RE: POSSIBLE MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL EXPANSION AND REALIGNMENT
The only real smoke I've seen on expansion is coming from Nashville and Portland. Charlotte and Raleigh are similarly sized markets. The only market ranked better than 20th that would be technically be new to MLB is Orlando.
If MLB were smart, they'd go back to two divisions in each league, but expand the playoffs:
American League
West - Seattle, Oakland, LA Angels, Colorado, Texas, Kansas City, Minnesota, Chicago White Sox
East - NY Yankees, Boston, Toronto, Detroit, Cleveland, Baltimore, Tampa Bay, CLT/RDU/NSH
National League
West - San Diego, San Francisco, LA Dodgers, Arizona, Houston, Saint Louis, Milwaukee, Chicago Cubs
East - NY Mets, Montreal, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Washington, Miami, Atlanta
Flipping the Rockies and Astros balances the number of trips to the Mountain and Pacific Time Zones in both leagues. It also allows both Chicago teams to maintain natural rivalries. All of the East Division teams are in the Eastern Time Zone with the possible exception of Nashville.
The playoffs would have six teams from each league. The second place team hosts the third place team from each division - or if you prefer, the top two non-division winners host the next two non-division winners. The winners from the single-elimination wildcard games play the division winners the LDS.
The regular season could still allow for inter league play. For example, each team's schedule could look like this:
Division - 66 games (7 teams x 9 games, plus 3 extra games based on previous year's finish)
Intra league - 48 games (8 teams x 6 games)
Inter league - 48 games (16 teams x 3 games)
Each team would play a total of 53 series - 50 of those would be 3 games, and 3 of those would be 4 games.
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