{"id":327961,"date":"2026-05-22T15:41:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T15:41:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/327961\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T15:41:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T15:41:09","slug":"west-sacramento-mayor-martha-guerrero-signals-formal-push-for-mlb-expansion-franchise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/327961\/","title":{"rendered":"West Sacramento Mayor Martha Guerrero signals formal push for MLB expansion franchise"},"content":{"rendered":"

West Sacramento Mayor Martha Guerrero \u201cteased an upcoming announcement about the region\u2019s efforts to officially pursue\u201d an MLB expansion team, according to Annika Merrilees of the SACRAMENTO BEE. Guerrero, at the annual \u201cState of the City\u201d event, said, \u201cWest Sacramento is in dialogue to consider becoming a host to a Major League Baseball expansion team.\u201d The region would compete with other cities that have \u201cspent years vying for the league\u2019s attention,\u201d and any decision by MLB would be \u201cyears away.\u201d MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has said that he \u201cwants a process for expansion in place by the time he retires,\u201d expected in 2029. Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty had signaled local leaders\u2019 intentions to formally campaign for an expansion team in October<\/a>, and has \u201cdoubled down in the months since,\u201d declaring that an effort \u201cwould launch this spring.\u201d Guerrero\u2019s comments signaled that that campaign \u201cmay be imminent.\u201d West Sacramento is in its second season hosting the Vegas-bound A\u2019s<\/a> (SACRAMENTO BEE, 5\/21<\/a>).<\/p>\n

ORLANDO GAINS BACKER: UFL co-owner and entrepreneur Mike Repole confirmed that he \u201csupports the Orlando Dreamers\u2019 effort<\/a>” to land an MLB team in Orlando and \u201cwould be willing to invest in the project.\u201d Repole said, \u201cI\u2019ve had some discussions with the Dreamers. You know, I\u2019m not going to buy the (entire) baseball team, but whether I were to own 1 percent or 10 percent or 15 percent, I would definitely be interested in bringing baseball to town.\u201d In Orlando, Mike Bianchi wrote one of the country\u2019s \u201cmost successful entrepreneurs<\/a>\u201d — a billionaire who built brands like Vitaminwater and BodyArmor — is \u201cpublicly tying himself not only to Orlando\u2019s current sports scene, but also to its future ambitions. That\u2019s a pretty big deal.\u201d Cities \u201cdon\u2019t land major league franchises simply because they want them.\u201d They land them because influential people with money, vision and credibility \u201cbelieve in the market enough to invest.\u201d Bianchi: \u201cNow the question becomes whether Orlando sports fans will continue proving him right\u201d (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 5\/21<\/a>).<\/p>\n

WHAT ABOUT RALEIGH? In Charlotte, Andrew Dunn wrote as MLB moves closer to expansion — likely by two teams — one will \u201cpresumably be out west,\u201d while the Southeast \u201cseems likely to get a team.\u201d Charlotte \u201cgets mentioned, and it is easy to see why.\u201d Dunn wrote, \u201cBut I don\u2019t get the sense Charlotte actually wants a team. There is no public push here, no ownership group, no stadium plan.\u201d However, he noted a city that \u201cwants this badly\u201d is Raleigh<\/a>. Dunn: \u201cThe smart thing for Charlotte to do is \u2018drop out\u2019 and back the Oak City\u2019s bid.\u201d The MLB Raleigh campaign \u201chas real grassroots energy.\u201d Raleigh also has \u201ckey pieces in place.\u201d Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon is \u201con board to lead the effort,\u201d and potential ballpark areas are \u201calready being discussed.\u201d Dunn wrote most of the so-called experts say that \u201cNashville<\/a> has the better chance of winning the bid. That\u2019s where Charlotte can help.\u201d Dunn: \u201cThe pitch should not be that Raleigh wants a team. It should be that North Carolina is ready for one\u201d (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 5\/20<\/a>). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"West Sacramento Mayor Martha Guerrero \u201cteased an upcoming announcement about the region\u2019s efforts to officially pursue\u201d an MLB…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327962,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[2135,1334,121,123,122],"class_list":["post-327961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-baseball","tag-mlb","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}