MLB is expected to add two expansion teams, likely in the East (Nashville favored) and the West (Salt Lake City favored), creating a 32-team league. The league could realign into eight geographic divisions of four teams, reducing travel and fostering rivalries. Playoffs may expand to 16 teams per season by taking eight division winners plus four wildcards in each league, producing more postseason inventory for owners. The regular season could be shortened from 162 to 154 games to reduce player fatigue and injuries. Revenue lost from fewer home games could be offset by additional wildcard rounds or lengthening series.
That will give MLB 32 teams and make it easy for baseball to reconfigure its current divisional alignment. The most obvious solution will be eight divisions of four teams each. "In my mind," said Manfred on an ESPN telecast, "I think if we expand, it provides us with an opportunity to geographically realign." That, in turn, would lend itself to (eventually) an expanded playoff system. MLB could take the eight division winners and then add four wildcard teams in each league.
An expanded level of playoffs could also result in a somewhat shortened regular season. The 162-game schedule could be reduced to 154, which was the norm before expansion in the early 1960s. That would give players more time to rest and recover during the six-month grind, reducing the potential for injuries. And both owners and players could make up the loss of revenue that would come from four home games per franchise with the extra wildcard series, or by expanding the Division Series from best-of-five to best-of-seven.
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