Cities That Lost MLB Teams During Relocation But Got A New One Instead

Fans who follow an MLB team often strongly associate with them due to geographic location. However, not all teams stay in one spot, moving to other cities in the US - much to their fans’ chagrin. 

Keeping up with MLB betting means you'll need to know about the movers and the shakers. There are plenty of times that MLB teams have completely switched locations - but some places managed to regain their team. 

Here’s a handful of locations who lost their MLB teams but managed to get a new one at a later date.

The original team in Kansas City wasn't the Royals but the Athletics - the team now known as Oakland Athletics. However, Kansas wasn't their original location. They were founded in Philadelphia in 1901 and moved to Kansas City half a century later in 1955.

Their track record in moving on should possibly have given Kansas a clue that the club might not hang around forever, and sure enough, in 1968, they left for Oakland. Kansas City Athletics could have been in hot water because they broke the law by moving on, leaving the city with a half-built new stadium. It turned out well for everyone in the end as the Athletics were left to move to Oakland, and Kansas were granted a brand-new team, the Royals, who arrived in 1969.

Seattle has the indignity of holding the record for the shortest franchise in MLB history. In 1969, the Seattle Pilots arrived as a new franchise in the city, awarded after Seattle voted to build a domed stadium (later known as Kingdome). Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned for the Pilots, and after just one year, they filed for bankruptcy. 

A car dealer in Milwaukee bought out the bankrupted Seattle Pilots and moved them to their home city, renaming them the Milwaukee Brewers. As it happened, Kingdome took longer to build than expected and wasn't ready until 1976 - six years after the team that was supposed to play there had left the city! But all was not lost as Seattle was awarded a new franchise in 1977, and the Seattle Mariners were founded. If you look closely at the logos of the Mariners, the Pilots and the Brewers, you'll find they all bear a striking resemblance to each other.

Baltimore Orioles were founded in 1901 - but it wasn't the club's first choice for a city. Initially, they had planned to set up in New York, but the influential New York Giants objected, and so they were forced to look elsewhere. After two years, the owners of the Baltimore Orioles quit and joined their arch-rivals, the Giants, and after some sweet talking, the Orioles were finally given the green light to move to their preferred location of New York. They switched their name to the Highlanders before changing it again in 1913 to become the world-famous New York Yankees. 

All of this left Baltimore without an MLB team for some time. But their patience was rewarded in 1954 when the team previously known as the Browns moved in, becoming the second version of the Orioles.