New Commissioner Wayne Bruce today announced the first of his sweeping reforms to Major League Baseball.
"Fans in a number of cities throughout the US ("and Canada" someone shouted from the back of the press room) were deprived of root, root, rooting for their home teams in years gone by, and as sure as my name is Wayne Bruce, I will restore the source of their passion, " Bruce retorted in an odd and yet surprisingly warm show of emotion.
"Some glorious cities in this great land of ours, and our neighbors, saw their home town heroes and proverbial idols pack up their balls, their bats, and their games of pepper and head off to what they viewed as greener pastures," he continued in great hyperbole and over-sentiment.
"But I, by the power vested in me by the owners that I now may very well stab in the back, will bring justice to the game of baseball and give those cities back their boys."
"Though I cannot grant them back the locust years, I will grant them back their ball clubs," he announced as he slammed his fist down on the podium, trying to hide a wince as he caught too much of the corner.
Bruce went on to outline the details of his grand change to great murmurs and gasps from the gathered crowd. Effective with the 2017 season, he announced the following franchise re-relocations:
- the Los Angeles Dodgers would return to Brooklyn as the Brooklyn Dodgers
- the San Francisco Giants would return to New York as the New York Giants
- the Oakland Athletics would return to Philadelphia as the Philadelphia Athletics
- the Washington Nationals would return to Montreal as the Montreal Expos
- the Minnesota Twins would return to Washington as the Washington Senators
- the Atlanta Braves would return to Milwaukee as the Milwaukee Braves
- the Milwaukee Brewers would return to Seattle as the Seattle Pilots
To fill the void in those cities that were losing their teams, Bruce announced the following franchise moves:
- the Seattle Mariners would move to Minneapolis/St. Paul and be known as the Minnesota Millers
- the New York Mets would move to Atlanta and be known as the Atlanta Thrashers
- the Tampa Bay Rays would move to San Francisco and be known as the San Francisco Seals
The alignment for the 2017 season will be:
National League
East - Brooklyn Dodgers, Miami Marlins, Montreal Expos, New York Giants, Philadelphia Phillies
Central - Atlanta Thrashers, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Milwaukee Braves, Pittsburgh Pirates
West - Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies, San Diego Padres, Seattle Pilots, St. Louis Cardinals
American League
East - Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Athletics, Washington Senators
Central - Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, Houston Astros, Toronto Blue Jays
West - Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, Minnesota Millers, San Francisco Seals, Texas Rangers
Bruce also shared that Major League Baseball would be looking into expansion possibilities. Tampa/St. Petersburg and Los Angeles would seem to be potential candidates, as they both lost teams that were not replaced as part of his initial plan.