Baseball Fan's Guide to MLB Expansion and Franchise Relocation

The National League was formed in 1876 with 8 teams, including franchises in Boston (now the Atlanta Braves) and Chicago that are still part of the league today. For the next quarter of a century, the configuration of the league changed almost annually as new teams were added and others dropped out. A total of 27 different franchises participated in the league from 1876 through 1891, although there were never more than 8 teams in the league in any one year.

In 1892, the National League expanded to 12 teams with the addition of 4 teams from the American Association, which had disbanded after 10 years. The NL had already picked up 2 AA franchises in Brooklyn and Cincinnati for the 1890 season, to go along with the original Boston and Chicago franchises and existing teams in Cleveland, New York, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. In 1892, the AA franchises in Baltimore, Louisville, St. Louis, and Washington joined the National League. This 12-team configuration remained stable from 1892 through the 1899 season.

In 1900, the National League contracted again, back to 8 teams. The roster included the two original NL teams in Boston and Chicago, along with 6 teams that had their beginnings in the American Association: Brooklyn, Cincinnati, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis. These 8 "classic" franchises comprised the National League for more than 60 years. All 8 franchises are still in the league, with 5 of the 8 in their original locations.

The Braves move to Milwaukee — 1953

The first franchise relocation in the modern National League occurred in 1953, when the Boston Braves moved to Milwaukee. Despite being one of the oldest continually operating franchises in baseball, and despite winning the NL pennant in 1948 behind the pitching of Warren Spahn, the Braves (who had also been known at various times throughout their history as the Red Stockings, the Beaneaters, the Doves, the Rustlers, and the Bees), had become second-class citizens in Boston, where the American League’s Red Sox were far more popular. After moving to Milwaukee, the Braves set a National League attendance record of 1.8 million fans in 1953.

The Dodgers and Giants go west — 1958

The Brooklyn Dodgers first took the field as the Brooklyn Atlantics in the American Association in 1884. Known by numerous other nicknames (including the Grays, Bridegrooms, Grooms, Superbas, and Robins — often simultaneously and interchangeably) for the first 50 years of their history, the Dodgers had a rabid fan base in Brooklyn. They became the first integrated team in Major League Baseball when they brought African-American player Jackie Robinson to the team in 1947. With Robinson and several other African-American players, the Dodgers had great success for the next 10 years. They won 6 pennants and beat the New York Yankees in the 1955 World Series for their first championship.

However, the Dodgers’ stadium, Ebbets Field, was old and in disrepair. Dodgers’ owner Walter O’Malley wanted to build a new stadium in Brooklyn, but he was rebuffed by city planners and politicians. Lured by a lucrative stadium offer in Los Angeles, O’Malley made the unpopular decision to move the Dodgers to the West Coast. He convinced Horace Stoneham, owner of the rival New York Giants, who were also in need of a new stadium, to move west too. The Dodgers moved to Los Angeles and the Giants to San Francisco for the 1958 season.

The American League began play in 1901 as the “Junior Circuit” to the established National League. Like the older league, the AL was comprised of 8 teams: Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and Washington. It remained an 8-team league for 60 years, and the original franchises are all in the league today, although 4 of them are no longer in their original cities.

The American League franchise moves are a little more confusing than those of the National League: No National League teams moved until team nicknames were well established, and with the exception of the most recent move in 2005, teams kept their names when they moved. By contrast, several of the American League franchise shifts involved complete name changes and the assumption of names previously used by other franchises.

The Milwaukee and Baltimore franchises move early

The Milwaukee Brewers played only one season in Milwaukee before departing for St. Louis in 1902, where they played as the Browns for 52 years before moving to Baltimore in 1954 to become the Orioles.

Meanwhile, the Baltimore Orioles franchise that was a charter member of the American League moved to New York in 1903. In New York, the team was known as the Highlanders until 1913, when it dropped that name in favor of the New York Yankees.

St. Louis and Philadelphia lose their AL teams in the 50s

With some additional nickname changes, the 8 American League teams remained in place from 1903 until the Browns’ move to Baltimore in 1954. Another change came in the following year, when the Philadelphia Athletics moved to Kansas City.

