History Sandbox / MajorLeagueBaseball

The idea of placing a third baseball team in Texas has been a popular discussion for a long time, especially considering how the state has the second-largest population in the union.

The capital of Tennessee has been a frontrunner for a potential MLB team, especially since the [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague Oilers/Titans]], [[UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague Predators]], and [[UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation Grizzlies]] in Memphis already beat them to the punch by more than twenty years.[[note]]And if you [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg include]] UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueSoccer, you also have Nashville SC existing since 2020.[[/note]] However, Nashville has been no stranger to baseball throughout its history, thanks in part to [[UsefulNotes/PowerFiveConferences Vanderbilt University]]'s historically successful program (especially compared to the Commodores' ButtMonkey status in football). They have also been home to the minor league Nashville Sounds, who are the AAA affiliate of the Brewers and have been calling the city home since 1978. Although some have complained that Nashville is in "[[InsistentTerminology Braves Country]]," the city's growth in the past three decades--the metro area more than doubling in population since 1990--has nonetheless caught the attention of MLB, who had the city host their Winter Meetings in 2015 and 2023. One must also mention Music City Baseball, an expansionary bidding group aiming to establish an MLB team in Nashville. Their planned ball club's name would be the Nashville Stars, honoring an old Negro League team from the 1930s and 1940s that shared the name.

Despite its smaller size, Salt Lake City stands with Nashville as the two prime candidates for a new major league team to call home. The sport has had existing professionalism for over a century in the minor leagues, with the current iteration belonging to the Salt Lake Bees, the AAA affiliate for the Los Angeles Angels. The region is also home to two teams in the four major pro leagues: the [[UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation Utah Jazz]] since 1979, and their currently unnamed [[UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague NHL team]] since 2024.[[note]]Again, if you count soccer, there's also [[UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueSoccer Real Salt Lake]] since 2005.[[/note]] The city has been very aggressive towards adding new teams, especially upon noting how Jazz owner Ryan Smith got the new NHL team through relocating the roster and front office of the Arizona Coyotes in a deal reminiscent of the Cleveland Browns-Baltimore Ravens situation. MLB is almost certainly the next target; former Jazz owner Larry Miller's widow Gail founded a bidding group named Big League Utah in April of 2023, and Utah's state legislature passed a law stating that any new MLB team would need to have "Utah" as its regional moniker instead of "Salt Lake" or "Salt Lake City." Additionally, Utah has the benefit of not encroaching on any existing team's current or future markets, with the closest neighbors being the Rockies in Denver and the Athletics in Las Vegas.

!!!Montreal, Quebec
Montreal is different in comparison to the rest of the potential expansion candidates, and that's not just because of its Francophone population. The city was home to the Expos from 1969 to 2004, after which stadium and ownership issues forced them to relocate to Washington DC and become the Nationals. As such, the city has been a favorite among various baseball fanbases for an expansion team, albeit more in the form of "Bring back the Expos!" compared to an actual expansion team. Montreal has some additional benefits too, being the second-largest city in Canada (and the market size that entails), having active support among residents and government officials for an Expos return, and already being home to the [[UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague Canadiens]] and [[UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueSoccer CF Montreal]] in other pro sports leagues. However, the city also has some difficulties: first and foremost, they'd need to build the stadium before a team gets established, as there would be little patience for a temporary bout in Olympic Stadium considering how it was a major reason for the Expos' departure. Additionally, Montreal already had an expansion bid fail in the past couple of years, thanks to MLB putting the kibosh on their proposed split season for the Tampa Bay Rays[[note]]Where the Rays would play half their home games in St. Petersburg and the other half in Montreal.[[/note]] in 2022. Nonetheless, there is a clear passion of a return of baseball in the city, something that MLB might keep its eye on in preparation of the next round of expansion.
%%!!!San Antonio, Texas

%%!!!Portland, Oregon

%%!!!Charlotte, North Carolina
%%!!!Raleigh-Durham Area, North Carolina

%%!!!Montreal, Quebec

!!Expansion Candidates

%%[[folder:Relocation and Expansion Candidates]]

!!!Charlotte, North Carolina
!!!Raleigh-Durham Area, North Carolina
!!!Portland, Oregon
!!!Montreal, Quebec
!!!San Antonio, Texas

%%[[/folder]]

