Significant changes could be on the horizon for MLB.
Should the league expand to 32 teams, the divisions could be restructured based on location, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred suggested during ESPN’s broadcast of the “Little League Classic” between the Mets and Seattle Mariners.
“I think if we expand, it provides us with an opportunity to geographically realign,” Manfred said Sunday night. “I think we could save a lot of wear and tear on our players in terms of travel.”
Manfred did not get into specifics, but he has said in the past that he hopes to have the cities selected for two new teams by the time he retires in 2029.
The NBA splits its franchises into Eastern and Western Conferences, and under that format, teams in the same market — including the Knicks and Nets — are in the same division.
MLB operates differently, with the Yankees in the American League and the Mets in the National League, for example. Los Angeles and Chicago both have one team in the AL and one in the NL, too.
“I think our postseason format would be even more appealing for entities like ESPN, because you’d be playing out of the East, out of the West, and that 10 o’clock time slot 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.”
MLB last expanded before the 1998 season, when the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Rays joined the league.
The last divisional realignment occurred before the 2013 season, when the Houston Astros moved from the NL West to the AL West. That change evened out the six divisions, leaving each with five teams.
A geographical realignment would likely be much more drastic.
“This is what I’ve been telling you is inevitable for quite a while now,” Mets radio voice Howie Rose wrote on social media. “The American League (1901) and the National League (1876) will cease to exist as we know them. The last move before total destruction of the traditions that made baseball great.”
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