I’ve written about this 3 times before. But all those posts are gone forever.
So I get to start over. However, my old picks for expansion: Nashville, TN (I’m a little biased) and Vancouver, BC are looking like top potential targets for MLB expansion now.
Obviously, the league would need to restructure the divisions but keep the rivalries intact.
I also suspect it’s time to move the Tampa Rays to Montreal to give a city that desperately wants a baseball franchise a second chance and leave a city that clearly doesn’t care.
Here’s how I’d break down the divisions:
NL East
New York Mets
Washington DC Nationals
Pittsburgh Pirates
Philadelphia Phillies
NL North
Chicago Cubs
St Louis Cardinals
Milwaukee Brewers
Montreal Expos (formerly Tampa Rays)
NL South
Atlanta Braves
Miami Marlins
Cincinnati Reds
Nashville, TN Expansion
NL West
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Francisco Giants
San Diego Padres
Arizona Diamondbacks
AL East
New York Yankees
Boston Red Sox
Baltimore Orioles
Toronto Blue Jays
AL North
Chicago White Sox
Minnesota Twins
Detroit Tigers
Cleveland Indians
AL South
Kansas City Royals
Texas Rangers
Houston Astros
Colorado Rockies
AL West
Los Angeles Angels
Oakland Athletics
Seattle Mariners
Vancouver, BC Expansion
With the restructuring, a new playoff format is needed. Out is the stupid one game Wild Card playoff. In is a six-team per conference, sliding scale series postseason.
Four division winners and two wildcard teams make the playoffs in both leagues (AL and NL). The two division winners with the best records get a bye in the wild card round.
The Wild Card round will be a 3-game series where the 6-seed faces the 3-seed and the 5-seed faces the 4-seed (division winner with the fewest wins).
The Division Series (LDS) will remain a 5-game series with the lowest remaining seed facing the top seed in each league.
The LCS and World Series remain 7-game series.
With expanded playoffs, we have more baseball games. But the season is already too long. It’s time we reduce the number of games and shorten the season.
I have had many lengthy discussions on this with fellow baseball fans. Some don’t want to reduce the season at all. Some are willing to revert to the old 152 game season, shaving two weeks off the season (by also having a couple double-headers per year).
But that’s not enough if add a round of playoffs. We should shrink the season to 140 games. Cutting out 3 full weeks of regular season games will make each game more signifcant and allow the World Series to be played before we sit down for Thanksgiving feasts.
Aside: not related to expansion (of the league and playoffs) or contraction (of the season), but MLB needs to either make all teams use a DH or no teams get a DH. It’s silly that there’s still a divide within the league. Pick one and go with it. I’d prefer more DH because it’s more exciting.