15 cities that should get an MLB expansion team

It’s a bit surprising that San Antonio only has one team in the Big Four American sporting leagues. The Texas city is huge, seventh-most populous in the United States. There are over one million people in the city proper, and also San Antonio is not terribly near Houston or Dallas, who both have MLB teams (the Rangers are Dallas-adjacent). It’s also a warm weather city, better for a summer sport.

Hey, Texas has a lot of people in it. The state is the second-most populous behind California, a state that has five MLB teams (for now). Texas could handle a third squad. We’re not saying to add a team in both San Antonio and Austin, but either would be a great choice. Austin, the state’s capital, should be over a million people in the next couple years, and it also has zero pro sports teams of note.

Florida has been the home for spring training for decades, and now has two MLB teams in the Marlins and Rays. Granted, neither of those teams has really taken off, but bad teams and bad stadiums can be blamed for that. Did you know Jacksonville is the largest city in Florida? Or that it is the 10th-largest city in the United States? Maybe this is the city where MLB baseball really pops.

Talk of an MLB team in Charlotte has been bandied about for years. It’s a popular pick, and we get it. Charlotte is the largest city in the state that is 10th in population. The Charlotte metropolitan area is 23rd largest in the United States, and the city is 15th most populous. Also, between 2005 and 2015 it was the city with the largest growth in Millennial population, a group that is going to be going to baseball games and having disposable income in the foreseeable future.

The American South is an area often considered for MLB expansion, and there are only so many cities large enough for that. Nashville is definitely one of them. While the city actually dropped in population over the last few years, that may owe to people being priced out of a city with a lot of well-to-do residents. Indeed, while the city itself is estimated to have lost some of its population over the last few years, the metropolitan area has grown by four percent in that time. It’s also a good sports town, which is nice.

Only the NHL has deigned to give Columbus a team among the Big Four leagues (shoutout to the Crew, the longtime MLS squad). Maybe they fear the Buckeyes are the true draw in that town. While Cleveland and Cincinnati do have teams, Columbus is the largest city in the state, with a population over 900,000. It has had a Triple-A team for years. Maybe it’s time for a glow up?

Kentucky doesn’t have a pro sports team of note, so there is room to strike in the city famous for its baseball bats. It’s the 24th-largest city in the United States, but actually larger than Milwaukee or Baltimore. Now, the metropolitan area is just outside the top 40, which is a concern, but if MLB is going to be a 32-team league, it will start dipping into some large, but not huge, markets. Plus, it can’t just keep adding teams in Texas, California, and Florida.

Speaking of California! The Athletics plan to leave California eventually for Las Vegas, which is why we didn’t include Vegas on this list. In the interim, though, the plan is for the team to play in the state’s capital, Sacramento. The Northern California city has a population over 500,000 and maybe the Athletics’ stay there can double as a test run for an expansion squad.

Virginia is another state with a fairly sizable population, but the local sports scene is largely yielded to Washington D.C. Indeed, the two largest metro areas in the state are Northern Virginia, i.e. right by D.C., and Hampton Roads, which is adjacent to North Carolina. Richmond, the capital, has a bit of distance from either border line, and its metro area is over one million people as well.

One more time, we will dip into Texas. El Paso is isolated in terms of large cities. Oh, and it is large. The population is over 650,000. Additionally, El Paso is right on the Mexican border. The metropolitan area is even considered to include Juarez, Mexico, as well as Las Cruces, New Mexico. An MLB team in El Paso could essentially be a bi-national team, which would be a nice nod to the future, especially with baseball’s popularity in Latin America.

This is a future play for MLB. Boise, the capital of Idaho, is a city on the rise. The estimated population of the metropolitan area is just over 800,000. However, the population jumped 24 percent at the time of the 2020 census, and over 32 percent at the 2010 census. Boise is not large enough yet, but a decade from now, when the metro area is likely over one million people, maybe the city will bring proper pro sports to Idaho.

Yes, we are aware that Boston has the Red Sox. However, New York City has two teams. Chicago has two teams. Los Angeles has a team, with the Angels being nearby in Anaheim as well. Boston has a sports-loving population. However, no major pro sports league has given Boston multiple sports teams in the same league. The metro area is also the 11th-largest in the country, and the third largest in the Northeast. Expansion can’t be all in the south and in the west!

We do think Canada getting a second team makes sense. However, with all due respect to Montreal, the city had its chance. Let’s give a new Canadian city an opportunity to show it can support baseball. Vancouver is the obvious choice. The West Coast city is a long way from Toronto, so no fans would be poached there. Seattle is there for a natural rivalry. Vancouver’s metro area is over 2.6 million people, third largest in the country. Yes, the city is behind Montreal, but we don’t need the Expos back.

Of course, when it comes to international expansion, one city is mentioned (by multiple leagues) more than any other. That would be Mexico City. There’s a reason why leagues, including MLB, keep heading down there for games. It’s an untapped market, but a massive one. Mexico City is the most populous city in all of North America. The only issue is that Mexico City’s elevation is even higher than Denver’s. Get that humidor ready!

Hey, if we’re throwing out cities, why not go bold? Havana, Cuba is not a viable option right now. Relations between the United States and Cuba are not where they would need to be, and the financial circumstances in Cuba also likely aren’t workable at the moment. Expansion, though, could happen in 10, 15, even 20 years. Baseball is huge in Cuba. Havana, the capital city, has a population over two million. Imagine MLB coming to Havana. That would be revolutionary. You can’t do that with Nashville.