Portland businessman believes an MLB expansion there could be very helpful to the area: “We really think it would be transformative for the city”

MLB expansion is a hot topic, and Portland is one city that figures to eventually get a team. They have an NBA franchise, which shows that they can support a team and they are sort of in the middle of the Seattle Mariners and the California teams. This means there's an entire geographic region in need of a local team.

One Portland businessman, Craig Cheek, who founded the Portland Diamond Project, believes it could be a big thing for the area, according to the Athletic:

“We really think it would be transformative for the city.”

Portland has been on MLB's radar for over five years, as commissioner Rob Manfred publicly said that the city was a prime candidate for expansion.

Portland is between the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants and the Seattle Mariners, so there's a need for something there.

For example, when Adley Rutschman (star Baltimore Orioles catcher) was growing up, he had to drive for almost four hours just to get to SafeCo Field. This was the closest to him.

Manfred wants baseball to reach a bigger audience. This could be a big move for that goal, since it would bring the game to an entire area of the United States that doesn't have a team.

Jim Etzel, another Portland businessman, said:

"Baseball has been a conversation here for decades. And that conversation, not just among baseball fans but in the larger business community, is that this could work. Why not Portland?"

Other locations are good candidates, too. Nashville is expected to get a team sooner or later, but it seems as if Portland might have the same feeling.

Cheek added that Portland is an excellent sports town:

"We like to call it Sportland. This area punches way above its weight in sports DNA."

Perhaps an MLB team could soon contribute to that.

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Which MLB teams were added in an expansion?

Several baseball teams have come about in the same fashion a theoretical Portland team would.

In 1977, the Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays were added to the American League. The National League also added two clubs in 1993: the Colorado Rockies and the Florida Marlins.

Arizona Diamondbacks were an expansion team

1998 was the most recent example, when the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Devil Rays joined their respective leagues in an expansion.