This would put 6 teams in the NL West. That would make for a pretty tight division. I assume Pittsburgh would move to the East if this happened:

NL West:
San Francisco
Los Angeles of Los Angeles
San Diego
Las Vegas
Arizona
Colorado

NL Central:
Houston
St. Louis
Cincinnati
Chicago
Milwaukee

NL East:
Pittsburgh
Philadelphia
New York
Washington
Atlanta

The big test for a Las Vegas team would be separating it from the gambling interests. How do you think they would approach that?

Adam, my guess is that MLB would not allow the sale of the club to anyone who was involved in the casino or sports book business.

I wonder if they'd require the stadium to be located away from casinos, or make requirements on the players (or managers) to not go into sports books. The stadium might become the only place in Vegas without a slot machine.

Legal books cannot post lines on games in Nevada anyway. Very minimal restrictions at best, as gambling is legal in Vegas, as it is within 45 minutes of most everyone in the USA.

I'm surprised to see such crappy attendance in FLA. 27th? Geesh.

Northern Virginia was second on the list of cities to get the Expos, so they'd be in the running as well.

With Selig and company, if it will help them line their pockets, they'd sell the team to the devil as long as hell would publicly fund a stadium.

Dave, thanks for posting this.

Brian, what you are missing is that Tom Lee stated that they had appropiated funds to get the Marlins to go to Las Vegas. N. VA might be the second choice, but with WAS and BAL now, N. VA is not a viable site at all.

It's true that gambling isn't so unique to Nevada and Atlantic City any more; that's probably making it better for Las Vegas's chances for a major sports team (no, the XFL didn't count). I had forgotten about events in Nevada not being legal to bet on there; that's a good point. I could still see MLB being antsy about Nevada, though; from the whole Pete Rose debacle it seems Bud Selig may hate gambling almost as much as he loves getting public money.

Northern Virginia is definitely out with the Expos moving to Washington. As of the 2000 census, the biggest market without a major sports team is southeastern Virginia, i.e., the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area. They ranked just above Las Vegas in 2000. (With Vegas's growth, I'm sure LV is bigger now.) But it rarely gets mentioned; it seems like it would be a good spot for a team.

I wonder if the Marlins moved, would the Devil Rays try to get some fans from around the state by playing some home games away from Tropicana Field.

What would the Nevada team's name be? Somehow the Las Vegas Marlins doesn't quite fit, sort of like the Utah Jazz.

FYI - metro areas without a MLB team and their populaiton ranking:
20. San Juan
23. Portland
25. Sacramento
28. Orlando
29. Indianapolis
30. San Antonio
31. Norfolk/Va Beach
32. Las Vegas

Of course, it is imprtant tonote that San Juan ranks near the very bottom in terms of median income. Vegas is somewhere in the middle with Orlando. Higher than Tampa and Miami but much lower than places like Raleigh, Charlotte, Columbus, and Salt Lake city with similar populations.

Other than the fact that there's private money there to build a stadium, I cannot understand why eveyone is so enamored with Vegas. Especially when there are so many other viable options.

I would suggest that Las Vegas really wants a team.

Evan,

Great point about the three teams in the area. I should think before I type this stuff up.

It will be very interesting to see how this plays out. The interesting thing is, with the Marlins locked up in there lease until 2010, it gives Vegas plenty of time to get a stadium built.

Why not put the Las Vegas team in the AL West? This would give them 5 teams, and balance the league.

San Antonio seems like an interesting option; I wonder how their AA team fares?

But, the best option would probably be a third NYC-area team, with the Marlins moving to North Jersey. It would keep NL East rivalries intact, even make them stronger and I think there is little doubt that Northern NJ could sustain a sports franchise.

Brooklyn would be a good location, also.

If you move an NL team to the AL, then you are always going to have to have an interleague matchup going on. Either that or have the 15th team in each league sit for a few days. Personally I'd like to see a team somewhere in the Carribean. Havana would be logical, once Castro's gone.

The state of Florida hasn't appropriated money to help the Marlins move to Vegas. That was just a comment made by Mr. Lee in jest as he tried to make his point about being disappointed that the Marlins went public about their meetings with Las Vegas officials.

Also, the state of Florida has been pretty generous over the years in granting money for new sports facilities (particularly for Spring Training). In South Florida, there has also been plenty of money given to teams recently - including the most recent, which was voters approving $50 million in renovations for the Orange Bowl (which isn't used for the Orange Bowl game - only for 6 Univ of Miami football games and a few soccer and HS games each year). The Marlins may have just gotten in line too late - particularly in Dade county, where the financial situation is pretty bleak.

It's an interesting concept you present, Mike, but I'm just not sold on it. Sure, he might have been saying it in jest, but what if he wasn't?

Anyways, like you say, the Marlins could have gotten in line too late.

As for the realignment possibilities, Las Vegas could be in the NL West, with PIT moving back to the East, where they should.

I prefer moving LV to the AL, however. Either them or the Diamondbacks. And Robert is right on the ramifications of having 15 in each league. However, a team sitting for a couple of days is not a bad idea at all. I believe teams need more offdays.

It's just a lot easier to work out a schedule with an even number of teams in a league.

I actually think moving a team from NL to AL would be a good idea. But first, move a team from AL to NL (Keep Bo Sox and Yankees in same division, maybe move Devil Rays to NL East, and send LV to AL West). This would ease competition in the EasT (already a super division with Yankees and Red Sox, and maybe Orioles in some years). The NL East would not lose much (give the mets and phillies more wild car hopes, assuming braves win division). and the al west's competition would be strong again (after the loss of the Big 3, Oakland goes downhill, and none of the other teams are what they used to be either).

Also, I have heard rooms of payroll based divisions. What does anyone think of this? I think it would be horrible - You'd have a division of Yankees, Bo Sox, Anaheim, Atlanta, and Giants on side, and another division of Brewers, Pirates, Tampa Bay, Royals, and Twins. So basically the Twins would win all the time, and the other division would be a powerhouse, leaving the top teams out of the playoffs.