The capital of Tennessee has been a frontrunner for a potential MLB team, especially since the [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague Oilers/Titans]], [[UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague Predators]], and [[UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation Grizzlies]] in Memphis already beat them to the punch by more than twenty years. However, Nashville has been no stranger to baseball throughout its history, thanks in part to [[UsefulNotes/PowerFiveConferences Vanderbilt University]]'s historically successful program (especially compared to the Commodores' ButtMonkey status in football). They have also been home to the minor league Nashville Sounds, who are the AAA affiliate of the Brewers and have been calling the city home since 1978. Although some have complained that Nashville is in "[[InsistentTerminology Braves Country]]," the city's growth in the past three decades--the metro area more than doubling in population since 1990--has nonetheless caught the attention of MLB, who had the city host their Winter Meetings in 2015 and 2023. One must also mention Music City Baseball, an expansionary bidding group aiming to establish an MLB team in Nashville. Their planned ballclub's name would be the Nashville Stars, honoring an old Negro League team from the 1930s and 1940s that shared the name.

Since late 2020, there have been rumblings around the majors of possible expansion, with various cities listed below being among the top candidate cities for expansion or relocation. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred had previously stated that expansion would not be a priority until the stadium situations for both the Oakland Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays were settled.[[note]]The A's home, the Oakland Coliseum, has been in use since 1968 and is the last of the poor-quality "cookie cutter" stadiums. The Rays' home, Tropicana Field, is also rather old and low quality (being built in 1991 with a Tampa Bay expansion team in mind) and is in the hard-to-reach city of St. Petersburg.[[/note]] As of 2024, however, this roadblock has essentially been lifted, since the Athletics have been confirmed to relocate to UsefulNotes/LasVegas (though no earlier than 2028, assuming everything goes right).[[note]] As 2024 is the last year of the current stadium deal between the A's and the Coliseum, and a new Vegas ballpark won't be ready until '28, the team will call Sacramento their interim home between 2025 and NET 2027.[[/note]] Meanwhile, the Rays have announced they will build a new ballpark adjacent to Tropicana Field, with an opening date of no later than 2028.

!!!San Antonio, Texas

Howdy! with the announcement that the relocation vote was unanimously approved, the Oakland Athletics are unfortunately gonna move to Las Vegas. The following section is gonna have some templates for how the UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueBaseball page is gonna look like once they move. Fuck John Fisher!

!!'''American League'''

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/american_league_logo.png]]
->'''Year Established:''' 1901\\
'''Year Last Team Added:''' 2013\\
'''League President:''' ''Vacant''[[note]]Previously occupied by Frank Robinson until 2019.[[/note]]\\
'''Number of Teams:''' 15\\
'''Reigning Champions:''' Texas Rangers (3)\\
'''Most Titles:''' New York Yankees (40)\\
'''Teams:'''
-->'''AL East:''' Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays, Toronto Blue Jays\\
'''AL Central:''' Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Guardians, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Minnesota Twins\\
'''AL West:''' Houston Astros, Las Vegas Athletics, Los Angeles Angels, Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers

[[folder:AL West]]

!!!'''Houston Astros'''
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hou_0.png]]
->'''Year Established:''' 1962\\
'''Year Joined American League:''' 2013\\
'''Prior Names/Locations:''' Houston Colt .45s (1962-1964)\\
'''Abreviations:''' HOU\\
'''Nicknames:''' The 'Stros\\
'''Colors:''' Dark blue, orange, white\\
'''Home Ballpark:''' Minute Maid Park (since 2000)\\
'''Former Ballparks:''' Colt Stadium (1962–1964), Astrodome (1965–1999)\\
'''Current Owner:''' Jim Crane\\
'''Current General Manager:''' Dana Brown\\
'''Current Manager:''' Joe Espada\\
'''World Series Titles:''' 2; 2017, 2022\\
'''American League Pennants:''' 4 total; 2019, 2021\\
'''National League Pennants:''' 1; 2005
%%Please don't fight over adding an asterisk in 2017, I know it's gonna happen

