For a sport that prides itself on heritage and tradition, this would be pretty radical.
44 comments
This was a map created by the NYPost, which should tell you how “real” it is
Realignment isn’t that crazy. Houston was in our division. Milwaukee used to be an AL team.
There’s no indication of what realignment will look like. There is growing momentum towards expansion to 32 teams and realignment, so it could look like this, yes.
All of you who clapped when they forced the DH into the National League made this possible.
I honestly have no problem with this. The NL and AL are identical now. Keeps the cubs as division rivals and will feel a lot more local. I doubt this is a foreal proposition though.
A few tweaks and I like it.
Swap the Sox and Brewers and those two divisions make sense. Put the Yankees and Red Sox in the other division for the Nats and Pirates and that division makes sense.
Out west you do Angels, A’s, Seattle and “Portland” and then that one makes sense. I think the KC / Rockies / Rangers and Astros division is good too.
The author made some dumb decisions to avoid his squiggly lines from overlapping. He also should avoid same city teams in the same division.
You can forget Nashville. If that minor league stadium wasn’t landlocked, that might be different but it can’t expand for MLB and the indoor football stadium is going to get all the land and $$$ on the east bank.
I really hope not. I’d much rather have 8-team divisions than 4-team
White Sox and Cubs in same division whats the point lmao
Never going to happen, but if you want a pro of this alignment, there will be actual murders in the southwest and northeast leagues.
It’s going to happen eventually but not sure i want it to happen like this exactly. Needs to be tweaked a bit.
I’m going to hate it. Only time I get to see the Cards in person is when they come to Pittsburgh. If realignment happens, I’ll only get to see them once a year in person
If anyone should get an expansion team, it should be Charlotte. I grew up a Cards fan in NC and Virginia, and the territory earmarked for the Braves is way too large as it is.
It’s all speculation for now and I’ve already seen several predictions, as have plenty of others I’m sure.
Adding 2 teams to get to 32 makes sense and preserving NY-Bos, STL- ChC, SF-LaD rivalries makes sense. Some think that MLB wants to go back to Montreal which would eliminate Portland or Nashville.
To be fair, the Pirates in the NL Central has always been strange to me.
I don’t hate it as long as you play 17 games against your pod per season.
I’ll take this over the other ones that have STL, KC, AZ. and COL as the division. I already hate the West Coast heavy gametimes for the Blues. This at least preserves the Cards/Cubs.
4 team divisions are a joke. Inevitably an incredibly mediocre team in a bad division is routinely going to make the playoffs ahead of more deserving teams.
EDIT: Also, ADDING teams when 20% of them are already not competitive is a horrendous idea.
Doesn’t matter. Still Fuck the Cubs
Should make the Sox and Yanks duke it out in a division with the Blue Jays and the Expos!
With the playoffs as expansive as they are now I don’t see why you need four team pods. Just go with 4 eight team divisions. American east and west , National east and west.
I’d go Charlotte and SLC but that’s just me
Milwaukee somehow not in the same division as Chicago
My name is Rob Manfred, and I hate baseball.
4 divisions of 8, don’t see Portland getting a team, move Colorado goes to the West. Charlotte (Is Louisville part of the discussion?)gets additional expansion team.
West gets Colorado.
TB/FL/Nashville/KC/HOU/TX/CHA is Southeast.
Midwest and Northeast are split up however.
3 team division playoff, 1st gets a bye, 2v3 play-in. Or 4 team and 1st seed gets some advantage gimmick like 4th seed has to win games 1 and 2. Final Four for division winners.
Sucks for the Mets
It would save owners money on travel. They just need to get KC in the same division as Cardinals somehow.
Literally 6 of these divisions have 0 reasons to ever spend money.
Putting LA and NY markets solely in 2 division…. is actually cancer
Yeah, this is too much. Baseball has a conservative fan base and would flip their lids with this much change.
“Eastern Conference,” GTF out of here.
