Rob Manfred says that he would like MLB to expand to 32 teams and that the league could realign along geographical lines in eight divisions of four if that happens:

39 comments

  3. As long as it keeps BOS and NYY together

    And CHC STL together

    And LAD SFG together 

    Then I’m all for it

  5. I’d prefer four divisions of eight. We already have NFL teams winning their division with a losing record we don’t need that in baseball too

  6. Most of the realignments I’ve seen have the Braves in a division without the Phillies or Mets and that just makes me want to stop watching baseball. If I don’t have the Mets and Phillies to hate, what are we even doing?!

  8. Also switching leagues too?

    As a Mariner, I’d welcome not playing the Astros as often!

  10. 4 divisions of 8 is superior. Look what’s happening in the NFL with the NFC south. Who wants a sub .500 playoff team

  11. I hate the 4 team division model, I would go the other way and have 4 divisions of 8 but I realize I’m very much in the minority

  12. Are you guys actually okay with abandoning leagues? I think it is one of the things that makes baseball beautiful and leagues should be protected as much as possible. Also divisions should be of 8, but I know that is an old man take.

  15. I know Im yelling at a wall here because these professional leagues are about the big mamoo, but stop with the expansions already.

    No more playoff teams, and no more teams in general.

  16. Paul Beeston would want to hunt and kill me for saying this, but I always thought the Blue Jays should be in the same division as the Tigers and Guardians. Going from Rogers Centre to either of those stadium would take a few hours max. Travel would be nothing. Makes more sense than having them in the same division as NY and BOS, IMO.

  18. According to Star Trek: DS9, London, England should have got a team by now, so let’s look out for that! Bokai should be here and breaking DiMaggio’s consecutive games hit record in 2026. There’s still time!!!

  19. I hate the Dodgers, but I do not want to lose them in any realignment. I don’t really care if you split SF from SD, AZ or COL but I want the Dodgers and SF paired forever.

  20. I would honestly miss the AL Comedy Central if this happens, the only entertainment I really get is trying to figure out who’s gonna take the bottom of the barrel cause I swear that changes every year and at complete random

  21. I’m not hugely bothered by realignment, but I would like to keep two separate leagues.

    I would also like to keep key rivalries together (NYY-BOS; CHC-STL; NYM-PHI; LAD-SFG).

    Otherwise, I’m pretty open.

  22. Portland and Nashville get a team.

    Divisions:

    AL West: SEA, POR, LV, LAA

    NL West: SF, LA, AZ, SD

    AL Central: MINN, CLE, CWS, DET

    NL Central: CHC, STL, COL, MIL

    NL South: ATL, MIA, WASH, NASH

    AL South: TB, TEX, HOU, KC

    NL East: PITT, CINN, PHI, NYM

    AL East: NYY, BOS, BAL, TOR

    I think this would give the best Parity of teams, group them the best they can geographically and at the same team keep the NL/AL divide without having an outright East vs West division like the NBA. Sort of a NFL model

  23. I hate that eight divisions of four seems to be the default. Four divisions of eight just makes so much more sense from a competitive balance standpoint. Plus, then you give the playoff byes to the four division winners and don’t have to worry about unbalanced schedules.

  25. I really don’t want a southern expansion to be in the NL. I like the Braves, but I also like Nashville, and I don’t want to have to pick one or the other.

  27. Counterpoint: we should get rid of a team so we can be a true American sport. If we drop one team that would put the total at 29. Now why would 29 make sense? Because it is a prime number. The pledge of allegiance says that we are one nation, indivisible. What is more indivisible than a prime number? So with all that being said I nominate the St. Louis cardinals for elimination. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

  29. Rob Manfred. So many ideas. So few good ideas.

    Nothing against expansion, though.

  31. How can this man have no sense of the history of this sport? The NL and AL have histories that he’s just gonna throw away. FFS, the National League is the oldest operating sports league *in the world*

  34. My picks for an 8×4 setup:

    * ALE: Yankees/Boston/Baltimore/TB (current minus Toronto)

    * AL Great Lakes: Toronto/Detroit/Cleveland/White Sox (current ALC minus Minnesota/KC plus Toronto, which mostly separates the EST and CST teams from each other)

    * ALC: Minnesota/Milwaukee/KC/Texas (probably controversial for moving Milwaukee to the AL, but they’ve had a pretty even AL/NL split and this helps condense things geographically elsewhere)

    * ALW: Seattle/Anaheim/wherever the A’s wind up/Portland or SLC (current minus the Texas teams with a western expansion team added, makes the footprint much smaller geographically)

    * NLE: Mets/Philly/Pittsburgh/DC (definitely controversial for moving Atlanta away from the Mets and Phillies, but geography wise considering where the eastern expansion teams are proposed to be, that makes most sense to me)

    * NL North: Cubs/Cincinnati/St. Louis/Colorado (unfortunately, Colorado sucks in a 4 team geography focused alignment; they’re either a major outlier or force someone else to be an even more major outlier. This feels like the best combo for geography).

    * NL South: Atlanta/Miami/Houston/Tennessee or Carolina

    * NLW: LA/San Diego/San Fran/Arizona (current minus the Rockies who’re the clear geographical outlier)

    I feel pretty good about the AL and NLW, but the rest of the NL could definitely be jumbled up a bit if someone else can think of something better

  39. Personally, I think baseball is maxed out in that I don’t think there are enough MLB level players to fill the 30 rosters, let alone another 2.

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