Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred has never been a popular man among fans, and he doesn’t sound like he's planning to change that any time soon.
Manfred’s various rule changes, from the ghost runner to the pitch clock, have divided fans since he took over in 2014. However, the league itself has mostly remained the same, with no teams changing leagues or divisions in that time.
If Manfred gets his way moving forward, though, then you might be looking at a radically different MLB within the next few years. During ESPN’s Little League Classic on Sunday night, Manfred hinted that the league could finally overhaul its divisions for geographical reasons if the sport expands.
“I think we could save a lot of wear and tear on our players in terms of travel,” Manfred explained. “And I think our postseason format would be even more appealing for entities like ESPN, because you’d be playing out of the East and out of the West.”
Rob Manfred says future expansion would provide an “opportunity to geographically realign”pic.twitter.com/RXAvmLFTf5
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) August 18, 2025
Major League Baseball last expanded when the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Rays (then the Devil Rays) began play in 1998. However, the Houston Astros moved from the NL Central to the AL West in 2013 when the sport switched to a balanced schedule, one requiring 15 teams in each league.
Such a change wouldn’t be entirely new, though. Major League Baseball adopted a semi-geographical realignment during the 2020 COVID-shortened season for travel and safety reasons; the New York Yankees, for example, only played AL East and NL East teams.
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What would geographical realignment look like in baseball?
We last saw a true geographical realignment in 1994, when baseball created six divisions — the East, Central, and West — after having only two in each league since 1969. Gone were the days of the Atlanta Braves playing in the NL West and the Milwaukee Brewers residing in the AL East.
However, what if baseball went for broke and completely overhauled divisions? Assuming that MLB adds two teams and sticks with an American League and National League, the sport could take a similar approach to the NFL’s format, where you’d have four teams and four divisions in each league: the East, North, South, and West.
The question of which teams would play in each division isn’t as easy as it sounds. Could the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies join the Yankees and Boston Red Sox in a new-look AL East? Where does one put a team like the Brewers, who could theoretically play in the East, Central, or an NL or AL North?
That also raises concerns about a team like the Chicago Cubs, who have played in the National League since 1876, potentially moving to the American League so that they’re in the same division as the crosstown White Sox. It’s hard to believe the Dodgers and Giants wouldn’t be in a new-look NL West, but what about the Padres and Diamondbacks? An all-California division makes sense if the A’s move to Las Vegas as planned.
Geographical realignment would completely change baseball as we know it, though the positives might eventually outweigh the negatives. The Yankees and Mets should face each other more than six games per year. Do we really need to see the Orioles or Braves traveling to San Diego or Arizona?
We’re still stuck on the idea that the Cubs or Braves may not be playing in the National League anymore. Then again, many of Manfred’s ideas have been successful so far, so maybe we shouldn’t dismiss his geographical realignment plan just yet.