It is a tale of two coasts for Major League Baseball as the New York Yankees take on the Los Angeles Dodgers. One former Bruin will be center stage.
New York ace Gerrit Cole is set to start for the Yankees in Game 1 of the World Series at home just a short drive from Westwood on Friday night. Despite battling injury this season, Cole returned for a triumphant performance in the 2024 MLB Playoffs, with an 8-5 record and 99 strikeouts.
Pitching opposite Los Angeles ace Jack Flaherty, Cole has a chance to put the Yankees up 1-0 with a strong outing. In the playoffs, with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Houston Astros, and New York Yankees, Cole boasts an 11-6 record with an ERA of 2.98.
Despite earning the Cy Young Award in 2023, Cole has still yet to hoist the Commissioner’s Trophy. The six-time All-Star entered the season as the ninth-best player in baseball, looking to add to his illustrious career with a World Series championship.
As the possibility of the MLB expanding to 32 teams becomes more likely, let’s take a look at 21 cities waiting in the on-deck circle.
If you build it…
While those now-infamous whispers were initially echoing from the baseball heavens via Shoeless Joe Jackson to a confused Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams, they resonate a very topical reality in today’s baseball landscape. As MLB revenues top the $10 billion mark, with local television deals seemingly attainable (and working), many cities would like to be the ones voicing such promises.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has not shied away from talking about expanding both in the US and internationally, either. And, with the premise that adding more teams will add more revenue—while, don’t forget, playing into the back-and-forth tactics of the CBA—the idea of expansion is very possible.
Of course, there are difficulties to consider—a defining difference from the NFL and NBA: For every new franchise that comes into the league, if there’s a minor league team in the area…well, it’s been lovely, but you gotta go!
Still, expansion in the MLB isn’t “if” it’s “when and where?”.
Here’s a look at 21 cities with a population, market size, and location that could put them in the on-deck circle.
Orlando
(Getty Images)
Orlando tops the list—mainly because it’s recently topped the MLB expansion headlines. Orlando Magic co-founder, Pat Williams, has become the face championing to get an MLB franchise in Central Florida. Although baseball in Florida doesn’t have the most celebrated PowerPoint presentation, that isn’t to say a team near Disney World would be a disaster.
Orlando is a top 20 television market with a metro area of over 2.5 million people. Nielsen’s 2020 DMA (Designated Market Area) rankings have Orlando’s marketing reach at 18th. With someone holding the financial status like Williams leading the charge, it’s possible the MLB would not brush this off as a mere publicity bake sale. (Williams, ironically, would like the team name to be the Orlando Dreamers.)
