Wheelhouse Blog

Updated 2/9/2026

One of my favorite sports topics is relocation and expansion in the Big Four Sports Leagues. In this post (https://wheelhouseblog.com/2025/03/19/big-four-relocation-and-expansion/), I gave my original thoughts on which Big Four teams should relocate and which cities should get new teams. In this article I have made some updates to my MLB relocation/expansion plans.

MLB

I predict the MLB will expand to 32 teams. 5 new cities should get teams, with 2 expansions and 3 relocations.

The 3 relocations will need to happen before expansion occurs. The first team that should relocate is the Tampa Bay Rays. Despite having decent success, the Rays constituently have poor attendance, even for playoff games. With the new stadium project in the Tampa area collapsing and Tropicana Stadium having its roof ripped off, Tampa needs to leave soon.

I think it makes sense for them to move to Nashville. There is already a lot of momentum for a new team to go to Nashville and be called the Nashville Stars. There also is rumors that the new Tennessee Titans stadium complex will have room for a new MLB stadium which puts it in a great location. Nashville is a good sports town and the Rays moving there solves a current issue while also allowing them to stay in the AL East (for now).

I also think the Chicago White Sox should relocate. They are having tons of issues with finding a new stadium and with current attendance issues. There is already another team in Chicago and they would be a prime candidate to move to Austin. The city has a large, growing metro population that would be a great market to move into. Plus the team would have the San Antonio market close to them.

I also think the the LA Angels should move to Portland. Portland is a big sports city/area without an MLB team. The city recently approved a potential $800 million dollar tax to help build an MLB stadium if a team were to move there. The Angels are second citizens in their town and are due for a move.

The two expansion cities I see for the MLB are Charlotte and Salt Lake City. Charlotte would give the MLB access to the Carolinas market, which is a pretty big baseball area. Salt Lake City already has 2 other sports teams and is a sports crazy town. They also have a big group trying to bring the team there.

Based on the moves above and the Athletics moving to Las Vegas, here are the new divisions I imagine once 32 teams are in the league:

American League

National League

Notes:

1. The Central Divisions in both leagues will be renamed to North
2. ^ Indicates New Division
3. Italicized Team Indicates Expansion or Relocation Team
4. * Indicates Team Switched Divisions
5. ** Indicates Team Switched Leagues

Bruins:

To start, the Bruins have some numbers from recent players that need to be retired eventually. These don’t all need to happen ASAP, but all these guys should have their number in the rafters:

33 – Zdeno Chara

37- Patrice Bergeron

46 – David Krejci

40 – Tuukka Rask

30 – Tim Thomas and Gerry Cheevers

63 – Brad Marchand (once he is retired from the league)

To soon to tell, but they are on their way:

88 – David Pastrnak

73 – Charlie McAvoy

Patriots

I have to make a caveat here. With the sheer amount of numbers needed for the NFL, I think the Patriots HOF shares a similar role as retired numbers do for other teams. For the Patriots, I think only all-time greats should have their numbers retired, especially since the Pats already have 8 numbers retired.

87 – Rob Gronkowski

56 – Andre Tippett

I also think Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick eventually deserve statues outside Gillette Stadium near where the Brady statue will be put up.

Red Sox

49 – Tim Wakefield

33 – Jason Varitek

15 – Dustin Pedroia

24 – Dwight Evans and Manny Ramirez

Celtics

The Celtics do such a great job with retiring numbers, there are no pressing players that need to be retired.

To soon to tell, but they are on their way:

0 – Jayson Tatum

7 – Jaylen Brown

I also think the Bill Russell and Red Auerbach statues in Boston should be moved to TD Garden or new ones should be built at the Garden if they don’t want to move them. And they should build a Larry Bird statue there to join them.

Some final things I want to discuss about the draft.

I find it so interesting how certain players rise so much and others fall so much in draft rankings AFTER the CFB season is over mainly due to hype. It’s one thing for a player to rise or fall due to a combine performance or off the field incidents, but when they simply rise or fall off media hype, it’s something to watch out for.

There is so much time between the Super Bowl and draft, it inevitably leads to players getting good or bad hype, partly because it keeps things interesting. This leads to players like Zach Wilson rising up to number 2 in the draft and other players falling. For teams that identify this, they can avoid overhyped players and get great value for guys who dropped for basically no reason.

The last thing I want to touch on is how much the NFL dominates other sports leagues. The NHL and NBA playoffs were going on during the NFL draft and the MLB season is kicking into full gear, but the NFL draft still dominated the sports world. Even the current US President, Donald Trump, was tweeting about it.

The NFL has done an amazing job of making the draft the second biggest event of the NFL calendar. To make an event that they are simply picking new players and not even playing a game so massive is impressive. More people watched the first round of the draft (13.6 million) than watched the clinching game of the NBA Finals (12.2 million) last year. No other sports league in the US could make their draft such an event.

Patriots:

In Rounds 4-7, the Pats added some defensive depth, some special teams guys, a developmental offensive tackle. Nothing too notable, but maybe one of these guys will turn into a superstar.

Shedeur Sanders:

Sanders finally goes in the 5th round to the Browns. I would completely love this move, if not for the Dillion Gabriel pick in Round 3. Here is what I wrote about that pick:

“Dillon Gabriel to the Browns is another question mark. Sanders is a better player than him and I think has a higher ceiling too. Sanders could also start right away for the Browns. Maybe they are targeting a QB next year and don’t want to draft Sanders then another QB in the first round next year. That’s the only explanation I can think of.”

