Could MLB Realignment Mean A Shorter Regular Season?
Commissioner Rob Manfred's geographic realignment plans could lead to 156-game seasons
The baseball world has been consumed over the last week with talk of potential expansion and the ensuing realignment.
These conversations started by Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred, speaking during the Little League Classic. He once again expressed his intention to add expansion teams to the league. That wasn't necessarily news. But it's what he added afterward that was so unexpected: that it would provide an opportunity for geographic realignment.
What does geographic realignment mean, exactly?
RELATED: How Would Potential MLB Geographic Realignment Work? Not Well
Well, if there's 32 teams instead of 30, the league could tear up the existing division and league structure, where organizations are in the NL or AL based on historic affiliation, and move teams around based on where they're located. For example, putting the New York Mets and New York Yankees in the same division, or the Dodgers and Angels. Because of geographic proximity, not their current association within leagues.
That would obviously be a gigantic change in division rivalries, potentially could eliminate the AL and NL entirely, and make for potentially less travel. But what could it also do? Create a shorter regular season schedule.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred. (Photo by Tony Avelar/San Francisco Giants/Getty Images)
(Getty Images)
The 162-Game Schedule Could Be An Expansion Casualty
A new article out this week in The Athletic discussed the possibility of how the new format could create a wildly different baseball scheduling future.
Per the report, a "club official" described the current schedule as "an endangered species."
Another "club executive" told The Athletic that "Expansion means the end of 162."
So what comes next, and is it a good idea?
Well, there are a number of suggestions. Perhaps the most likely being a 156-game schedule. With eight divisions of four teams each, it fits, math-wise: 12 games each against the other three division teams, which is 36. Six games against the other 12 teams in a preserved NL or AL, which would be 72, and three games each against the other 16 teams in the competing league. 36+72+48=156.
Does cutting out six games make sense? Yes and no.
The MLB season is already the longest in professional sports, as far as games played. The cliché of it being a "marathon, not a sprint" is accurate, particularly in the era of competitive parity we're seeing right now. Then there are the playoffs; with the ever-expanding postseason schedule, it's possible, if not likely, that the World Series ends in November most seasons now. And with more teams, Manfred is sure to push for more postseason spots and the associated extra revenue.
It might also lead to fewer injuries, thanks to more time off, if the league were to keep to a 26-week season length. With two three-game series per week, that's six games per week, over 26 weeks, or 156 games. It's easier to add more off days, maybe keep players healthier, especially starting pitchers.
"I think they need to change it," another source said to The Athletic. "The schedule is crowded. The players could use time off. It would be beneficial, I think, to the players’ health. I think it would be beneficial to the players’ performance. And I think it would be beneficial to baseball as a sport and as a spectator sport — to see more rested, healthier players playing more often than they are."
But would the owners sign off? Cutting out three home games per season would cost franchises millions of dollars in lost revenue. Though potentially more demand for the remaining 78 home games could cancel it out. There's the record books to consider; counting stats accumulating over 162 games will obviously be more than 156.
All things considered, though, it doesn't sound like the worst possible outcome. A more balanced schedule, a bit more rest for players, but largely the same length of season. Though the necessity of preserving rivalries in geographic realignment would be even more important. As it should be.