General Forum

With Manfred stating that he can envision a 32-team MLB, and I need to do something about my cards (they are in 6 ungainly binders).

What say all of you on this possible realignment?

AL East: Yankees, Red Sox, Orioles, Blue Jays

NL East: Mets, Nationals, Phillies, Pirates

AL South: Rays, Rangers, Astros, Marlins (NOLA)

NL North: Brewers, Cubs, Reds, Braves

AL Central: Guardians, Tigers, White Sox, Twins

NL Central: Cardinals, Royals, Rockies, Diamondbacks

AL West: Mariners, Angels, A's, Vancouver (Expansion)

NL West: Giants, Dodgers, Padres, Tijuana/Monterrey (Expansion)

I'll just say as a Twins fan, that the Royals are sort of the odd man out in terms of distance in the AL Central, it makes sense to put them elsewhere. In addition, not that baseball wants to make any decisions based on football but Minnesota, Detroit, and Chicago are in the NFC North, so that's something fans are already familiar with.

I couldn't say for the other divisions, but the AL Central seems right from this Twins fans point of view​. For rivalries, the first two that come to mind are White Sox and Tigers.

I suspect Cardinals and Cubs wouldn't want to be separated but fans of those teams would have to say. Certainly you did right in preserving Yankees/Red Sox and Dodgers/Giants.​​​​​​

I could place the Cardinals back with the Cubs if I put the Braves in the Central. Make the NL Central a latitude Central rather than a longitudal one lol.

Having the Braves where I have them now, was kind of a league joke. Since the Braves were in Milwaukee in the 60s and 70s when MLB did their first realignment, they were placed incorrectly in the West for a team in Atlanta.

I also envisioned an expansion into Mexico. I figured it'll be a natural rivalry with the Padres if a team was placed in Tijuana. But I don't know if Tijuana has the size or the money for a MLB club. That's why I listed the central Mexican city of Monterrey as the HQ for the team. Maybe they can play in Tijuana for divisional games and Monterrey for inter-divisional games

I like it. To me, I always felt that the Rays were (are) the odd-team-out in the AL east, and I can only imagine that they must be itching for realingment, simply for the sake of travel, if for no other reason. 

I also like the the Phillies and Pirates are in the same division. As a hockey fan, a PIttsburgh-Philadelphia rivalry just feels right. I am sure thier respective fans would like this as well.

I'd like to realign Manfred out of his Commissioner's seat.

Recall the old argument that expansion was dangerous....

Like the American League, it created a hole because of the

lack of good pitchers...

Is that issue still happening.....

I would like to second that motion

They always said there was a lack of good pitchers when talking about expansion during the era that we now know as the steroids era. Average runs per game has been very close to 4 and up to as high as just below 5 in the last ten seasons or so. In 96, 99, and 2000, the average number of runs did spike above 5 and that is the steroids era, as far a I can tell (it's not a sharply defined thing). It's something that is always said but it seems like some kind of anti-logic to me. If you have to find two new organizations worth of pitchers, you also have to find two new organizations worth of hitters too.

Not a Royals fan, but I can't think they'd be thrilled with the arrangement if you swap STL and ATL.  Basically, you're not only asking the Royals to switch to the NL (not as big a deal now that the rules are the same), but you're also putting them in a very spread out division with no natural or geographical rivals.  Their closest division foe would be in Denver, about 8.5 hours' drive away.  I guess they're pretty far right now (Minneapolis is probably around 6 hours), but still...

I'd say swap Astros and Royals.  Puts Houston back in the NL and keeps KC in AL