Baseball’s first round of single-league expansion, which occurred in 1977, yielded an imbalance that endured for a decade and a half.
The American League fielded 14 clubs during that stretch, outnumbering the National League’s 12. The NL didn’t catch up until 1993, when it added the Colorado Rockies and Florida Marlins.
Baseball’s unwieldy structure between 1977 and 1992 was frequently mocked. So it seemed logical that the two leagues would act in unison the next time they considered expansion.
They didn’t. Not really.
Each league admitted a single expansion team to begin play in 1998. The American welcomed the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and the National ushered in the Arizona Diamondbacks. So far, so good.
But there was a problem. Both leagues now had 15 members, confronting them with two alternatives for scheduling. They could greatly increase the number of interleague games — staging at least one every day — which was the only way to fully engage the odd number of teams in each league. Or they could shift an existing franchise from one league to the other, reinstating the previous imbalance.
Big-league owners, never an adventurous group, thought the first option was too bold and too innovative. So the Milwaukee Brewers were encouraged to move from the AL (which downsized to 14 teams) and join the NL (which ballooned to 16).
This untidy expansion occurred 25 years ago, yet it remains the most recent round, following those of 1961-1962, 1969, 1977, and 1993.
Look below for breakdowns of the two franchises that were added in 1998. And click here for an explanation of my fan support index (FSI), which is cited in the summaries. (Win-loss records and attendance figures for 2023 are not included in the rundowns.)
My look back at previous expansions, which has spanned the past five Wednesdays, serves as a prelude to a coming discussion of baseball’s future options. We’ll return to this subject next week.
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Arizona Diamondbacks
Span: 1998-2022
Regular-season record: 1,914 wins, 2,034 losses (.485)
Postseason record: 6 playoff qualifiers, 1 National League pennant, 1 World Series title
Fan support: Average FSI of 102.2 (2.2% above expectations)
Strange but true: A nickname is typically chosen for an expansion team only after the franchise is granted. But the organizers of Phoenix’s effort were so confident that they held a name-the-team contest while their application was still under consideration. The winning entry tied the club to a rattlesnake known as the Western diamondback.
Verdict: Success. Yes, Arizona has struggled more often than not in the NL West, making the playoffs only twice since 2008. But attendance has generally been impressive, topping 2 million in 22 different seasons. The Diamondbacks are on a sound footing, and the club’s on-field fortunes appear to be looking up.
Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays
Span: 1998-2022
Regular-season record: 1,912 wins, 2,034 losses (.485)
Postseason record: 8 playoff qualifiers, 2 American League pennants
Fan support: Average FSI of 63.8 (36.2% below expectations)
Strange but true: Tampa Bay was nicknamed the Devil Rays during the franchise’s first decade (1998-2007). The club was terrible throughout that period, finishing last in the AL East nine times. The team’s name was shortened to Rays in 2008, the same year that it won its first league title. The Devil Rays played .399 ball over 10 years, while the Rays won at a .544 clip in their first 15 seasons (2008-2022).
Verdict: Failure. That may seem a harsh judgment for a franchise that has qualified for the playoffs in each of the past four seasons — and eight times in the past 15 years. But home attendance has been consistently awful, raising questions about the team’s viability in Tampa Bay. The club has drawn more than 1.9 million fans only once in its history.