Last week, Commissioner Rob Manfred raised comments that the league hopes to expand to 32 teams in a comment last week on ESPN’s Sunday night baseball last weekend, which could be a dramatic re-tuning with MLB’s current current structure.
“I think if we expand, it provides us with the opportunity to re-align geographically,” Manfred said on the radio. “I think we can save a lot of players’ wear and tear when it comes to traveling. And I think our playoff format will be more attractive to entities like ESPN because you’re going to play in the East and the West.”
By adopting an Eastern/Western conference layout instead of the current AL VS NL structure, the possibility of MLB following the footsteps of other American sports such as the NBA and NFL is undoubtedly an interesting thing. Fans of East Coast and even Midwest teams have long been confused by late night games related to road trips on the West Coast, and Manfred’s advice is that geographic readjustment can ease the travel burden of players across the baseball marathon schedule. There is little reason for fans to care about the desirability of broadcasters like ESPN and FOX, but both Manfred’s comments and simple common sense suggest that the possibility will also be highly attractive to the league.
Of course, the disadvantages of potential geographical readjustment are obvious. Baseball is a sport full of history, and the loss of AL/NL structure will surely complicate our view of this history. If the league had previously left the AL/NL structure, is it worth noting that Judge Aaron chased 62 home runs in 2022? Without a split between the two leagues, the judge would be ranked seventh on the single-season home run rankings, rather than the AL record holder. This is before considering the possibility of losing competition. MLB can retune several ways through geolocation, but many suggestions (including those from Mike Axisa from CBA Sports) will split historical competition, such as Cub/Cardinals and Dodgers/Dodgers/Giants. It will be a difficult pill for those teams to swallow, and they see their long-term competition as a key part of the team’s culture and history.
On the other hand, the difference between the two leagues in baseball has eroded for years. The NL adopts designated batsman rules, the All-Star Game no longer determines home-field advantages in the World Series, and the schedule has been changed so that each team can play at least every other team in each season, regardless of the league. This number of league games guarantees that even competitions proposed by Axisa’s Bears and Cardinals will sometimes still play with each other. It is also worth noting that many companions compete, such as the Metropolis/Yankees and Bears/White Sox, like the annual game, will benefit from the same meeting every year.
To some extent, readjustment is inevitable, because like 32 teams, it is impossible to create six even departments. Nevertheless, this does not mean that the AL/NL structure must be completely lost. Stephen J. Nesbitt of the sport is proposing a reorganization structure that will retain the status quo in most cases, with only a few changes in the current structure as both leagues will move from three divisions of five teams to four divisions of four teams. Under Nesbitt’s plan, the Rockies and Rays will be swapped for AL and NL, respectively, but all other teams will remain in the current league and will not diverge any historic competitors. Of course, keeping fans aware of the current structure also means maintaining a lot of frustration; whenever their clubs go on a road trip west, playing late nights for East Coast fans and providing players with a more extreme travel schedule.
What do MLBTR readers think about the possibility of a Grand Slam’s geographical readjustment? Will changing the league’s current structure greatly damage the sport’s history, or if the league is already more similar than ever before, then if the experience related to travel and time zones is improved, then is it worth it for fans and players to travel and time zone experience? There is a say in the following polls:
