City-plus-mascot names in the shape real franchises use, for fantasy leagues, created teams and stories that need a plausible expansion side.
Almost every North American franchise follows one pattern: a place name followed by a plural mascot. The pattern is so consistent that a name breaking it sounds wrong immediately, which is why generated names that ignore it never feel plausible. The mascot half traditionally draws on one of a few wells, local industry, local wildlife, local history, or a weather phenomenon. That is why Pistons works for Detroit and Jazz worked for New Orleans before the team moved and took the name somewhere it no longer means anything.
Fantasy leagues need a name at signup and most people type something forgettable under time pressure. Created teams in basketball games need a city and a mascot that fit the game's own naming conventions or the presentation looks off. Sports fiction needs teams that sound real without borrowing a real franchise's marks, which matters if the writing is going anywhere public. In all three the requirement is the same: plausible, pronounceable, and not an existing trademark, so search the result before you print anything.
No. The mascots are invented and paired with cities at random, so the results are plausible without borrowing an existing franchise trademark.
Because the North American convention is a plural mascot after a place name. A singular mascot immediately reads as not a real franchise.
Yes. For anything public or printed, search the combination first. A name being generated does not mean nobody has trademarked it.