ARLINGTON, Texas _ How about a trip to San Antonio for a three-game series with the Rangers and, say, San Antonio Texians? Yes, I spelled that right. Consult your history books.
Or maybe the San Antonio Alamos or San Antonio Riverwalks? OK, there's plenty of time to think of a good name, but MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred would like to see a major league team in the Mission City.
Manfred, who attended Opening Day at Globe Life Park on Thursday, said the league wants to first resolve ongoing stadium disputes in both Oakland and Tampa. But once those situations are cleared, Manfred said he'd like to expand the league from 30 to 32 teams. Two leading candidates, he said, are Montreal and San Antonio.
Montreal, of course, was home to the Expos from 1969 to 2004, when the franchise relocated to Washington DC. San Antonio has been home to minor-league baseball since the 1930s.
"There are a lot of advantages for the game to get to the 32," Manfred said, citing a desire for more geographically friendly divisions. In this scenario, each league would have four divisions of four teams. The Rangers, for example, could be in a division with the Astros, the Royals and a team in San Antonio. Manfred said a 32-team league could also allow the league to alter its playoff format, perhaps adding another team or two the postseason.
"And there are cities, including places like Montreal and San Antonio, that have a huge interest in having a major-league baseball franchise," he said.
San Antonio has been homed to the San Diego Padres' Double A team since 2007. The city hosted Big League Weekend from 2013 to 2017 when the Rangers and another majorleague team played a couple of spring training games at the Alamodome. The series was skipped in 2018 because the Alamodome was preparing to host the NCAA Final Four.
