The American and National Leagues might soon be gone as we know them.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said that if expansion takes place in the near future, the league will likely look to realign teams based on geography.
“I think [expansion and realignment] are related, in my mind,” Manfred said Sunday on ESPN’s broadcast of the Little League Classic. “I think if we expand, it provides us with an opportunity to geographically realign. I think we could save a lot of wear and tear on our players in terms of travel. And I think our postseason format would be even more appealing for entities like ESPN, because you’d be playing out of the East and out of the West.”
Manfred didn’t explicitly detail what realignment would look like, but he continued to emphasize the idea of teams that are closer together playing more games against one another.
“That 10 o’clock timeslot where we sometimes get Boston-Anaheim would be two West Coast teams,” Manfred said. “That 10 o’clock slot that’s a problem for us sometimes becomes a real opportunity for our West Coast audience.
“I think the owners realize that there’s demand for Major League Baseball. We’re in a lot of great cities. We have the opportunity to do something good around that expansion process.”
MLB has used a geographically-based realignment idea in recent memory. While MLB didn’t realign divisions, it had a geographically-based schedule for the 60-game 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The American and National Leagues remained in place, but teams only faced division rivals and interleague games against teams from the corresponding division (AL and NL East, AL and NL Central, AL and NL West) during the regular season.
Considering Manfred’s comments, the 2020 season could be a guideline for what’s to come if expansion and realignment were to take place. It might also mean that MLB similarly divides its two leagues as the NBA and NHL divide their two conferences.
As for expansion, Manfred has stated in the past that he’d like to see two teams added to MLB before he retires as commissioner in 2029. A handful of cities have been speculated as expansion candidates in recent years, but MLB believes the strongest two candidates for expansion are Nashville and Salt Lake City, USA Today reported in July.
Expansion would bring the total number of teams in MLB to 32, likely necessitating some sort of divisional realignment. If it does happen, the league could either do what the NFL does and have eight divisions of four teams or follow the NHL’s path and have four divisions of eight teams.
MLB hasn’t expanded since it added the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Rays in 1998.
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