Major League Baseball grew from 16 teams to 30 in six separate waves between 1961 and 1998. Each wave came with a price tag for the new ownership groups and a set of rules for stocking a roster from scratch, called the expansion draft. The fees rose from roughly $2 million in the early 1960s to $130 million by the late 1990s, and the rules for building a team got more complicated along the way. Below is a year-by-year look, plus the actual numbers behind each expansion class.
Why baseball expanded at all
For its first six decades, the major leagues stayed fixed at 16 teams. Franchises moved cities now and then, but the league didn’t grow. That changed in 1961, partly in response to a rival league threat and partly because growing Sun Belt and West Coast cities wanted in. You can read more about how the sport’s rules and structure evolved on our how baseball works hub, and the broader history and eras archive covers other turning points from the same stretch of decades.
The six expansion waves
Here’s the basic roll call, in order.
- 1961 (AL): The Los Angeles Angels and a new Washington Senators franchise (replacing the original Senators, who moved to Minnesota) joined the American League.
- 1962 (NL): The New York Mets and the Houston Colt .45s, later renamed the Astros, joined the National League.
- 1969: Four teams arrived at once. The Kansas City Royals and Seattle Pilots joined the AL; the Montreal Expos and San Diego Padres joined the NL. The Pilots lasted one season in Seattle before moving to Milwaukee.
- 1977 (AL): The Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners joined the American League.
- 1993 (NL): The Florida Marlins and Colorado Rockies joined the National League.
- 1998: The Arizona Diamondbacks joined the NL, and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays joined the AL.
That last wave brought the league to its current 30 teams. Baseball Reference keeps detailed franchise pages for every one of these clubs, including their first-season rosters and results, if you want to go deeper than this summary allows.
What it actually cost: fees and draft rules
This is where most short histories stop short. The dollar figures and the protection rules tell you a lot about how the business of baseball changed. Expansion fees are the price new owners pay the existing teams just to join the league, before they sign a single player.
| Year | New teams | Reported fee per team | Protection rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | Angels, Senators | About $2 million | Existing clubs protected roughly 15 players; new teams drafted the rest for set per-player fees. |
| 1962 | Mets, Colt .45s | About $2 million | Same basic format as 1961, with a similar protected-list size. |
| 1969 | Royals, Pilots, Expos, Padres | Roughly $10 million | Expanded protected lists and multiple draft rounds, since four rosters needed filling at once. |
| 1977 | Blue Jays, Mariners | Roughly $7 million | Similar structure to 1969, adjusted for a two-team draft. |
| 1993 | Marlins, Rockies | $95 million | Teams again protected about 15 players, but the player pool was pre-set and the draft ran in structured rounds. |
| 1998 | Diamondbacks, Devil Rays | About $130 million | Protection lists grew further, with staggered rounds designed to spread talent more evenly than earlier drafts had. |
Some of these fee figures vary slightly by source, since terms were occasionally paid out over several years rather than in one lump sum. Treat them as the widely reported figures rather than exact, audited totals. The Society for American Baseball Research has published detailed histories of several of these expansions, including ownership negotiations that aren’t always covered in a quick recap.
How the expansion draft changed over four decades
The core idea never changed. Existing teams protect a chunk of their roster. New teams pick from what’s left. But the mechanics got more sophisticated as owners pushed back against losing good players for almost nothing.
In 1961 and 1962, protection lists were short and the new teams paid modest, fixed fees for each player they selected. That’s why the early Mets and Colt .45s were stocked largely with aging veterans and fringe prospects. It made for rough first seasons. The original Mets, in particular, became a symbol of expansion-era struggle before their stunning turnaround just a few years later, a story told in more detail in our piece on the Miracle Mets of 1969.
By 1993, the league had learned something. The Marlins and Rockies still faced a 15-player protection limit per existing club, but the overall pool of available players was better managed, and the draft unfolded over multiple rounds designed to prevent any one new team from getting stuck with nothing but spare parts. The 1998 draft pushed that logic further, with bigger protection lists offset by more draft rounds, an attempt to balance fairness for the new clubs against the incumbents’ reluctance to give up depth.
None of these drafts ever handed a new team a ready-made contender. Most expansion clubs needed the better part of a decade to become competitive, and a few, like the Rays and Diamondbacks, got there faster than most people expected at the time.
New ballparks, new fan bases
Expansion wasn’t just about rosters and fees. Nearly every wave came with a new stadium, built specifically to lure or reward a city with its first big-league team. Those ballparks became the backdrop for decades of local tradition, the kind of thing our ballparks and fan culture archive digs into regularly. New fan bases also meant new postseason hopes, and several expansion franchises eventually reached the sport’s biggest stage, a path you can trace through our history of the World Series.
It’s worth noting how fast the economics shifted. A $2 million entry fee in 1961 is a modest sum by today’s standards. By 1998, that number had grown roughly 65-fold. Franchise values, media rights, and the overall size of the sport’s economy all grew right alongside it. For readers curious about records set during these different periods, our MLB records and legends archive has more context on how the eras compare.
There hasn’t been a formal expansion since 1998, though MLB has discussed adding teams again in recent years. If and when that happens, expect the entry fee to dwarf even the 1998 number, given how much franchise valuations have climbed since then.
Frequently asked questions about MLB expansion teams
How many expansion teams has MLB added since 1960?
MLB added ten expansion teams across six waves: 1961, 1962, 1969, 1977, 1993, and 1998. That growth took the league from 16 teams to its current total of 30, split evenly between the American League and National League.
What was the most expensive MLB expansion fee ever paid?
The 1998 class, the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Devil Rays, paid the highest reported fees of any expansion wave, each around $130 million. That dwarfed the roughly $2 million teams paid back in 1961 and 1962.
How does an MLB expansion draft actually work?
Existing teams protect a set number of players from being selected, then new teams choose from the remaining pool to build an opening-day roster. The protection numbers and draft rounds have varied by year, generally growing more structured over time.
Which MLB expansion team had the most successful start?
The Florida Marlins, who joined in 1993, reached the World Series within their first several seasons, an unusually fast turnaround for a brand-new franchise. Most expansion teams take considerably longer to become legitimate contenders.
Will MLB add more expansion teams in the future?
League officials have discussed expanding beyond 30 teams, with cities like Nashville and Portland frequently mentioned as candidates. Nothing is finalized, and any future expansion fee would almost certainly exceed the $130 million paid in 1998 by a wide margin.
How this article was made. It was drafted with AI assistance and published after automated checks. It has not been checked line by line against primary sources; articles that have been say so in a dated note. See our editorial policy.