Orlando Dreamers: Dreaming of MLB Expansion

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ORLANDO – The city of Orlando, Florida, might have another Major League Baseball franchise in the near future. The Orlando Dreamers are a concept for the moment, but this dream could become a reality soon. With the Tampa Bay Rays’ future in question, this is a prime opportunity for Orlando to take advantage.

Doctor Rick Workman, founder of Heartland Dental, would own the team. He worked as a dentist for 17 years before he founded the company in 1997. The company opened over 1,700 offices across 38 states. MLB Hall of Fame shortstop Barry Larkin, of the Cincinnati Reds, would be the MLB Ambassador for the team. Larkin played 19 seasons in the MLB and played in 12 All-Star games. Former Florida Representative Dick Batchelor would serve as Director of Government Affairs. He served in the Florida House of Representatives. Andrew Herdliska would be the Chief Marketing Officer. He worked as a sports executive for 19 years.

A stadium plan has already been drawn up with visual drawings of how the new stadium could look. The current plan is to build a stadium with a 45,000-seat capacity, which is significantly larger than Miami’s Loan Depot Park.

MLB expansion is entering a new era with two teams expected to be added soon, and continue to shake things up with new stadiums.

Once Major League Baseball adds two new teams, a complete reorganization of the current divisions could be a possibility. The American League East, American League Central, American League West, National League East, National League Central, and National League West could through changes. It’s also possible that new divisions could replace the six divisions already there. The divisions were the American League East, American League West, National League East, and National League West prior to 1994. To keep the current six divisions, MLB would likely have to add a total of 6 new teams to avoid having another realignment.

This exciting era in baseball already includes the building of several new stadiums, including Loan Depot Park in Miami, Florida, and Globe Life Stadium in Arlington, Texas, within the last few years. The Athletics are getting a new stadium in Las Vegas as the team will complete the move from Oakland, California, after a few years in Sacramento. According to the most recent U.S. Census, Orlando had a population of 334,854 people as of July 2024. That’s almost as many people as cities such as Cleveland, Ohio, and it’s slightly more than the population of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which has a population of approximately 307,668 people.