Expansion and realignment

[imref]

During last night's game from Williamsport PA, Manfred was on and again discussed expansion plans. He also mentioned that expansion would allow for geographic realignment to reduce travel. He said that he thinks it would be more interesting to have a world series that is east-vs-west.

https://nypost.com/2025/08/18/sports/rob-manfred-hints-at-geographic-realignment-in-mlb-what-would-spur-it-on/

Sounds like he's thinking of eliminating the traditional AL/NL divisions and perhaps having the AL in the East and NL in the west, or vice-versa?

[Slateman]

Expansion would be a mistake.

[imref]

Expansion would be a mistake.

Certainly without addressing the issue of teams that make no effort to compete it would be. Manfred has long wanted a team in Nashville though.

[Slateman]

Certainly without addressing the issue of teams that make no effort to compete it would be. Manfred has long wanted a team in Nashville though.

You addressed point number 1, so I will skip to point #2: Arms are dying. You expand the league and there will just be garbage pitching.

Honestly, I'd rather see fewer teams and fewer games. Relegate the uncompetitive teams to the minors.

[welch]

You addressed point number 1, so I will skip to point #2: Arms are dying. You expand the league and there will just be garbage pitching.

Honestly, I'd rather see fewer teams and fewer games. Relegate the uncompetitive teams to the minors.

Nothing wrong with a 154 game season. Have teams play most games within their league and within their division. The World Series was a bigger deal when teams had not played each other two dozen times during the regular season. That also made the All Star Game something special...what would Mantle do against Spahn?

Contraction? Maybe yes. Too many hick towns with delusions of grandeur. Too many cities that are too hot for baseball or where the air is too thin for a curveball to bite. And too many  ownerships unwilling to compete. (And, unfortunately, that includes the Lerner Nats)

[Slateman]

Nothing wrong with a 154 game season. Have teams play most games within their league and within their division. The World Series was a bigger deal when teams had not played each other two dozen times during the regular season. That also made the All Star Game something special...what would Mantle do against Spahn?

Contraction? Maybe yes. Too many hick towns with delusions of grandeur. Too many cities that are too hot for baseball or where the air is too thin for a curveball to bite. And too many  ownerships unwilling to compete. (And, unfortunately, that includes the Lerner Nats)

Fewer. With expanded playoffs, we could cut the season off at like 135-140 games.

[imref]

Jim Bowden's proposed realignment:

Eastern Conference:
East: Red Sox, Yankees, Mets, Phillies
North: Reds, Guardians, Tigers, Blue Jays
Mid-Atlantic: Nationals, Orioles, Charlotte*, Pirates
Southeast: Braves, Marlins, Nashville*, Rays

Western Conference:
Midwest: Cubs, White Sox, Brewers, Twins
Southwest: Astros, Royals, Cardinals, Rangers
Pacific: Rockies, Athletics, Mariners, Giants
West: Diamondbacks, Angels, Dodgers, Padres

* Expansion teams

[nobleisthyname]

Jim Bowden's proposed realignment:

Eastern Conference:
East: Red Sox, Yankees, Mets, Phillies
North: Reds, Guardians, Tigers, Blue Jays
Mid-Atlantic: Nationals, Orioles, Charlotte*, Pirates
Southeast: Braves, Marlins, Nashville*, Rays

Western Conference:
Midwest: Cubs, White Sox, Brewers, Twins
Southwest: Astros, Royals, Cardinals, Rangers
Pacific: Rockies, Athletics, Mariners, Giants
West: Diamondbacks, Angels, Dodgers, Padres

* Expansion teams

That East division is absolutely brutal.

[varoadking]

Jim Bowden's proposed realignment:

Eastern Conference:
East: Red Sox, Yankees, Mets, Phillies
North: Reds, Guardians, Tigers, Blue Jays
Mid-Atlantic: Nationals, Orioles, Charlotte*, Pirates
Southeast: Braves, Marlins, Nashville*, Rays

Western Conference:
Midwest: Cubs, White Sox, Brewers, Twins
Southwest: Astros, Royals, Cardinals, Rangers
Pacific: Rockies, Athletics, Mariners, Giants
West: Diamondbacks, Angels, Dodgers, Padres

* Expansion teams

If you did something like that, rely on records to shape the following seasons divisions, and come up with generic names no one understands...like the NHL did with the Norris Division for example.

The Eastern Conference would be, say:

"Ruth Division" - 1, 5, 9 & 13
"DiMaggio Division" - 2, 6, 10 & 14
"Aaron Division" = 3, 7, 11 & 15
"Cobb Division" - 4, 8, 12 & 16

Repeat the process for the West...

[Natsinpwc]

Bowden. LOL.  They will never get rid of the AL and NL.  And the Yanks and Sox will never leave the AL. 

[welch]

Bowden. LOL.  They will never get rid of the AL and NL.  And the Yanks and Sox will never leave the AL. 

And there should have been an AL team in The District, except, of course, that Angelos insisted that he "owned" the rights to Washington. MLB wanted to contract a couple teams in 2000, roughly. Should have moved the Twins back to DC, setting competition between Baltimoe and Washington. That was why Clark Griffith allowed the Brown to move to that minor league city just up the BW Parkway.

[IanRubbish]

Jim Bowden's proposed realignment:

Eastern Conference:
East: Red Sox, Yankees, Mets, Phillies
North: Reds, Guardians, Tigers, Blue Jays
Mid-Atlantic: Nationals, Orioles, Charlotte*, Pirates
Southeast: Braves, Marlins, Nashville*, Rays

Western Conference:
Midwest: Cubs, White Sox, Brewers, Twins
Southwest: Astros, Royals, Cardinals, Rangers
Pacific: Rockies, Athletics, Mariners, Giants
West: Diamondbacks, Angels, Dodgers, Padres

* Expansion teams

Jimmy Bo needs to get back on his Segway.  Zero percent chance the Dodgers and Giants ever play in separate divisions.  Idea is to have top rivals play each other more, not less. 

