MLB: Expansion could come with realignment

The MLB playoffs are in full swing, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t plenty else to talk about–like the possibility of expansion.

Over at Baseball America, Tracy Ringolsby had a piece go up yesterday about the possibility of MLB expansion and what that would mean to the current divisions, the regular season schedule and the playoff schedule.

The main takeaways from this piece are that if there were expansion (Montreal and Portland are used in this article as two potential sites), the six divisions that we currently have could be taken down to four divisions of eight teams each. Ringolsby groups these divisions by region, creating East, West, Midwest and Northern divisions. The two-team markets would all be grouped together, which quite honestly would lead to some extra intrigue from fans.

As an A’s fan, seeing them face off against the Dodgers 12 times a year would be an exciting bonus–way better than a random Royals or Twins series that fills out the schedule. Instead, fans of all teams can travel with their team more easily to fill up opposing ballparks.

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The two other big takeaways are that the schedule would be trimmed down to 156 regular season games, allowing for one day off a week. The article also mentions many ways for owners to recoup the money lost from those missing six games, but I’d suggest clicking on the link to find out more.

The suggested playoff format is tantalizing. With four divisions, there would only be four division winners. RIngolsby suggests having four wild-card play-in games to determine the division-winner’s opponents, which would make for more interest down the stretch as there could be two wild-card games from each league (assuming there are still American and National leagues) or just the best eight teams to pair off for those four games, adding plenty of drama to the end of the season without the restriction of a league boundary.

If there are no leagues, then the real meat, aside from two added teams, a realignment and schedule differences from the current slate of games, would be a decision on the designated hitter.

This is something that the article didn’t touch on, but if the proposed plan of mixing the teams geographically is the one that is settled upon, then there will be a mixture of AL and NL clubs in any division. Out in the West it’s basically a compilation of the two current Western divisions, with the Rangers, Astros and Rockies being moved to the Midwest and Portland joining the new West. With current leagues, that would be 4 National, 3 American and one expansion club. It would be difficult to make each league’s current rules work within the division like that, so a decision on the DH would likely also have to be made.

Next: Mets season review, offseason preview

If the commissioner decided to make the designated hitter the rule of the land, then maybe they could have a Retro Weekend, like the popular Player’s Weekend, where the teams wear throwback jerseys and there is no DH. No matter what the decision, there will definitely be some blowback. But If MLB is dead-set on expansion in the near future, then we’ll be getting a ruling one way or another on the DH, too.