New York Yankees: MLB gifting division to Yanks with Grapefruit North

If MLB still plays a 2020 season by dividing into the Cactus and Grapefruit Leagues, no team benefits more than the New York Yankees.

With everything on the table to get in some semblance of an MLB season in 2020, radical realignment is the most recent plan to come out. The New York Yankees will be thrilled with what MLB has come up with.

USA Today came out late last week with a story suggesting that MLB could break up into the Cactus and Grapefruit Leagues, consequently with new divisions in place, to be able to safely play baseball with as little travel as possible.

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Early Monday, I covered how this pretty much spells certain doom for my beloved Miami Marlins. But when it comes to who the biggest winner is in this scenario, the answer is clearly the Evil Empire themselves, the Yankees.

That’s right, the New York Yankees. Hardly a team in need of assistance to make the postseason, seeing as how they won over 100 games last season. And one that already got a ton of assistance getting there due to this delayed start to the season. Once facing the prospect of starting the year with three of their best four hitters and No. 2 starter on the injured list, the Yankees could now actually enter the 2020 season fully healthy.

So what’s in store for the 2019 AL East Champs if they end up in a Grapefruit League North?

Only a comically easier schedule.

Last season, counting the Yanks, three AL East squads posted winning records. The Tampa Bay Rays were good enough to claim a Wild Card spot, and then go the distance against the Houston Astros in the ALDS. The Boston Red Sox missed the playoffs, but still fielded a Top 5 offense. The Toronto Blue Jays finished fourth, while the Baltimore Orioles dutifully played their role of the division punching bag.

In comparison, this is the slate of division foes the Grapefruit League North would present the New York Yankees within 2020: the Blue Jays, Detroit Tigers, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Philadelphia Phillies.

Calling that a downgrade in quality of competition would be an understatement. Rather than a three-way battle for first place, the Yankees would get to cakewalk through a division where no other team even produced a winning record in 2019. The Tigers were actually worse than the Orioles last year. Philadelphia will be competitive, but Tampa they are not. Three winning records amongst this quintet would be quite a surprise.

And as for presenting New York with any kind of challenger for a division crown? That wouldn’t just be a surprise. It would be the upset of the season.

Needless to say, quite the turnaround for how the New York Yankees were looking just one month ago. No plan has been officially adopted by MLB yet. But you’d have to think this one would enjoy the Yankees full support if it comes to a vote.