It's always been my firm belief that the A's are #2 on MLB's relocation list. Could the A's wind up in DC if Portland gets the Expos first?

Numbers don't lie. People do.
Beware of the Silver & Black attack

It's hard to even think that far out. From an alignment perspective you'd leave the Expos in the east, and if you move the A's they stay out west.

It's a big "if" with the A's, and the Expos are in Montreal for the majority of their games next season (all you folks should be reading the Portland Expos forum as much as possible now... that's where things are happening). So it's almost impossible to try and speculate who's going where until the dust settles.

In the meantime D.C. and Portland will be working stadium funding. While the rest of the baseball world is asleep during the winter, these two markets will be knee deep in baseball matters.

Look for the baseball bill being introduced in Salem in January.

A man has to have goals- for a day, for a lifetime- that was mine, to have people say, "There goes Ted Williams, the greatest hitter who ever lived." - Ted Williams

quote:

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Originally posted by TeddyBallgameRules:
It's hard to even think that far out. From an alignment perspective you'd leave the Expos in the east, and _if_ you move the A's they stay out west.

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I've been over on the Expos board quite a bit, but I wanted to revisit this topic. You could align MLB in such a way, that schedules would not have to be dramatically altered via schedule trades. (ex: The Portland Pioneers, formerly the Montreal Expos, get the Colorado Rockies schedule. The Rockies move to the AL and get the A's sched. See where I'm going with this? ). However, as I said in my message line, it would take a lot of compromises, and with all of the infighting between MLB owners, I don't look for many compromises to happen. But things could change.

Numbers don't lie. People do.
Beware of the Silver & Black attack

... you've got 15 teams in each league, which means more scheduling headaches (as if they don't have enough already!). But, what's wrong with one interleague matchup each series? If MLB was willing to schedule like that, you could have each league with 3 divisions with each division having 5 teams each. It COULD work.

The Athletics would be moving to the NL (strange as that may be.)

I love your IL idea though.

Numbers don't lie. People do.
Beware of the Silver & Black attack

Why would you take a Least Coast team and move them to the Far West and take a West Coast team and move them to the Least? It just doesn't make sense to me if they both are moving in the same year..Besides Oakland has been in the AL since 1901 (the ALs First Season) it would take a juicy bone thrown their way to be forced to switch leagues after all these years..

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Halo Playoffs 2002--It's Rally (Monkey) Time"!
Show me a man who has never failed and I will show you a man who has never tried....

From a traditionalist view and one with DM's mindset (Portland in the NL) A's to DC and staying in the AL is possible.

From the non-traditionalist view and one with the Portland in the NL mindset, A's to DC and moving to the NL is possible.

The way either is possible is by an ownership change, which is what I predict will happen with the A's. I have feeling Schott and the other A's owner will sell soon, but they're not showing their cards just yet. They're waiting for a really big offer to come by...one they could get from Washington, DC. Once there is an ownership change, the club can be moved. Remember the whole dispute about moving the DBacks to the AL? Why was that possible? Relatively new ownership, IMO, although I could be wrong. And it is on that theory that you could see the A's headed to the DC and in the NL or a different division in the AL.

Numbers don't lie. People do.
Beware of the Silver & Black attack

Yeah the league mandated that they could put a team in whatever league they wanted them in because they are an EXPANSION TEAM..They could have put Arizona in the AL up until this season..After year 5 AZ has to ok being switched to the AL..To move a team into another league it requires 2/3 of league owners to approve and the team in questions owners to agree..I don't see many teams giving Oakland to the NL...The only team ever to switch leagues in the history of MLB are the commish's own Milwaukee Pilots...I don't think Oaklands new ownership will have the sway as he does....

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Halo Playoffs 2002--It's Rally (Monkey) Time"!
Show me a man who has never failed and I will show you a man who has never tried....

Oakland will move to Portland. Mark it down.


Kansas City Royals - 1985 World Series Champions

One has to wonder what direction the A's will go now that Art Howe is going to the Mets. How Mancha fills in will be a good question. He is a very good coach, but it does bring up an X-Factor in the A's for next season.

Winning has kept attendance barely alive in Oakland. Winning is the barometer for attendance. Win and you get butts in the seats. More than a new stadium, that is the key.

Since the A's can't keep this pace up forever they are in deep trouble if some sort of deal on stadium financing isn't worked out. Schott is ready to sell now it appears, and I doubt it would take much prodding (say, $150 million in the form of Oregon Stadium Bond $$$) to get him to jump states.

A man has to have goals- for a day, for a lifetime- that was mine, to have people say, "There goes Ted Williams, the greatest hitter who ever lived." - Ted Williams

Without a new park the A's are history. That concrete circular monstronsity which is supposed to pass for a ballpark is one of the worst places to spend 3 hours that i can think of. There is an unnecessarily large amount of space between the playing field and the stands, the sight lines are poor, the wind is almost as bad as Candlestick and the temperature is never above 60 degrees with the exception of day games. i guess if it's 1977 and you're going there to catch an Elton john or Peter Frampton concert, it's great. but other than that, this living monument to 1960's style LSD induced architecture needs to have a lunch date with the wrecking ball. simply put, no new park no oakland A's.

this brings up an interesting dilemma for the 100 year old American league franchise. How do you compete with a franchise that has a similar storied history, a new (and i would argue the best) national league ballpark, and which resides in a more prestigious and cosmopolitan city than it's ugly stepsister across the bay.
(i know, i know, it's a run on sentence).

the fact is, you can't complete. and the striking advantage the Giants already possess will be increased even further if SF can win one
this weekend.

so what to do? the A's would give up Miguel Tejada to move to San Jose, but that's SF territory and it just won't happen. and sacramento? same problem as Oakland, no park, no team.

If montreal ends up somewhere other than the Rose city, the A's are the team to get. the Portland A's to the natl league, the Diamondbacks to the Amercian league. Everyone's happy, everyone wins. Everyone that is, except for the city of Oakland.

The A's will be gone from Oakland and the Bay Area in general in the next 2-3 seasons..Book it! They might make 1 last push for SJ but it won't work unless the A's ownership doesn't pony up TV and Radio Revenue for a couple of seasons.. They won't do that because they are nickel and dime owners and the team will be PDX or DC bound (whichever doesn't get the Spos)...

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Anaheim Angels 2002 WORLD CHAMPIONS!!
Back in the Saddle again!
That was for the Cowboy!