The '''UsefulNotes/{{Houston}} Astros''' (originally the Colt .45s[[note]]until the Colt Manufacturing Company threatened to sue the team for trademark infringement, prompting the name change in 1965[[/note]]): Began play in 1962, after owners unable to obtain expansion teams decided to form their own league, the Continental League. The league was intended solely to [[ThePlan bluff]] MLB into awarding their cities MLB franchises; the Astros were awarded in response along with the Washington Senators (now Texas Rangers), Los Angeles Angels, and New York Mets. They are the world record holders for [[WTHCostumingDepartment the ugliest uniforms]] (worn from 1975 through 1986), often referred to by fans as the [[FanNickname Tequila Sunrise]] or [[MeaningfulName Rainbow Guts]] jersey - a look that has become popular through the NostalgiaFilter, and is often imitated by teams at other levels of play. A National League team for their first half-century of existence, the Astros are responsible for both the domed stadium (the Astrodome) and, because grass doesn't grow indoors,[[note]]at least with roofing technology that was available for large stadiums in the '60s; a few more modern covered stadiums have thriving grass fields today[[/note]] for artificial turf, better known as [=AstroTurf=]. The team often contends, but [[{{EveryYearTheyFizzleOut}} just as often fizzles out]], with their most notable streak of success coming in the late 1990s and early 2000s (which includes their first World Series appearance in 2005, where they got swept by the Chicago White Sox). Moved into Enron Field in 2000, just in time for Enron to have a major Enron-killing scandal; the stadium was quickly rebranded into Minute Maid Park two years later. In 2011, Jim Crane officially decided to buy the team, in exchange for their move into the AL West (Pacific) division in 2013 and the expansion of interleague play to a year-round schedule; this makes them the second team to have switched leagues in the modern era. While they were the worst team in all of baseball from 2011 to 2013 (losing an average of 108 games per season during those years), by 2015 they had reestablished themselves as a force to be reckoned with; in 2017, they not only had over 100 wins, but went on to finally win their first World Series (and becoming the first and only team to go to the World Series as both an AL team and an NL team), also winning the pennant in 2019 (losing the World Series to the Nationals)... but by 2020 shortly before the 2019 World Series concluded, it was discovered that these victories were partly because the Astros illegally stole catchers' signs to guess the opposing team's next pitch[[note]]As noted in the AL East folder (Red Sox), decoding opposing teams' signs is legal in baseball, so long as teams don't use added tech to do it. The Astros' way involved a camera in center field at their stadium, which was hooked up with a direct line to a TV in the locker room so that the Astros could decode the signs in real time. They then relayed the signals to batters by [[OnceForYesTwiceForNo hitting a trash can in the locker room]], meaning the batter would know what kind of pitch was coming before the pitcher had even thrown it.[[/note]], which led to numerous sanctions (and the firing of both their [=GMs=] and manager and banning them for the entire 2020 season) and made them the most hated team in baseball. Yes, even more hated than the Yankees[[note]]though it was later on revealed before the start of 2022 season that the Yankees themselves were also pulling the same stunt during the 2015, 2016 and 2017 seasons. And like the Astros and unlike the Red Sox the Yankees were caught and were told to stop using the tactic (and thus escape serious repercussions as a result), though it may have ultimately inspired the 'Stros to copy their ideas[[/note]]. With COVID-19 forcing the Astros to play in empty stadiums for the entire 2020 season, meaning an extra year for rival teams' fanbases to bottle up their resentment, the biggest question facing the team post-pandemic was how loudly they'd get booed once they could finally play on the road in a full stadium. Which eventually happened in 2021 (see their division rival, the Texas Rangers). The Astros got all of the expected hate and then some... though it didn't prevent them from clinching the AL pennant and another trip to the World Series, even though they ended losing a second time on their home turf, this time to the Braves, in 2021. The 'Stros won the pennant again in 2022, getting a bye into the Division Series and proceeding to sweep both the Division Series and ALCS, before going on to defeat the Phillies in the World Series for their second championship (and the first for their 73-year-old manager Dusty Baker) and their first legitimate championship since the tainted 2017 season.
** If you're any kind of player and have a last name starting with B, join the Astros and you're the next [[GangOfHats Killer B]], a reference to a period when the team had several very good players whose last names all began with the letter B (Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio, Lance Berkman, and several lesser names).