[IanRubbish]

A little bit of negotiating in the media.  The MLBPA wants expansion, and Manfred would like to use it as a bargaining chip to get other concessions in the next CBA agreement.

[para]

I have  seen the dilution of MLB. from the introduction of the DH, The umpires chest protectors leave NL, the Al versus the NL, Interleague play, thee worthless All Star game, ABS and realignment plans of Manfred have removed or will remove all the spice in the game. Interleague worked for a while now its boring and new realignment plans kill those special games Lifetime rivalries dumped to make one East and One West Coast Super team will make for good pay tv package sales.  This will give the little cash poor teams a carrot to dangle in front of in the face for a home playoff game. The end result a watered down vanilla cookie cutter game where the rich will get richer and the poor lose out. Now don't get me wrong , there will always be a Cinderella team (Toronto this season)  and one or 2 well run low budget teams that always compete like the Brewers but What Big Superstar wants to play on cash on poor teams doomed to rarely compete when they can be rich and famous in the big cities with big money and endorsements? I hope I'm wrong but I don't care to see Pirates, O's Charlotte expansion play extra gameswith the Nats while Atlanta Phils and Mets go elsewhere . And for the record (not to bragbut  I am a top !% viewer of baseball per MLB for the last 3 years according to them.They wrote me). Go Nats

[HalfSmokes]

Jim Bowden's proposed realignment:

Eastern Conference:
East: Red Sox, Yankees, Mets, Phillies
North: Reds, Guardians, Tigers, Blue Jays
Mid-Atlantic: Nationals, Orioles, Charlotte*, Pirates
Southeast: Braves, Marlins, Nashville*, Rays

Western Conference:
Midwest: Cubs, White Sox, Brewers, Twins
Southwest: Astros, Royals, Cardinals, Rangers
Pacific: Rockies, Athletics, Mariners, Giants
West: Diamondbacks, Angels, Dodgers, Padres

* Expansion teams

Getting rid of the NL and AL would be the kind of ridiculous self own that only Manfred would be capable of. Why would a league so heavily reliant on nostalgia get rid of a league dating back to the 1870s?

[varoadking]

Getting rid of the NL and AL would be the kind of ridiculous self own that only Manfred would be capable of. Why would a league so heavily reliant on nostalgia get rid of a league dating back to the 1870s?

The pitch clock and the ghost runner on second already sucked whatever nostalgia may have remained out of the game after the designated hitter.  May as well double down at this point...

[imref]

The pitch clock and the ghost runner on second already sucked whatever nostalgia may have remained out of the game after the designated hitter.  May as well double down at this point...

Manfred saying that the WS trophy was just a hunk of metal is pretty tough to get past as well.

[The Chief]

The pitch clock and the ghost runner on second already sucked whatever nostalgia may have remained out of the game after the designated hitter.  May as well double down at this point...

Don't remind me

[JCA-CrystalCity]

The pitch clock and the ghost runner on second already sucked whatever nostalgia may have remained out of the game after the designated hitter.  May as well double down at this point...

having watched Dice-K Matsuzaka and Nomar Garciaparra, I'm not mad about the pitch clock.

[Dave in Fairfax]

having watched Dice-K Matsuzaka and Nomar Garciaparra, I'm not mad about the pitch clock.

Having watched A-Rod adjust his gloves a half-dozen times an AB, I'd say pitchers were not the only problem. That's something that didn't/doesn't require a technical fix, just for umpires to do their job.

[imref]

Having watched A-Rod adjust his gloves a half-dozen times an AB, I'd say pitchers were not the only problem. That's something that didn't/doesn't require a technical fix, just for umpires to do their job.

Zimm was asked on the last 11th inning podcast about all the time he spent adjusting his gloves during ABs and if he was going to offer compensation to fans.

[GataNats]

Where the hell does that come from?   The stupidest nothing burger ever

[Count Walewski]

With constant interleague play and balanced schedules, maintaining a distinction between the AL and the NL is already starting to make less sense. My second grader the other day asked me why there are two MVPs and two Cy Young winners: I didn't have a good answer to that question in a world where teams are playing interleague games on a regular basis throughout their schedule.

Fun side thought: if leagues DO go away, will the union demand to keep two MVPs so as to not lose a player award? Like the MVP will go to the top two players?

[imref]

With constant interleague play and balanced schedules, maintaining a distinction between the AL and the NL is already starting to make less sense. My second grader the other day asked me why there are two MVPs and two Cy Young winners: I didn't have a good answer to that question in a world where teams are playing interleague games on a regular basis throughout their schedule.

Fun side thought: if leagues DO go away, will the union demand to keep two MVPs so as to not lose a player award? Like the MVP will go to the top two players?

You are right, the AL and NL are meaningless at this point given that both leagues play by the same rules. Bowden's realignment makes perfect sense. Call the west the AL and the east the NL or vice versa for nostalgia reasons, but no need to maintain any sort of artificial separation.

The union issue probably comes up as part of the next CBA negotiations.

[nobleisthyname]

Even if they did switch to a more Western/Eastern conference style separation, I'd imagine they'd keep the names American League and National League the same. Similarly I can't imagine them getting rid of duplicate awards for both "leagues", though maybe it would be used as leverage in the CBA negotiations.