Commissioner said no plans to put a team in Mexico.
If Major League Baseball figures out the solution to the stadium problems in Oakland and St. Petersburg, Florida, there is a possibility that MLB could expand by two teams. Las Vegas, Nashville, Salt Lake City, Portland, Oregon, Montréal, and Mexico City have been talked about as possible MLB expansion sites. But MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred seems to have dismissed one of the applicants. “I’ve never been close to the idea of Mexico as an opportunity for expansion,” he told the Associated Press. MLB did stage two games between the San Diego Padres and the San Francisco Giants in late April and there was interest in the games locally. MLB is looking at returning to Mexico City in 2024. But two or three games a year in Mexico City or Monterrey is about all Mexican Major League Baseball fans are going to get annually. At one time, Monterrey was a market of interest for MLB but that was nearly 30 years ago. Monterrey was once thought to have the kind of corporate support that was needed for a franchise but the market was passed over when the MLB-owned Montréal Expos franchise was transferred to Washington after the 2004 season.
John Fisher, the owner of the Oakland Athletics, seems to be smitten with Las Vegas and the commissioner is ready to embrace the possible move of Fisher’s property from Oakland to the Nevada desert. Manfred seems to also like Nashville and has suggested Nashville apply for an expansion franchise. John Loar, the potential Nashville owner, is working on building an MLB ready stadium by 2027. If Fisher is able to move his business to Las Vegas, that means Las Vegas is off the board and that could open the door for a longshot bid. But Mexico City is not getting an expansion team.
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