!!!'''Las Vegas Athletics'''
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/oak_sell_the_team.png]]
->'''Year Established:''' 1901\\
'''Prior Names/Locations:''' Philadelphia Athletics (1901-1954), Kansas City Athletics (1955-1967), Oakland Athletics (1968-2024)\\
'''Abbreviations:''' LV, LVA\\
'''Nicknames:''' The A's, The Elephants, The Green and Gold, The Swingin' A's[[note]]Refers to the early [[TheSeventies 1970s]] teams that won three rings in a row.[[/note]]\\
'''Colors:''' Green, gold, white\\
'''Home Ballpark:''' Las Vegas Sponsor Name Ballpark (since 2028)\\
'''Former Ballparks:''' Columbia Park (1901–1908), Shibe Park (1909–1954), Municipal Stadium (1955–1967), Oakland Coliseum (1968-2024), Las Vegas Ballpark (2025-2027)\\
'''Current Owner:''' John Fisher\\
'''Current President of Baseball Operations:''' Billy Beane\\
'''Current General Manager:''' David Forst\\
'''Current Manager:''' Mark Kotsay\\
'''World Series Titles:''' 9; 1910, 1911, 1913, 1929, 1930, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1989\\
'''American League Pennants:''' 14 total; 1905, 1914, 1931, 1988, 1990\\
'''Pre-World Series Titles:''' 1; 1902

The '''Las Vegas Athletics''' are one of the league's oldest teams (being descended from earlier franchises in Philadelphia, Kansas City, and Oakland, not to be confused with either of the short-lived American Association's Philadelphia Athletics teams or the National League Philadelphia Athletics that got expelled in the League's first year for refusing to play out the full schedule) and also one of the current sufferers of "small-market syndrome". However, their stretch of unexpectedly strong teams with tiny payrolls in the early 2000s led to writer Michael Lewis writing the book ''Moneyball'' on then-Oakland general manager Billy Beane. Beane's "Moneyball" approach to the game emphasized new statistics, computerized analysis, and unconventional means of analyzing players. And for a while, it worked, proving that baseball really is the GameOfNerds. Many other teams, most notably the Red Sox, then began adopting Moneyball-style strategies, relegating Oakland to the back end again, though the A's have still managed to scrounge several winning seasons thanks to "Moneyball 2.0" strategies. The franchise as a whole has won nine World Series, tied for the third most in baseball with the Red Sox and trailing the Yankees and the Cardinals (although only one of those titles has come in the last 40 years, in the 1989 World Series that was infamously interrupted by the Loma Prieta earthquake which occurred prior to the originally scheduled Game 3 in San Francisco).
** In Philadelphia, they were managed (and either partially or wholly owned) by Cornelius [=McGillicuddy=], better known as Connie Mack, for their first fifty years. Mack led the A's to five World Series titles in that time, and Shibe Park was renamed Connie Mack Stadium in his honor during its later years. Age forced Mack to step down as manager following the 1950 season, and he sold the team in 1954, leading to their relocation to Kansas City. Infamously, during this time, the Athletics became a ''de facto'' farm team for the Yankees. New A's owner Arnold Johnson was a close friend of the Yankees owners of that era, and repeatedly made bad trades to give his best young players to the Yankees in exchange for older veterans whose skills had declined, as well as providing a convenient place for promising young Yankees prospects to stay in game shape until roster space opened for them. When Johnson suddenly died in 1960, the eccentric Charles O. Finley bought the team from his estate, put an immediate end to the "special relationship" between the A's and Yankees, and soon changed the team colors from blue and red to his favorite color scheme, green and gold. Finley didn't have much interest in keeping the team in Kansas City, however, and moved them to Oakland once the other AL owners let him. He did build a winning team, though, as the Oakland A's won three straight World Series in 1972, 1973, and 1974.
** Their Oakland-era stadium, the Oakland Coliseum ([[IHaveManyNames also known by]] [[ProductPlacementName several corporate names]]), was also home to the Oakland Raiders [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague NFL]] team through 2019, making the A's the last team with this arrangement. This fact coupled with some disrepair at the Coliseum has the ownership wanting to get a new stadium built specifically for them, preferably in nearby San Jose. San Jose wants the team and has land available for that purpose, but Byzantine league rules with regard to team relocation [[note]]due to NL rival San Francisco owning territory rights to San Jose[[/note]] coupled with Oakland's competing efforts to build a new stadium in Oakland have those plans in DevelopmentHell. [[note]]Documentation and commentary on their quest for a new stadium can be found [[http://newballpark.org/ here]].[[/note]] In 2021, the Athletics began considering plans to relocate to UsefulNotes/LasVegas, much like their erstwhile stadium-mates, the Raiders, before them. A Las Vegas move became even more likely when the team announced in April 2023 it had agreed to purchase land for a new ballpark near the Las Vegas Strip (no doubt to avoid upsetting the Raiders by sharing their stadium again), with the relocation vote being unanimously approved on November 16, 2023. With the stadium expected to be completed in time for the 2027 MLB Season, and the relocation for possibly as soon as when the Colisseum deal expires at the end of the 2024 Season.


