News and Notes: Toronto in the mix for 2025 All-Star Game, MLB considering expansion to 32 teams

The National League edged out the American League in the 2023 All-Star Game in Seattle on Tuesday by a score of 3-2, picking up their first win in the Midsummer Classic since all the way back in 2012.

Next year’s All-Star festivities will take place at Globe Life Field in Texas, the Rangers’ $1.1 billion stadium that opened up in 2020, while the Phillies will be the host in 2026 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia.

The city that’ll host the 2025 All-Star Game, meanwhile, remains undecided. According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the Toronto Blue Jays, Baltimore Orioles, and Atlanta Braves are the three teams who are in the mix.

Toronto last hosted an All-Star Game in 1991, a couple of years after the SkyDome and its state-of-the-art retracting roof was opened. This time around, the Blue Jays would be celebrating the completion of the $300 million renovation project they made to the stadium, which features new areas in the outfield for fans to watch the game and socialize along with upgraded premium seating areas.

Nightengale also reported that MLB will soon put together a committee to discuss expanding the league to 32 teams. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said that the league first wants to sort out the situations with the Tampa Bay Rays and Oakland A’s before adding expansion franchises.

The A’s appear to be on their way to Las Vegas with plans for a new $1.5 billion stadium that would open in 2028. The Rays, meanwhile, will see their use agreement at Tropicana Field expire at the end of the 2027 season and have been working to build a new stadium somewhere in the Tampa Bay area, though a possible relocation to other cities such as Montreal has also been discussed.

Expanding to 32 teams would certainly result in MLB realigning its divisions. Four divisions with eight teams each would work nicely for the league’s current playoff format. The four division winners would get a bye through the first round and the top-four non-division winners in each League or Conference would be the wild-card seeds.

MLB’s last round of expansion came in 1998 when the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Arizona Diamondbacks joined the league. The last time a team relocated was in 2005 when the Montreal Expos moved to Washington and became the Nationals.