The Cincinnati Reds could be one of the teams that MLB is looking to move during expansion.

The Cincinnati Reds are in one of the smallest markets in MLB. Cincinnati is the home of the first professional baseball team in America. Unfortunately, history only goes so far.

Recently, Commissioner Rob Manfred discussed the possibility of MLB expanding to 32 teams. That would result in four eight-team divisions. It would make transitioning to a 154-game schedule much easier.

During the conversation, Manfred mentioned the cities of Portland and Montreal as possible locations for the new teams. Montreal is a hard luck city, as they lost their team because of the last players’ strike and is the most populous metropolitan area in North America without an MLB team. Portland, however, is a less obvious city.

Cincinnati and Portland are actually quite similar. Both teams are outside of the top 25 in population size in the US at 39th and 33rd respectively. Both are also hilly cities built above a river with another state within a few minutes drive of downtown proper.

Want your voice heard? Join the Blog Red Machine team! Write for us!

That’s what makes the idea of Portland so curious. It isn’t a city that has such a large population that it needs more sports teams. They already have the Trail Blazers of the NBA and the Timbers of the MLS.

While Portland and Montreal may be expansion sites, the Cincinnati Reds could leave for other, more desirable markets.

The cities that are just above Portland in metropolitan size are both growing at a more steady rate and are less diffuse. Those are Charlotte, North Carolina, and Vancouver, British Columbia. Either could be a landing spot for one of MLB’s smaller market clubs.

Cincinnati is the third smallest market in MLB with only Cleveland and Kansas City smaller. Frankly, with the stadium and television contracts for the trio any of them could be on the move to Charlotte or Vancouver. Both are desirable for different reasons.

Charlotte is home to the other big three sports already. It also routinely hosts Atlantic Coast Conference events. It has steadily grown in size in the past fifteen years. Charlotte is also in a temperate climate.

Vancouver is the Hollywood of Canada. Numerous shows and movies are filmed there. More importantly, it would provide a regional rivalry to the Seattle Mariners. They have lacked one since their move to the Pacific Northwest.

The Reds likely are not going anywhere. It just doesn’t feel great when MLB is openingly courting other cities. The other issue is that the same three teams are mentioned as having bad televisions contracts.

That’s despite the horrendous physical attendance numbers for the Florida franchises. Hopefully, MLB expands. Just do it without costing a current city its team and relegating them to Triple-A.