Unfortunately, not here in the US. I saw this article about the Japanese Leagues contracting to 11 teams for financial reasons.

Got me thinking again about which MLB teams people around here would be interested in seeing eliminated. I know in a few threads some of us have been discussing how "diluted" the talent has become, so if you had the power to make the decision, who would be "voted off the island". wink

I would get rid of Tampa Bay, Florida, Montreal, and Milwaukee. Arizona, San Diego and Pittsburgh are also possbilities.

I've never bought any arguments that talent has been diluted -- demographics don't bear it out (when you add the population of the U.S. with just Venezuela and the Caribbean, that's a huge base) -- so that can't be a reason for contraction.

The other argument for contraction has been that small market cities can't support an MLB team. I believe that revenue sharing is beginning to make a big difference and metro areas like Milwaukee or K.C. can have pennant-contending franchises in coming years. (btw -- in a All Star Game interview, Commissioner Selig said that any contraction is off the table.)

Plus if baseball truly is America's pasttime it needs to have teams spread out across the nation. So I say if we're gonna contract, let's get rid of teams in metro areas that already have 2 teams -- spread the wealth even more!:

Bay Area -- either the As or Giants have to go.
NYC -- Mets or Yanks
Lalaland -- Angels or Dodgers
Chicago -- White Sox or Cubs.

I'd get rid of the NY Yankees and the LA Dodgers. wink

I always found it amusing the way the many of the teams in the Japanese league copied the uniforms of MLB teams. For example, the Hiroshima Carp have the same cap as the Cincinnati Reds--the "C" stands for Carp rather than Cincinnati. The Yomiuri (Tokyo) Giants look like the San Francisco Giants (black & orange), the Dragons uniform resembles the Dodgers. And what can you say about a team called Swallows. wink

They have to hold many press conferences denying they aren't Spitters?

Showoffs!!! Not that there is anything wrong with that.... eek!