It's been just over a decade since the Montreal Expos moved to Washington, but ever since they left fans have been wanting and waiting for them to return.
On Tuesday, Tracy Ringolsby of Baseball America wrote a column on expansion and realignment and in it, stated that, "There seems to be a building consensus that baseball will soon be headed to a 32-team configuration."
According to Tracy, Portland and Montreal could be the target cities if MLB does decide to expand, and if that does happen in the future, he also gave fans his radical realignment and expansion plan:
Consider four eight-team divisions with the addition of teams in Portland and Montreal:
East: Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Miami, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay and Washington.
North: Boston, Cleveland, Detroit, Minnesota, Montreal, both New York franchises and Toronto.
Midwest: Both Chicago franchises, Colorado, Houston, Kansas City, Milwaukee, St. Louis and Texas.
West: Anaheim, Arizona, Los Angeles, Oakland, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle.
As you can see, the landscape of baseball would change pretty drastically if something like Tracy's idea were to come to fruition.
Furthermore, there are multiple benefits from this realignment plan that he outlines in his article which you should read here!
The bottom line, though, is that although baseball purists would have a hard time coming to grips with this realignment plan (No DH, no AL/NL), the Expos would be back and that's good enough for us!
(H/T: Baseball America)