While It might be a joke, of if I could hate murder both Chicago teams and the whole town of Cincinnati ever year id die a happy man
If we do go to 32, I’d personally prefer to go back to 4 divisions and each of them will have 8 teams. No need to do regional leagues. AL and NL is fine. I don’t think the AL West with 4 teams was a good idea, and expanding that league-wide will just allow really bad teams to make the playoffs, or allow average teams to not even try because the rest of their division is just terrible.
“Sorry Miss Jackson…”
What? It’s not that radical lol. How old are you?
Eastern and Western Conferences. So depressing.
I honestly think Salt Lake City will get a team instead of Portland. Nashville makes sense. SLC has Mormon Money. Members of the Church tithe 10 percent of income each year. Marriott, the Huntsman Family, Mitt Romney….The people from Qualtrics, Purple Mattresses….All Mormon. There’s a reason SLC has a huge Goldman Sachs office…..Nashville also makes sense.
half real/half joke. Manfred is going to realign the divisions when the MLB expands in about 4 years to adjust to 2 relocated and 2 expansion teams.
Missouri (Stl & KC) vs Illinois (Both Chicago teams) would be fun.
It should be 4 Divisions of 8 teams while keeping the leagues as they are (maybe swap Houston and Milwaukee back where they belong)
Regardless of any realignment, Nashville getting an MLB team is a real problem for the Cardinals. People from all around the Midwest having been Cardinals fans for generations. Nashville having a team is an issue.
I mean with the way the schedule is now the divisions do not mean as much so this kinda would make sense
I hate it. I like the leagues and history of the game, no matter how blurred those lines are now.
ESPN is definitely jackin it at the thought of NYx2, Philadelphia, and Boston on the same division though. They’d air all 162 from all 4 teams.
Man, The Western Conference West 1 vs Western Conference West 2 feud will be lit
44 comments
This was a map created by the NYPost, which should tell you how “real” it is
Realignment isn’t that crazy. Houston was in our division. Milwaukee used to be an AL team.
There’s no indication of what realignment will look like. There is growing momentum towards expansion to 32 teams and realignment, so it could look like this, yes.
All of you who clapped when they forced the DH into the National League made this possible.
I honestly have no problem with this. The NL and AL are identical now. Keeps the cubs as division rivals and will feel a lot more local. I doubt this is a foreal proposition though.
A few tweaks and I like it.
Swap the Sox and Brewers and those two divisions make sense. Put the Yankees and Red Sox in the other division for the Nats and Pirates and that division makes sense.
Out west you do Angels, A’s, Seattle and “Portland” and then that one makes sense. I think the KC / Rockies / Rangers and Astros division is good too.
The author made some dumb decisions to avoid his squiggly lines from overlapping. He also should avoid same city teams in the same division.
You can forget Nashville. If that minor league stadium wasn’t landlocked, that might be different but it can’t expand for MLB and the indoor football stadium is going to get all the land and $$$ on the east bank.
I really hope not. I’d much rather have 8-team divisions than 4-team
White Sox and Cubs in same division whats the point lmao
Never going to happen, but if you want a pro of this alignment, there will be actual murders in the southwest and northeast leagues.
It’s going to happen eventually but not sure i want it to happen like this exactly. Needs to be tweaked a bit.
I’m going to hate it. Only time I get to see the Cards in person is when they come to Pittsburgh. If realignment happens, I’ll only get to see them once a year in person
If anyone should get an expansion team, it should be Charlotte. I grew up a Cards fan in NC and Virginia, and the territory earmarked for the Braves is way too large as it is.
It’s all speculation for now and I’ve already seen several predictions, as have plenty of others I’m sure.
[The Athletic MLB Realignment](https://www.instagram.com/p/DNij6Si1yJs/?igsh=MTVvcTN4bnEyN3ZleA==)
Adding 2 teams to get to 32 makes sense and preserving NY-Bos, STL- ChC, SF-LaD rivalries makes sense. Some think that MLB wants to go back to Montreal which would eliminate Portland or Nashville.
