The MLB may expand. According to league Commissioner Rob Manfred the teams may not be in the U.S. at all.
“Baseball’s a growth business and growth businesses tend to expand,” Manfred said yesterday on the Red Sox-White Sox broadcast.
He went on to say:
“Once we’re past that I would love to see us expand,” Manfred continued. “I think there are international locations. My personal, sort of, frontrunners would be either Montreal or Mexico City, where we could go plan on a sustained basis. I think it would be great for the growth of the game.”
If the MLB expands to 32 teams, would the divisions change again? Maybe something like the NFL’s divisions:
AL North:
Toronto
Minnesota
Detroit
Chicago
AL East:
Baltimore
Boston
New York
Cleveland
AL South:
Mexico City
Houston
Tampa
Kansas City
AL West:
Los Angeles
Oakland
Seattle
Texas
NL East:
Washington
Philadelphia
New York
Pittsburgh
NL South:
Miami
Atlanta
St. Louis
Arizona
NL North:
Montreal
Cincinatti
Milwaukee
Chicago
NL West:
Los Angeles
San Diego
San Francisco
Colorado
Recap of Proposed Changes
First, the AL and NL Central divisions are divided and some teams will actually head to the AL and NL East. (Cleveland to the AL East, Pittsburgh to the NL East). This is the best for teams geographically as well. Pittsburgh and Philly will slug it out for the “Penn Cup”. Then Baltimore and Cleveland will fight it out, just like they do in the NFL.
If Montreal joins the league, both Canadian teams end up in their respective Northern divisions. Milwaukee and Cincinnati will join Montreal in the NL North.This proposal would push the Missouri teams south and the Chicago teams go the North. Arizona is going to the south (Southwest team). Atlanta, Miami and St. Louis will join them. The NL West is literally the same minus Arizona.
Mexico City will be in the AL South along with Houston, Kansas City and Tampa. The AL was way harder to come up with than the NL because of the huge spaces of land in between cities.
As for a playoff system, 12 teams will make the playoffs. The top two teams in each league will get a bye series. The two wild card teams will duke it out with the lower two seeded division winners. It will add more excitement to the playoffs and it will be a 3 game series. Not too bad right?
It would be a little weird at first for some of the teams to be split away from their divisions, but it’s happened in the past. The change would be welcome one for many struggling teams and can build new rivalries with others. Who isn’t excited for the future of the MLB? I know that I sure am.