!!!'''Los Angeles Angels'''
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/laa.png]]
->'''Year Established:''' 1961\\
'''Prior Names/Locations:''' California Angels (1965–1996), Anaheim Angels (1997–2004), Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (2005–2015)\\
'''Abreviations:''' LAA\\
'''Nicknames:''' The Halos\\
'''Colors:''' Red, navy blue, silver\\
'''Home Ballpark:''' Angel Stadium (since 1966)\\
'''Former Ballparks:''' Wrigley Field[[note]]Not ''[[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant that]]'' Wrigley Field, but a minor leauge stadium in Los Angeles.[[/note]] (1961), Dodger Stadium (1962–1965)\\
'''Current Owner:''' Arte Moreno\\
'''Current General Manager:''' Perry Minasian\\
'''Current Manager:''' Ron Washington\\
'''World Series Titles:''' 1; 2002\\
'''American League Pennants:''' 1\\

The '''Los Angeles Angels''': The other team in the Greater Los Angeles area. Originally playing at LA's Wrigley Field and then at Dodger Stadium (referred to as Chavez Ravine during Angels games), they changed their name to the California Angels in 1965, and moved to a new stadium in Anaheim in 1966. They spent most of their history living in the shadow of the more popular and successful Dodgers and being a place where past-their-prime players spent their final years. From the team's inception in 1961 until his death in 1998, the team was owned by Music/GeneAutry, a famous [[TheWestern Western film]] actor and singer who had become even wealthier with radio, TV, and real estate investments. In the late '90s, the team was bought by Creator/{{Disney}} (which had begun to pour money into the club earlier in the decade, starting with the production of a remake of ''Film/AngelsInTheOutfield'' focused on the Angels instead of the Pirates). Upon the company's acquisition of the franchise, they changed the name to the Anaheim Angels and made the team one of the Dominant teams in the American League West, eventually winning their first (and so far only) World Series title in 2002. In 2004 Disney would eventually sell the team. New owner Arte Moreno, the first and only minority owner in MLB history, decided to rename the team the Los Angeles Angels for marketing purposes, but because the team's contract with Anaheim contained a stipulation that "Anaheim" had to be part of the team name, this led to the rather cumbersome moniker "The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim"; much to Anaheim's (and the city the team borrowed without domicile, Los Angeles') dismay,[[note]]Also not helping matters is that the two cities are approximately 25 miles apart.[[/note]] there [[AintNoRule isn't a rule]] about two cities being used in a team's name, and the new name obeyed the ExactWords of the contract. As a BilingualBonus, Los Angeles ''means'' 'The Angels' in Spanish, so the name was effectively "[[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment The The Angels Angels of Anaheim]]." The stipulation was dropped following the 2015 season, so the team reverted to its original name sometime around then. Moreno's tenure has been up and down; it didn't get off to a good start with the city name change. Anaheim is its own city and its residents don't like being called a suburb of L.A. On the other hand, the team reached the 2005 ALCS, but lost in five games to the eventual World Series Champion White Sox, after winning Game 1. Game 2 featured a controversial call that led to a Sox rally and eventual victory. Moreno has opened his wallet to create a winner by handing out huge contracts. Unfortunately, the results mostly haven't been a return on investment. Josh Hamilton's career was derailed by substance abuse and while Albert Pujols set many records in an Angels uniform, injuries led to a decline and he was released in 2021, the last year of his ten year contract. Japanese sensation Shohei Ohtani, a player who can bat ''and'' pitch, has been worth the money when healthy, but missed significant time thanks to Tommy John surgery. The Angels drafted fellow generational talent Mike Trout in 2009, but have only reached the playoffs once with him, a three game sweep at the hands of the eventual A.L. Champion Royals in the 2014 ALDS. Trout, a New Jersey native who grew up a Phillies fan, committed to the team with a contract extension with no opt out through the 2030 season. Angels fans are noted for using Thunder Sticks, and being generally loud and enthusiastic (although the "leave early to beat traffic" thing still does occur every once and awhile). The team's mascot is the Rally Monkey (a capuchin monkey dressed in team apparel whose appearances are usually on videotape) who made his debut during the 2002 title run. Their biggest rivals are the Oakland Athletics and as of the 2020 season, the Houston Astros[[note]]primarily due to the 2017 Sign Stealing Scandal which affected their rival neighbors the Dodgers[[/note]], though they also have a strong inter-league rivalry with the Dodgers[[note]]though both have since come together in union over their outright hatred of the Houston Astros, softening the rivalry a bit[[/note]].

