So I think A LOT could happen the next few years in baseball. I think by 2035 it will be completely different than what we have today.
1 Expansion to 32 teams.
One city is a virtual LOCK. Nashville.
The other city is more open. But leader in the clubhouse is Carolina. Either Raleigh or Charlotte.
2 Realignment. AL/NL is dead and pointless. NFL has NFC & AFC for TV marketing. Allowing for 2 cities that are close to each other to both have games on. (Detroit & Cleveland) FOX & CBS. The other 2 major sports are east & west. Because they are very regionally based. Aside from the superstars. Most fans of MLB, NHL, & NBA couldn’t name 3 players from a random team. So MLB will also be East/West. 4 divisions of 4 in each. And this is what i think it will look like
2b with the expansion and realignment the scheduling format changes.
Divisional games - 4&3 home&home game series. For a total of 42 divisional games.
Conference games - 3 Home&Home game series. Totaling 72 games
Cross conference - 3 game series . 8 home 8 road. Alternating yearly. 48 total games. (Meaning only 24 games (8 series) annually will be across the country)
Still totaling 162 games
3 Playoffs will be expanded to 16 teams.
4 division champs in each conference get the top 4 seeds. Then 4 wild card teams.
Each rounds format stays the same.
Wc- Division champs host a 3 games series vs Wildcard
DV - 2/2/1 Better seed 3 home games
Conference & WS best of 7. Better record hosts.
4 and lastly HUGE change that needs to happen.
Salary Cap and Salary Floor.
For 2025 total payroll (before tax) is around $5.2B.
With an average of around $170m
Adding 2 teams. Plus the annual increase. For a 2026 season could see a CAP of $180m and floor of $135 (75% of cap)
So yes the top 5 would have to cut A LOT!
6 teams would have to trim just a little
5 teams are within the range
7 teams need to spend just a tad more
6 teams need to open the check book.
It is doable
NFL did it in 1994
NHL did it in 2005
NBA added the max contract for 1999 with very harsh penalties for 2024.
By 2035 the cap could be $230m.
All these things NEED to happen to save baseball.
The MLB has become a league of have and havenots.
Only about 12 teams actually try every year. And 5-6 are flat out tanking.
And i think a good chuck of these will get done with the impeding MLB lockout after next season
I’m a Tigers fan, but I would definitely make a Nashville expansion team my second favorite team, with it being so close by.
It does kind of suck being so far away from Detroit and not being able to go to games all the time like local fans. I could just get in the car and go to Nashville games, like I’ve gotten in the car and gone to Braves games before.
That said, Nashville is going to have a very hard time establishing itself in Braves country like this. Should there have historically been more MLB teams in the southeast? 100%, but, now that the Braves have been the only team here for a while, Tennessee, Alabama, Northern Florida, and Mississippi are all big time Braves country.
I actually think Portland would absolutely support it. The Timbers kill it. I just don’t think the municipality’s tax base would support financing a stadium.
Charlotte makes more sense than Nashville from a market share standpoint. A Charlotte team would take the Carolinas easier than a Nashville team would take Tennessee.
Thats the key. What city will pony up the money.
Nashville 10000000%
Carolina? They have a bidding war between Raleigh and Charlotte.
Salt lake? Maybe but again. I dont think theres a large enough market. Being right between SF, Vegas, Phoenix and Denver
Portland? Definitely not.
Interesting thing is baseball attendance and or viewership has risen as of late. A lot of the credit to other changes made, pitch clock being the big one. I’m curious to see how the ESPN/MLB deal will impact things.
Here is a snapshot of Fox’s take on potential new divisions.
They have used Charlotte and Portland as expansion teams for their scenario
Ive seen too many insiders stating that NL/AL will be dead. No need for it any more.
Regionality (east and west) makes more sense. Saves money on travel. And makes scheduling more even.
Keeping it AL&NL would cause the stupid schedule issues we have now.
That and the fox model breaks up Milwakee and the cubs? No way. Top 5 MLB rivalry wouldnt happen.
Anyway it will be interesting to see what they go with for the realignment.
But it will either be. Full regional East & West.
OR
Just adding 1 team to each league and re align them within the leagues. No teams would change leagues. No in between. All or nothing.
But yes the “old traditionalists” hate the DH, Pitch clock, challenges and ABS.
But those are the ones holding the sport back and keeping the next generation from enjoying it.
I think a fully implemented ABS system will greatly help the sport. That and a salary cap. I mean yea everyone loves going to a game and seeing their team win. But lets be real. The Chi Sox, Athletics and Pirates arnt even enjoyable to beat up on.
I would love this more than I can put into words. I seriously doubt that it will ever happen though. The players union in baseball is so much more powerful than it is in football.
This lockout next year is going to make something happen.
Either
1 - Salary Cap. ~5% higher then MLB average.
2 - VERY strict tax system. Mlbs tax system is a joke. Pennies on the dollar. Vs what the NBA just adopted. With a tax penalty 4-10x that of the payroll overage.
Now i think those 2 things could be agreed upon by the players union if they come to the table with a FLOOR! 75% of the cap/tax. (Similar to NHL)
ESPECIALLY with the next CBA to include higher revenue sharing across all teams. So a team like Miami. Cant rake in ~$400m revenue. And yet only have a $65m payroll
No reason in the world one team (LAD) have a higher payroll then the 5 lowest team COMBINED
(MIA, CWS, ATH, PIT, TB)
Yea it is an issue that needs to be addressed but there will be pain for the fans while it happens. One of which could be a certain signing in Detroit…
The interesting thing to me, as I am one of the traditionalists as are most of my baseball friends, there is only one new rule I can’t stand. And, surprisingly most of my traditionalist friends agree.
We all love the above and I’m not opposed to limiting challenges on the ABS vs full ABS. I watch a ton of MiLB games and the limit program works well and the players coming up are getting better at understanding how and when to challenge. I think the large majority of the traditionalist fans are onboard, sure there is a vocal minority within there, but I think it is a minority.
The rule I hate is the extra inning rule, don’t put a runner on 2nd til it’s the 12th inning.
Cubs StL is a bigger rivalry than Cubs Brewers by a mile. Top 5 Cubs Brewers? What?
Ive seen a few realignment set ups and some are not good, a couple are fine.
I don’t think the South will get both teams but its possible. Nashville is a lock. 100%.
I would prefer the Tigers and White Sox to stay together for history reasons, but it would drag the Cubs along and probably chop STL out, so, its complicated.
I like Tigers Guardians Pirates Reds better than Toronto replacing Pirates. It’s good geography and good market size match.
TheTigers and White Sox have been playing each other for 125 years, same with Cleveland basically. I think we have different definitions of rivalries and it just depends how you look at them.
I am a little surprised that the Astros and Rangers rivalry hasn’t taken off more since the Astros move to the American League.
