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Colorado Rockies: What relegation could look like in MLB

By Nathaniel Sunshine

Sep 25, 2021; Denver, Colorado, USA; Colorado Rockies left fielder Raimel Tapia reacts after getting called out on strikes while playing against the San Francisco Giants in the third inning at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Michael Ciaglo-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 25, 2021; Denver, Colorado, USA; Colorado Rockies left fielder Raimel Tapia reacts after getting called out on strikes while playing against the San Francisco Giants in the third inning at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Michael Ciaglo-USA TODAY Sports /
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Colorado Rockies, MLB, Rob Manfred, MLB relegation
DENVER, COLORADO – JULY 12: Commissioner of Baseball Robert D. Manfred Jr. speaks during a press conference announcing a partnership with the Players Alliance during the Gatorade All-Star Workout Day at Coors Field on July 12, 2021 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images) /

Looking at MLB’s economics, it looks like the dollars spent per person goes up as the market population decreases. There are three possible reasons for this:

  1. People from smaller towns are more passionate about their local teams so they spend more money
  2. There is roughly the same amount of baseball fans in each market that spends money on baseball
  3. The fans of the thirty teams are distributed relatively evenly throughout the non-MLB markets. That means a guy in Jackson, Mississippi, is just as likely to be a Dodgers fan as he is to be a Yankees or Brewers fan. (This is what I think is most likely.)

With this in mind, how many teams they could bring under the umbrella of MLB and have the owners’ profits either increase or remain where they are? The number that we are going to run with is 66 teams.

What would be the layout?

Before getting into how relegation and promotion are going to work in this new and improved MLB, we must explain how the new 66 teams will be laid out.

First, there will be three levels to the Majors, each with three leagues: an Eastern league, a Central league, and a Western league. I named each level after the old way that Minor League levels were labeled.

Note that all levels are under the umbrella of MLB and should be treated equally. I divided lower levels into pods instead of divisions, as there are only 3 teams in each pod, these are only for scheduling and ease of travel.

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