!!!'''Seattle Mariners'''
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sea_5.png]]
->'''Year Established:''' 1977\\
'''Abreviations:''' SEA\\
'''Nicknames:''' The M's\\
'''Colors:''' Green, gold, white\\
'''Home Ballpark:''' T-Mobile Park (since 1999)\\
'''Former Ballparks:''' Kingdome (1977–1999)\\
'''Current Owner:''' John Stanton\\
'''Current President of Baseball Operations:''' Jerry Dipoto\\
'''Current General Manager:''' Justin Hollander\\
'''Current Manager:''' Scott Servais\\
'''World Series Titles:''' 0\\
'''American League Pennants:''' 0

The '''UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}} Mariners''' have a reputation as a consistently mediocre team with a high number of Japanese fans (thanks to the number of NPB players they've acquired over the years). They are the only team who has never played in the World Series, with the team's only real run of success coming from 1995-2001, when they made the playoffs four times and advanced to the League Championship Series in three of those four occasions (though they never got any further); in 2001, they had the best regular season record in baseball history. To add insult to injury, the four aforementioned playoff appearances remained the sum total of the Mariners' postseason history the team entered a two-decade playoff drought; an ill-fated attempt to spend their way into the playoffs in the [=mid-2000s=] ended with them becoming the first $100 million+ payroll team to lose at least 100 games in the 2008 season. The club has had a few stars in its history, most notably Edgar Martínez, Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson, Ichiro Suzuki, and Félix Hernández (who pitched the first perfect game in team history). The M's first retired number (other than Robinson's) was that of Griffey, which the team retired during the 2016 season--not just for the Mariners themselves, but also for ''all their minor-league affiliates''. Martínez' number was retired the following season. Johnson, Ichiro, and Hernández are major candidates for the honor as well[[note]]Official Mariners policy is that a player must have spent a reasonable portion of their career with the team, and be in the Hall of Fame (or at least considered good enough to be). Currently the only players eligible for this are Griffey, Martínez, and Johnson. Speculation exists that number 51 will be retired jointly for Ichiro and Johnson once Ichiro is eligible.[[/note]] Johnson was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2014, but was inducted as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks, with whom he won a World Series and had debatably greater success than with the Mariners.[[note]]While Johnson's plaque in Cooperstown has a D-backs cap logo, his official Hall of Fame web bio lists the M's as his "primary team".[[/note]] Griffey was elected the next year, breaking the record for highest percentage of votes (99.3%)[[note]]a record which fell in 2019, when Mariano Rivera became the first-ever unanimous inductee[[/note]] and was the first player to enter the Hall as a Mariner. Martínez was elected in 2019 on his 10th and final chance in regular voting, with the main obstacle to his induction having been that he was mostly a DH. Ichiro, who retired just after the start of the 2019 season, is generally expected to make the Hall in 2025. Alex Rodriguez also began his career with the Mariners before moving on to greater fame with the Rangers and Yankees. Interesting notes are that the Mariners' original ownership group was led by Creator/DannyKaye, and the M's were owned by Creator/{{Nintendo}} from 1992 to 2016. The latter explains how Ken Griffey Jr. got a couple of video games on some of [[Platform/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem Nintendo's]] [[Platform/Nintendo64 consoles]].[[note]]In a sign of how crazy the nineties MediaNotes/ConsoleWars were, when Creator/{{Sega}} learned that Nintendo and Griffey were having trouble coming to an agreement, they reached out to Griffey to star in a Sega-exclusive game. This would mean Nintendo's biggest star on their own team would have an exclusive game with their biggest rival. Needless to say, Nintendo came to an agreement with Griffey very quickly once they got wind of this ploy.[[/note]] Junior became a minority owner of the team late in the 2021 season, and in 2022 the team ''finally'' got over the hump to return to the playoffs, only to get swept by the eventual champions and hated rival Houston Astros, though the M's didn't go down without a fight [[note]]with Game 3 being one of the ''longest'' games in playoff history, lasting ''18'' innings.[[/note]].

