Rob Manfred has repeatedly expressed his want to broaden Main League Baseball past its present 30-club construction.

“I’d like to get to 32 groups,” the commissioner informed a reporter final yr. He was a bit extra, effectively, expansive in one other interview three months in the past: “I’d prefer to see us get critical consideration in attempting to get to 32 groups. There’s quite a lot of benefits to 32.”

In order that’s the speak. However there was a shortage of motion.

Manfred stays preoccupied with the stadium and monetary issues afflicting the Oakland Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays. It appears unlikely that he’ll set an enlargement timetable till the A’s transfer to Las Vegas and the Rays strike a cope with St. Petersburg officers for a brand new ballpark.

So we’ll most likely have to attend till subsequent yr — maybe even longer — for Manfred’s announcement of an enlargement schedule. However that shouldn’t cease us from wanting forward at baseball’s choices.

You would possibly recall that I reviewed the 5 earlier rounds of enlargement earlier this yr. Listed here are the hyperlinks:

These tales exhibit, if nothing else, that enlargement has all the time been a crapshoot. A number of new golf equipment had been persistently profitable on the field workplace, such because the Colorado Rockies, the New York Mets, and the Toronto Blue Jays. However others had been monetary flops from the beginning, together with the Tampa Bay Rays, Miami Marlins, and the late, unlamented Washington Senators (who moved to Dallas in 1972).

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I’ve rounded up an unusually giant group of enlargement candidates — 37 in all.

The checklist contains all 34 U.S. and Canadian metropolitan areas which have not less than 1 million residents, however don’t have big-league groups. I’ve additionally tossed in Mexico’s two largest metros (Mexico Metropolis and Monterrey) and the capital of Puerto Rico, San Juan.

My plan is to rank the 37 candidates from least to most fascinating over a span of 4 weeks, starting subsequent Wednesday, August 2. Subsequent entries will seem on August 9, 16, and 23.

The rankings shall be primarily based on a variety of demographic and geographic elements, akin to a metropolitan space’s inhabitants, its present minor-league affiliation (if any), the gap to the closest big-league market, and the metro’s common private revenue. The native ballpark scenario is just not a part of the method, because it’s assumed that any metropolis that receives an enlargement franchise will construct a brand new stadium.

My method received’t establish markets which are sure to achieve success — baseball’s previous enlargement report ought to remedy us of such hubris — however it is going to isolate candidates which are really worthy of nearer scrutiny. Some will most likely shock you.

We’ll begin subsequent Wednesday with the longest of longshots, the markets submerged in thirty first via thirty seventh place. Then we’ll climb the ladder, analyzing a brand new group of 10 candidates in every of the following three weeks, culminating on August 23 with an inventory of the ten enlargement hopefuls that appear to have the best potential.