New MLB Proposal: Three 10-Team Divisions for when Baseball Resumes

According to a USA TODAY report published Tuesday, the MLB is considering a scenario in which the season would begin in late June or early July with teams playing in their home ballparks.

Under the proposal, MLB would toss out the traditional American and National Leagues in favor of three 10-team divisions based on geography. Teams would only play against the other clubs in their division, completing a regular-season schedule of about 100 games before playing in an expanded playoff.

Here’s the proposed divisions:

East: New York Yankees, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox, Washington Nationals, Baltimore Orioles, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Rays and Miami Marlins

West: Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Angels, San Francisco Giants, Oakland Athletics, San Diego Padres, Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies, Texas Rangers, Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners

Central: Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Cardinals, Kansas City Royals, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Minnesota Twins, Atlanta Braves and Detroit Tigers

10-team divisions. 100 games. Expanded Playoffs. 

Say less, MLB – this would be amazing. Not only are the the proposed updates great to get baseball back up and running, but they should 100% just keep this format for years to come.

Think about a Division where the Phillies would play the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, Nationals, Orioles, Pirates, and Blue Jays. Holy cross-town rivals. And yes, I left Tampa Bay and Miami off the list because no one cares about sports and/or baseball in Florida.

There were previous reports that the MLB was considering Spring Training divisions that would be held in Arizona and Florida – but that didn’t go over too well with the players since the plan required full quarantine of the players. This plan is much better although all options are still on the table.

Regardless, the MLB still doesn’t anticipate fans being allowed to attend games, at least for the start of the season. They are optimistic that at some point this year, we will in fact, have live baseball where fans can attend games.