!!!'''Texas Rangers'''
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tex.png]]
->'''Year Established:''' 1961\\
'''Prior Names/Locations:''' Washington Senators [II] (1961-1971)\\
'''Abreviations:''' TEX\\
'''Colors:''' Blue, red, white\\
'''Home Ballpark:''' Globe Life Field (since 2020)\\
'''Former Ballparks:''' Griffith Stadium (1961), [[UsefulNotes/RobertFKennedy RFK]] Stadium (1962–1971), Arlington Stadium (1972–1993), Rangers Ballpark in Arlington (1994–2019)\\
'''Current Owner:''' Ray Davis\\
'''Current General Manager:''' Chris Young\\
'''Current Manager:''' Bruce Bochy\\
'''World Series Titles:''' 1; 2023\\
'''American League Pennants:''' 3 total; 2010, 2011

The '''[[UsefulNotes/DFWMetroplex Texas]] Rangers''' are best known as the team that UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush owned before his political career and producing a number of sluggers (Rafael Palmeiro, Juan González, Iván "Pudge" Rodríguez, among others) who may or may not have been chemically enhanced. They are descended from the Washington Senators, but not the old Senators team from the first half of the 20th century; rather, they are descended from the new expansion Senators that began play in 1961. The old Senators are now the Minnesota Twins[[note]]The initial plan for the 1961 expansion was to add a team in the Twin Cites and an AL team in Los Angeles. However, a deal was made with the Senators where they'd move to Minnesota while the expansion team would keep the Washington Senators moniker.[[/note]]. For years, the club was known for big bats, terrible pitching, and not much else. Until 2010, they were the only team in baseball who had never won a postseason series. They finally accomplished this in 2010 after nearly 50 years of trying, making it all the way to their first ever World Series before finally losing to the San Francisco Giants. In 2011, they lost ace pitcher Cliff Lee to free agency, but managed to have an even better year than before, reaching their second consecutive World Series before losing to the St. Louis Cardinals. Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan pitched his last two no-hitters and earned his 5,000th strikeout and 300th win with the team. His plaque in Cooperstown bears a Rangers cap,[[note]]though his Hall of Fame web bio lists his primary team as the Angels,[[/note]] and he served as part-owner and Team President until late in the 2013 season, when he was pushed out of the front office after a dispute with the majority owners and ended up selling his stake in the team. His guidance, especially with regard to how to handle pitchers, is considered the biggest factor in the team's turnaround. Despite sharing the same state with the Houston Astros, Rangers' fans seem to have traditionally seen the Los Angeles Angels as their main rival, especially after slugger Josh Hamilton left Texas for the Halos and made bashing remarks about Texas as a franchise on his way out (though the Angels ended up sending him back to the Rangers in 2015). The Rangers play in MLB's newest park, Globe Life Field, a retractable-roof park which opened for the 2020 season. It replaced The Ballpark in Arlington (since renamed Choctaw Stadium[[labelnote:*]]sponsored by a {{Native American casino}} company[[/labelnote]]), an open-air stadium across the street that had been their home since 1994. Perhaps most notably, the Rangers were the first team in any North American professional sport to lift all [[UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic COVID-19]] attendance restrictions, opening Globe Life Field at full capacity to start the 2021 season. They have begun to develop a nasty rivarly with their southern neighbors the Astros, much like the rest of the league. This was mainly due to the Rangers' quick rise back to prominence in the [[TheNewTwenties early 20's]], thanks to signing players like Corey Seager and Jacob deGrom and hiring former San Diego Padres and San Francsico Giants manager Bruce Bochy for the job. This eventually culminated in 2023 when the Astros and Rangers[[note]]Who both finished the regular season with the same record at 90-72.[[/note]] faced each other in the ALCS, in which Texas won in seven games for their third ever AL Pennant. Ultimately, it ended with the Rangers winning their first ever World Series title, after defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks in five games (and now giving each Dallas-Fort Worth-area major professional club at least one title[[note]]The Dallas Mavericks taking a Larry O'Brien in the NBA in 2011; the Dallas Stars winning the Stanley Cup in the NHL in 1999; the Dallas Cowboys taking Lombardis multiple times in the NFL, mostly in the 90s; and now the Rangers winning their first Commissioner's Trophy in the 2023 MLB season.[[/note]]).
[[/folder]]

