MLB commissioner Rob Manfred is floating some major changes potentially in the works for Major League Baseball that could mimic what’s already happening in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
According to Manfred, MLB is looking into following the current path of the NBA with an in-season tournament, splitting the 162-game campaign into two, and even expansion and realignment.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said those ideas have been floated among the league’s offices as a way to generate more interest in the game.
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“We’ve talked about split seasons. We’ve talked about in-season tournaments,” Manfred said Thursday in a radio interview with WFAN.
“We do understand that 162 games is a long pull. I think the difficulty to accomplishing those sorts of in-season events, you almost inevitably start talking about fewer regular-season games.”
Manfred also addressed the issue of adding two more teams, which would raise the total to 32.
If so, that could create the need to realign the current structure of six five-team divisions across the two leagues.
The idea of additional expansion has raised questions whether big markets would get additional teams… or whether new cities would be explored.
“I think you would try to keep the two-team cities separate,” Manfred said. “That would be my thinking.”
According to Manfred, that would alleviate teams’ traveling during the season and create a more favorable postseason path.
Manfred has floated a potential expansion plan since last August during an interview with ESPN where he said he can see the possibility of expansion and geographic realignment taking place in the future.
The realignment would likely mean the end of the American League and National League, bringing baseball more in line with the way the NBA and NHL align their divisions.
“I think if we expand it provides us with an opportunity to geographically realign,” Manfred said last August.
“I think we could save a lot of wear and tear on our players in terms of travel. I think our postseason format would be even more appealing for entities like ESPN because you’d be playing out of the East, out of the West, and that 10 o’clock where we sometimes get Boston-Anaheim would be two West Coast teams. That 10 o’clock slot that’s a problem for us sometimes becomes a real opportunity for our West Coast audience.”
Manfred continued, “I think the owners realize there’s demand for MLB in a lot of great cities, and we have an opportunity to do something good around that expansion process.”
Manfred has told owners he wants the realignment and expansion issue settled BEFORE 2029 — which is the last year of his contract.
Manfred has also stated that he will not return to the commissioner role after his contract is up, meaning the expansion and realignment issue will be his last work in the sport.
“I’m done at the end of this contract,” Manfred said.
“I’ve told (the owners) that, and I’m going to stick to it. I’ll be 70. It is enough.”