To be fair, the Pirates in the NL Central has always been strange to me.
I don’t hate it as long as you play 17 games against your pod per season.
I’ll take this over the other ones that have STL, KC, AZ. and COL as the division. I already hate the West Coast heavy gametimes for the Blues. This at least preserves the Cards/Cubs.
This is a much more reasoned prediction. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6560635/2025/08/19/mlb-expansion-realignment-leagues-projection/?source=user_shared_article Projecting what MLB realignment might look like with expansion on the horizon
4 team divisions are a joke. Inevitably an incredibly mediocre team in a bad division is routinely going to make the playoffs ahead of more deserving teams.
EDIT: Also, ADDING teams when 20% of them are already not competitive is a horrendous idea.
Doesn’t matter. Still Fuck the Cubs
Should make the Sox and Yanks duke it out in a division with the Blue Jays and the Expos!
With the playoffs as expansive as they are now I don’t see why you need four team pods. Just go with 4 eight team divisions. American east and west , National east and west.
I’d go Charlotte and SLC but that’s just me
Milwaukee somehow not in the same division as Chicago
My name is Rob Manfred, and I hate baseball.
4 divisions of 8, don’t see Portland getting a team, move Colorado goes to the West. Charlotte (Is Louisville part of the discussion?)gets additional expansion team.
West gets Colorado.
TB/FL/Nashville/KC/HOU/TX/CHA is Southeast.
Midwest and Northeast are split up however.
3 team division playoff, 1st gets a bye, 2v3 play-in. Or 4 team and 1st seed gets some advantage gimmick like 4th seed has to win games 1 and 2. Final Four for division winners.
Sucks for the Mets
It would save owners money on travel. They just need to get KC in the same division as Cardinals somehow.
Literally 6 of these divisions have 0 reasons to ever spend money.
Putting LA and NY markets solely in 2 division…. is actually cancer
Yeah, this is too much. Baseball has a conservative fan base and would flip their lids with this much change.
“Eastern Conference,” GTF out of here.
While It might be a joke, of if I could hate murder both Chicago teams and the whole town of Cincinnati ever year id die a happy man
If we do go to 32, I’d personally prefer to go back to 4 divisions and each of them will have 8 teams. No need to do regional leagues. AL and NL is fine. I don’t think the AL West with 4 teams was a good idea, and expanding that league-wide will just allow really bad teams to make the playoffs, or allow average teams to not even try because the rest of their division is just terrible.
“Sorry Miss Jackson…”
What? It’s not that radical lol. How old are you?
Eastern and Western Conferences. So depressing.
I honestly think Salt Lake City will get a team instead of Portland. Nashville makes sense. SLC has Mormon Money. Members of the Church tithe 10 percent of income each year. Marriott, the Huntsman Family, Mitt Romney….The people from Qualtrics, Purple Mattresses….All Mormon. There’s a reason SLC has a huge Goldman Sachs office…..Nashville also makes sense.
half real/half joke. Manfred is going to realign the divisions when the MLB expands in about 4 years to adjust to 2 relocated and 2 expansion teams.
Missouri (Stl & KC) vs Illinois (Both Chicago teams) would be fun.
It should be 4 Divisions of 8 teams while keeping the leagues as they are (maybe swap Houston and Milwaukee back where they belong)
Regardless of any realignment, Nashville getting an MLB team is a real problem for the Cardinals. People from all around the Midwest having been Cardinals fans for generations. Nashville having a team is an issue.
I mean with the way the schedule is now the divisions do not mean as much so this kinda would make sense
I hate it. I like the leagues and history of the game, no matter how blurred those lines are now.
ESPN is definitely jackin it at the thought of NYx2, Philadelphia, and Boston on the same division though. They’d air all 162 from all 4 teams.
Man, The Western Conference West 1 vs Western Conference West 2 feud will be lit