The '''UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}} Mariners''' have a reputation as a consistently mediocre team with a high number of Japanese fans (thanks to the number of NPB players they've acquired over the years). They are the only team who has never played in the World Series, with the team's only real run of success coming from 1995-2001, when they made the playoffs four times and advanced to the League Championship Series in three of those four occasions (though they never got any further); in 2001, they had the best regular season record in baseball history. To add insult to injury, the four aforementioned playoff appearances remained the sum total of the Mariners' postseason history the team entered a two-decade playoff drought; an ill-fated attempt to spend their way into the playoffs in the [=mid-2000s=] ended with them becoming the first $100 million+ payroll team to lose at least 100 games in the 2008 season. The club has had a few stars in its history, most notably Edgar Martínez, Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson, Ichiro Suzuki, and Félix Hernández (who pitched the first perfect game in team history). The M's first retired number (other than Robinson's) was that of Griffey, which the team retired during the 2016 season--not just for the Mariners themselves, but also for ''all their minor-league affiliates''. Martínez' number was retired the following season. Johnson, Ichiro, and Hernández are major candidates for the honor as well[[note]]Official Mariners policy is that a player must have spent a reasonable portion of their career with the team, and be in the Hall of Fame (or at least considered good enough to be). Currently the only players eligible for this are Griffey, Martínez, and Johnson. Speculation exists that number 51 will be retired jointly for Ichiro and Johnson once Ichiro is eligible.[[/note]] Johnson was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2014, but was inducted as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks, with whom he won a World Series and had debatably greater success than with the Mariners.[[note]]While Johnson's plaque in Cooperstown has a D-backs cap logo, his official Hall of Fame web bio lists the M's as his "primary team".[[/note]] Griffey was elected the next year, breaking the record for highest percentage of votes (99.3%)[[note]]a record which fell in 2019, when Mariano Rivera became the first-ever unanimous inductee[[/note]] and was the first player to enter the Hall as a Mariner. Martínez was elected in 2019 on his 10th and final chance in regular voting, with the main obstacle to his induction having been that he was mostly a DH. Ichiro, who retired just after the start of the 2019 season, is generally expected to make the Hall in 2025. Alex Rodriguez also began his career with the Mariners before moving on to greater fame with the Rangers and Yankees. Interesting notes are that the Mariners' original ownership group was led by Creator/DannyKaye, and the M's were owned by Creator/{{Nintendo}} from 1992 to 2016. The latter explains how Ken Griffey Jr. got a couple of video games on some of [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem Nintendo's]] [[UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 consoles]].[[note]]In a sign of how crazy the nineties UsefulNotes/ConsoleWars were, when Creator/{{Sega}} learned that Nintendo and Griffey were having trouble coming to an agreement, they reached out to Griffey to star in a Sega-exclusive game. This would mean Nintendo's biggest star on their own team would have an exclusive game with their biggest rival. Needless to say, Nintendo came to an agreement with Griffey very quickly once they got wind of this ploy.[[/note]] Junior became a minority owner of the team late in the 2021 season, and in 2022 the team ''finally'' got over the hump to return to the playoffs, only to get swept by the eventual champions and hated rival Houston Astros, though the M's didn't go down without a fight [[note]]with Game 3 being one of the ''longest'' games in playoff history, lasting ''18'' innings.[[/note]].

'''Home Ballpark:''' \\
'''Former Ballparks:''' Columbia Park (1901–1908), Shibe Park (1909–1954), Municipal Stadium (1955–1967)\\
'''Future Ballparks:''' Las Vegas Ballpark (NET 2025-NET 2027), Unnamed Las Vegas Stadium (NET 2028-)\\

The '''Oakland Athletics''' are one of the league's oldest teams (being descended from earlier franchises in Philadelphia and Kansas City, not to be confused with either of the short-lived American Association's Philadelphia Athletics teams or the National League Philadelphia Athletics that got expelled in the League's first year for refusing to play out the full schedule) and also one of the current sufferers of "small-market syndrome". However, their stretch of unexpectedly strong teams with tiny payrolls in the early 2000s led to writer Michael Lewis writing the book ''Moneyball'' on Oakland general manager Billy Beane. Beane's "Moneyball" approach to the game emphasized new statistics, computerized analysis, and unconventional means of analyzing players. And for a while, it worked, proving that baseball really is the GameOfNerds. Many other teams, most notably the Red Sox, then began adopting Moneyball-style strategies, relegating Oakland to the back end again, though the A's have still managed to scrounge several winning seasons thanks to "Moneyball 2.0" strategies. The franchise as a whole has won nine World Series, tied for the third most in baseball with the Red Sox and trailing the Yankees and the Cardinals (although only one of those titles has come in the last 40 years, in the 1989 World Series that was infamously interrupted by the Loma Prieta earthquake which occurred prior to the originally scheduled Game 3 in San Francisco).