I did not get taking Gabriel over Sanders other than for the reason I stated above. Now, I don’t know what the Browns are doing. Having Gabriel and Sanders leads to a crowded depth chart with them, Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, and Deshaun Watson on the roster right now.

Here is a situation that could very well play out. If Dillon Gabriel wins the starting job, Watson and Sanders are going to be backups this year. If Gabriel plays decent, but the Browns still stink and decide to draft a star rookie QB, they are setting up a bad environment for the rookie to come into. Watson will likely still be on the team in 2026 due to that terrible contract. And Dillion Gabriel and Sheduer Sanders will still be in Year 2 of their rookie deals as backups. You’ll have a incredibly packed and attention grabbing QB room that creates unnecessary extra challenges for the new QB and team as a whole. Having one backup that causes a lot of conversation and attention is bad, but two (Watson and Sanders) is unprecedented and not good for a rebuilding team.

Drafting Sanders would be ideal if you were planning on him having a shot to be your starting QB for the next 2-3 years. Other than that, I don’t think it’s a great idea.

Will Howard

I think Will Howard to the Steelers is very intriguing. He is probably the best quarterback on their roster and will have a chance to start. He could have a Brock Purdy like impact on this team. He only needs to be a game manager to lead them to the playoffs.

Quinn Ewers:

Quinn Ewers goes to the Dolphins in the 7th round. Ewers is the perfect example of a guy who should have stayed in college for his last year of eligibility. He likely would have had to transfer, but still could have gone to a great program and made some money. He was reportedly offered $8 million to transfer to another school, which is almost double what he will make the next four years ($4.31 million).

Cam Ward, Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Michael Penix, and Bo Nix were all 1st round picks the past two years and benefited from transferring. Ewers was a 5 star recruit and does not lack talent. He could have easily raised his draft stock by staying another year. He literally had nothing to lose. Even if he played bad or was hurt, he either would have still been a 7th rounder or would have been undrafted, which is probably better than being a 7th rounder because you have some say over where you go.

He could very well still get an opportunity to play for the Dolphins due to the fact Tua has continually had health issues. If he gets an opportunity to play and does well he could catch on with the Dolphins or get traded to another team and start for them.

Patriots:

Round 2 Pick 38: RB Treveyon Henderson, Ohio State

Henderson had good production at OSU and only had one fumble in college. He is speedy, can pass block, and catch passes out of the backfield, which is a huge benefit to Maye. Now, he can share the running back load with Stevenson and Gibson in New England.

I don’t get it. Even if Henderson pans out, I just don’t get it. There were quality WRs and Edge rushers available that the Pats could have used much more than a RB. Especially given the amount of other quality running backs that will be available later in the draft.

Round 3 Pick 69: WR Kyle Williams, Washington State

This was a great pickup. Williams is a speedy playmaker who should be able to make an instant impact for a team that desperately needs help at WR. He burned Travis Hunter on a play in college, foreshadowing how good he can be.

Round 3 Pick 95: C Jared Wilson, Georgia

Wilson is raw, but a great pick. He was one of, if not the best, centers in the draft. Playing at Georgia means he was lining up against NFL players every day at practice. He should have time to develop into a nice player.

Shedeur Sanders and QBs taken:

This story just gets more insane as Sanders was not taken Day 2. Trump was on social media asking if NFL owners were “stupid” for not drafting Sanders. Then Louisville QB Tyler Shough was taken over him, which is an absolute joke. The guy was in college for SEVEN YEARS and is turning 26 in September. In SEVEN YEARS the guy had one okay season and somehow goes above Sanders. AND, the Saints were drafting their QB of the future given that they have Derek Carr on their roster. When is Shough gonna take over, when he’s 28 years old?

Is this pick going to work out for the Saints? I don’t think Shough (get it hahaha…) Excuse the horrific pun, this draft has me rattled.

Then, two more QBs were taken over him. I will say, I understand Jalen Milroe going over Sanders. Milroe has a low floor, but a higher ceiling than Sanders due to having much more natural talent. If he can develop while Sam Darnold starts the next couple years, he could be great for the Seahawks.

But Dillon Gabriel to the Browns is another question mark. Sanders is a better player than him and I think has a higher ceiling too. Sanders could also start right away for the Browns. Maybe they are targeting a QB next year and don’t want to draft Sanders then another QB in the first round next year. That’s the only explanation I can think of.

Shedeur and Deion deserve some blame for what is going on. There are reports that Shedeur assumed he was going to be a top 5 pick and acted like it throughout the draft process. There are also reports that teams don’t want to deal with the perceived headache he and his dad could cause if they draft him. While this makes sense for certain teams to factor in, for others I think it is not that big of an issue.

With the Raiders, you have a legendary coach in Pete Carroll and the GOAT Tom Brady is a minority owner. They could draft Shedeur to back up Geno. The Steelers with great coach Mike Tomlin need a QB now and Shedeur could start for them and help them make the playoffs. The Rams, with offensive whiz Sean McVay could draft Shedeur to back up Stafford the next couple years. In all three of these situations, these teams have great coaches and respected ownership and/or front office personnel. They would be able to handle any drama that came with Sanders being on their roster.

It’s just a weird situation. Jerry Jones, Sean Payton, Elliot Wolf, and other people came out in support of Sanders. Many NFL analysts are saying how shocked they are and that they don’t know a definitive reason for his fall. According to ESPN, an NFL exec said there was “no smoking gun, but it’s not just football, either.” The exec also said the attention Sanders would bring would complicate his selection because he is not seen as a star. The whole thing is odd and it’ll be interesting to see where he gets drafted and if any more info comes out.