At least some of us grew up in the 50s with 16 major league teams in two leagues. Now we have 30.
Fourteen teams have been added and others have moved, but were those changes the best? Lets take a look.
The basis for the realignment presented is based on city populations, not metropolitan populations.
Either would work and the results would be different, but both could be criticized.
The first step is seeing what a 16 team league would look like today.
The American League would be
New York Yankees*
Chicago White Sox*
Toronto Blue Jays
Houston Astros
Seattle Mariners
Boston Red Sox*
Detroit Tigers*
Washington Nationals (or perhaps Americans-Senators)
The National League would be
New York Mets
Philadelphia Phillies*
Colorado Rockies
Los Angeles Dodgers**
Arizona Diamondbacks
San Francisco Giants**
San Diego Padres
Chicago Cubs*
*Seven of the 50s 16 teams to survive
**Two of the original 16 that only moved
Now the next steps is adding seven teams to each league based on population
To the American League the following could be added
Jacksonville Suns
Columbus Clippers
Indianapolis Indians
Charlotte Knights
Nashville Sounds
Memphis Redbirds
Dallas Roughriders
To the National League the following could be added
Oklahoma City Dodger Premies
Fort Worth Cats
Austin Rock Hounds
El Paso Chihuahuas
San Antonio Missions
San Jose Giant Babies
Portland Pickles
That leaves us with fourteen major league teams that could be demoted to triple A
Baltimore Orioles*
Milwaukee Brewers
Kansas City Royals
Atlanta Braves*
Miami Marlins
Minnesota Twins
"Arlington Rangers"
Cleveland Indians*
Anaheim Angels
St. Louis Cardinals*
Pittsburgh Pirates*
Cincinnati Reds*
Tampa Bay (St. Petersburg) Rays
Las Vegas Athletics***
*6 of the original 16 teams that do not survive
*** one team that moved three times from Philly to KC to Oakland to Las Vegas
Three teams on the list from the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, 2 major and one minor. As a metropolitan area two teams is not unreasonable.
The Cleveland Indians could be a farm team of Indianapolis.
Lots of major league baseball in Texas with a total of 6 teams
I can't wait for a World Series between the Sounds and the Pickles.
How about you?
This is all fantasy, the criteria are quite arbitrary, and I will not defend any of the above.