stadium after a few deals being approved.
And all this means: expansion, elimination of interleague, more divisions, more rivalries, and more markets to spread baseball to.
With the Rays transforming to the Expos, now there’s a chance cities like San Antonio, Portland, Charlotte, Nashville, perhaps even Mexico City will be able to state their case as the next destination for Major League Baseball. Even better is that with Montreal just taking over an existing franchise, it leaves two slots opens as opposed to one since Montreal had been the front-runner for some time now. So maybe the Carolinas will finally get their team. Maybe San Antonio can represent the South of Texas and North Mexico. Or, better yet, maybe Major League Baseball will build a professional team somewhere the NBA, NFL, NHL, and even MLS has not considered: Mexico.
All the improvements towards the next generation of baseball can be accomplished once the initial domino falls: the Tampa Bay Rays disappearing once and for all and then from the ashes emerging the last team to disappear from baseball: the sabotaged, the historically-tortured and historically-mistreated Montreal Expos. Once the move to Canada happens, the possibilities for the game to expand opens up, and it might lead to the progressive and revolutionary ideas that would improve Major League Baseball for the next generation of fans.
So imagine the future seemingly being far away, but suddenly appearing closer than anyone had imagined a month ago. It involves a sacrifice of a 20-year old franchise, but the sport and league overall would dramatically improve.
And plus we’d finally stop having games in the terrible, terrible Tropicana Field.