Rob Manfred’s Radical MLB Realignment Plan Could End AL vs. NL Tradition

Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred said he wants to make more big changes to the game—ones that a lot of fans almost certainly will not like at first blush.

Big, big changes. Bigger than the pitch clock. Bigger than the free runner at second base in extra innings. Bigger than the designated hitter in the National League.

Bigger than the bases have become. And bigger, even still, than the league bedding down with legal betting.

No, it’s not the salary cap that Manfred and his employers—the owners—want to implement as we all brace for a lockout after the 2026 season. That was last week. This idea is fresh off the line.

Once MLB is ready to add two expansion franchises, Manfred proposes that the league radically realign geographically by ripping up the American League and National League and their divisions as we know them. That means putting the New York teams together, putting the Chicago teams together, and doing likewise with the Los Angeles and Florida teams.

It would be a brave new world for MLB—or at least a brave new map.

Speaking on ESPN’s broadcast of Sunday Night Baseball from the Little League World Series, Manfred said his aim would be to ease some of the travel burden on players while also making for a more sensible TV schedule during the regular season. With the schedule unbalanced, West Coast teams would play other West Coast teams more often. East Coast with the East Coast. Just like the golden days of hip-hop.

In addition, realignment could make for an attractive adjustment to the postseason format, which would appeal to ESPN—or wherever MLB is headed with its playoff broadcasts.

Old heads likely will hate Manfred’s proposal, but some fans actually might like the sound of it. Hardcore traditionalists aren’t the audience Manfred is trying to woo anyway. He’s betting the ones who always loved the game will stay engaged.

It would be a blow to tradition. MLB could keep the AL and NL as branding with radical realignment, but the leagues wouldn’t have the same meaning anymore, if any at all. The National League is about 150 years old. So is the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant. The American League is celebrating its 125th season right now. Teddy Roosevelt saw it happen in real time.

The changes Manfred proposes need to be worth it.

His claim about regular-season travel being reduced could be true. More Yankees-Mets, Cubs-White Sox and Dodgers-Angels matchups would mean fewer airplane rides. Sorry, frequent fliers. It is funny, though, to hear Manfred talk of caring for players and their long road trips when he just got done trying to sell them on how a salary cap somehow would make them wealthier.

Manfred’s condescension aside, the TV programming angle makes sense. It stands to reason more fans would watch more baseball if they don’t have to cross three time zones to do it.

Radical changes mean MLB would turn into a league like the NBA or NHL, with regionally based conferences competing for the World Series. It’s distasteful to some but not unpalatable. The AL and NL are steeped in tradition, but the differences have eroded. The DH is everywhere. Interleague play has become bloated. The All-Star Game is begging for a makeover. And it’s hard to argue the World Series must be AL vs. NL.

Expansion cities remain an important detail. Portland, Nashville, Charlotte and Montreal are in the mix, especially with the Athletics (eventually) moving to Las Vegas. A new format with four divisions of eight teams calls out for Montreal, with Nashville or Charlotte as the second team.

Others have modeled eight divisions of four teams each, which makes it difficult to keep historic rivalries together. The Dodgers and Giants must be in the same division—or else the whole idea is dumb. Cubs-Cardinals can’t be broken up either. If Portland joined a division with Seattle, San Francisco and Oakland, the Dodgers-Giants rivalry would be lost. MLB would never allow it.

Another must: Keep the Pirates out of a division with the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox and Phillies. Don’t do that to Pittsburgh fans. It would be absurd.

This realignment idea wouldn’t be the worst part of Manfred’s legacy—mainly because the free runner and gambling partnerships already exist.

There’s even a chance fans could grow to love it.