MLB expanding to 32 teams is an inevitability, according to owners, high-ranking league sources and other team personnel who spoke to ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Nashville and Salt Lake City are seen as potential candidates.
The expansion is unlikely to happen until the early 2030s, Passan reported. MLB is currently more focused on the Diamond Sports Group bankruptcy (the company owns the TV rights to 14 teams), Tampa Bay’s attempt to build a stadium, Oakland’s potential move to Las Vegas and a new collective bargaining agreement must be negotiated after the current one expires in 2026.
“It hasn’t been much of a topic of conversation,” an anonymous owner told Passan. “Everybody knows what’s going to happen eventually, but it’s so far off that people just haven’t focused on it.”
Commissioner Rob Manfred, who announced last week that he would retire in January 2029, said he hopes to have two cities chosen before he departs, Passan reported.
It is expected that one team each will come from the east and west, and it could lead to realignment, Passan reported. Nashville (the nation’s 26th largest media market) and Salt Lake City (27th) are seen as favorites, but there are other contenders.
Nashville has been viewed as a favorite for five years, since it formed the Music City Baseball group, Passan reported. Salt Lake City gained momentum in the last six months, in part due to the Big League Utah group. It has jumped ahead of Portland, Ore. Other candidates are Charlotte, N.C., San Jose, Calif., Austin, Texas, Vancouver, British Columbia, and Mexico City, sources told Passan.
The league has not decided on how it would realign, sources told Passan. It may go to four eight-team divisions or eight four-team divisions.
MLB has not expanded since Arizona and Tampa Bay joined in 1998, the longest stretch of not adding teams since MLB went from 1901-1961 with 16 teams. The Mets joined the National League in the 1962 expansion with the Houston Colt .45s, who would later change their name to the Astros and move to the American League.