Despite usually mediocre on-field results, the St. Louis Browns were for 20 years considerably more popular than the National League’s Cardinals, with whom they shared their stadium, Sportsman’s Park. In 1926, however, the Cardinals beat the Yankees in the World Series, and the St. Louis fans embraced the Cardinals at the expense of the Browns. The Browns regained some popularity in the early 1950s under their new owner, the showman Bill Veeck, but when the Cardinals were sold to brewing giant Anheuser-Busch, Veeck sold the Browns to a group that moved them to Baltimore. They began a new life as the Baltimore Orioles in the 1954 season.

The Athletics were managed by the legendary Connie Mack for the first 50 years of their existence and reached the World Series 8 times through 1931. But by the 1950s, the team had posted consistently poor results for 2 decades, and the owners decided to move west to Kansas City for the 1955 season.

In 1960, the American League voted to expand to 10 teams. Prompted by the success of the Dodgers’ and Giants’ moves to the West Coast, the American League added a new franchise, the Angels, in Los Angeles. The league also awarded a franchise to Minneapolis-St. Paul, but Calvin Griffith, the owner of the Washington Senators, asked for and received approval to move the Senators there instead, giving the new expansion slot to Washington.

As a result, the 1961 American League season included 3 new teams: the expansion Los Angeles Angels, the expansion Washington Senators, and the newly renamed Minnesota Twins, formerly the old Senators.

The Angels went through several name changes related to the location of their new stadium in nearby Anaheim, which opened in 1966. In 1965 the Angels changed their name to the California Angels; in 1997 they became the Anaheim Angels; and in 2005 they adopted their current name, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

The Athletics move west again

California gained its fourth major league team in 1968, when the Kansas City Athletics completed their westward migration, which had started in Philadelphia, by moving to Oakland.

Not to be outdone, and facing the potential threat of a third league with a team in New York to replace the Giants and Dodgers, the National League added 2 expansion clubs for the 1962 season.

The New York Mets were formed with the specific intent of drawing fans of the National League’s former New York teams. Their team colors were Dodger blue and Giants orange. In the expansion draft, the Mets selected a number of players with ties to the old teams, especially the Dodgers. See The New York Mets' First Season: 1962's Lovable Losers.

The other team added by the National League was the Houston Colt .45s, opening the Texas market to major league baseball for the first time. In 1965 the Colt .45s were renamed as the Houston Astros, when they moved into the Astrodome, the first domed sports stadium in the world.

The Braves move to Atlanta

1966 brought another franchise shift as the Braves left Milwaukee after 13 seasons in the Midwest. The Braves relocated to Atlanta, becoming the first Major League team in the Southeast.

By the late 1960s, Major League Baseball was ready to expand again. In 1967, both leagues voted to add 2 more teams, for a total of 12 teams in each league. The expansion timetable was hurried by the Athletics’ move to Oakland. Instead of beginning play in 1971 as planned, the new teams took the field in 1969.

The American League replaced the Athletics with the expansion Kansas City Royals and added a new team, the Pilots, in Seattle. Unfortunately, the Pilots were unsuccessful on the field and in financial trouble from the start. Major League Baseball approved a sale of the team and a move to Milwaukee for the 1970 season, where the team was renamed as the Brewers. So, four years after the Braves had left, baseball was back in Milwaukee.

Meanwhile, the National League expanded into two new markets for the 1969 season, adding the San Diego Padres as its third California team and the Montreal Expos as the first major league team in Canada.

Washington’s loss is Texas’s gain

Soon after this round of expansion, the American League approved one more relocation: In 1972, the Washington Senators (the 1961 expansion version) moved to Dallas-Ft. Worth, giving both leagues a presence in the Lone Star State. The team was renamed as the Texas Rangers.

Divisional play begins

In connection with the 1969 expansion, the leagues created divisions for the first time, resulting in a new round of playoffs to decide the pennant winners. Each league was divided into East and West Divisions, as shown in the table below. The American League made additional changes within a few years, but the National League alignments remained the same for 24 years, through the 1992 season.

In 1977, the American League expanded again, going from 12 teams to 14 teams. The league added its first franchise in Canada, the Toronto Blue Jays, to compete with the Montreal Expos of the NL. A new franchise, named the Mariners, was also awarded to Seattle to replace the ill-fated Pilots.

With the 1977 expansion, the existing East and West divisional structure was maintained. Each division was increased from 6 to 7 teams: Toronto was added to the East Division, while Seattle joined the West Division. This alignment was maintained for 17 years, through the 1993 season.

Despite the AL expansion in 1977, the National League remained at 12 teams until 1993, when it added 2 new franchises, the Colorado Rockies and the Florida Marlins. Both of these teams represented forays into new, formerly untapped markets: The Rockies, based in Denver, were marketed to the vast Mountain States area between Kansas City and California. The Marlins, located in Miami, were the first Major League team in Florida.

For the 1993 season, the league retained its existing divisional structure, adding Florida to the East Division and Colorado to the West.

With 14 teams in each league, both leagues switched to a three-division format in 1994, adding a Central Division in each league and realigning the East and West Divisions. In each league, the East and Central Divisions had 5 teams, while the West Division had 4 teams.

MLB also created a new playoff structure, adding a wild-card playoff berth for the non-divisional winner with the best overall record, and a new playoff round, the Division Series, to determine the two teams that would advance to play for the league pennant.

Due to a players’ strike in 1994, this new playoff structure was not actually implemented until 1995.

The final round of expansion to date occurred in 1998, when each league added one new team. The American League moved into Florida with the addition of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (known since 2008 as the Rays). The National League moved into the Arizona desert with the addition of the Phoenix-based Arizona Diamondbacks. The D-backs had early success, winning the World Series in 2001, just their fourth year. The Rays were less successful initially, but they did win the AL pennant in 2008 and were back in the playoffs in 2010 and 2011.

The expansion to 30 teams, with an odd number of teams (15) in each league, created potential scheduling problems. To avoid this, MLB decided to move one team from the American League to the National League, giving the NL 16 teams and the AL 14. The Milwaukee Brewers agreed to transfer. So Milwaukee, the former home of the Braves for 13 years, once again became a National League city, with the Brewers in the NL Central Division.

The Arizona Diamondbacks were added to the NL West Division, giving the National League 5 teams in the East Division, 6 teams in the Central, and 5 in the West. Meanwhile, since Tampa Bay was added to the AL East, the Detroit Tigers agreed to move from the AL East to the AL Central Division. The result of the moves was 5 teams in the AL East, 5 teams in the AL Central, and 4 teams in the AL West Division.

This alignment has been maintained to date, with the exception of the 2005 relocation of the Montreal Expos franchise to Washington, D.C., where the team was renamed as the Washington Nationals.

Update November 17, 2011:

Houston Astros to Move to the AL West, New Wild Card Added

Major League Baseball announced that the Houston Astros will move from the NL Central Division to the American League West Division, effective with the 2013 season. The move will result in balanced divisions for the first time since 1998, with 5 teams in each division. The new alignment will require additional interleague play.

MLB also announced that a second wild card team will be added in each league in either 2012 or 2013, with a "play-in" game or series between the two wild cards to determine which team will advance to the Division Series. The new format will create an additional incentive for teams to win their division. (Additional update: On March 2, 2012, MLB announced that the second wild card will be added for the 2012 season.)

Speculation arises periodically about whether Major League Baseball will expand again, or whether smaller market teams will relocate. Expanding from the current 30 teams to 32 or more would bring baseball to additional markets. On the other hand, opponents of further expansion argue that Major League talent is already diluted.

Which cities or metropolitan areas would be likely candidates for expansion? Considerations generally include population, income, media penetration, and baseball tradition. Currently, 25 of the 30 teams are located in 21 of the 22 most populous U.S. metropolitan areas, and the Toronto metro area population would place it in the top 10. Five other U.S. metropolitan areas have larger populations than Cincinnati, Cleveland, or Kansas City: Riverside, California; Portland, Oregon; Sacramento, California, San Antonio, Texas; and Orlando, Florida. Another 9 areas, including Las Vegas, Nevada, and Nashville, Tennessee, are more populous that the Milwaukee area, which is currently the smallest market in Major League Baseball.

Would any of these areas be strong candidates for a new MLB franchise? Or should the MLB consider additional international expansion, maybe to Mexico City, San Juan, or even Havana? With 7 billion people now on the planet, potential new fans are being born every minute.