Rob Manfred wants expansion and realignment, do we really trust him?

Rob Manfred jumped in the booth during the Little League Classic and started talking about baseball’s future like it’s a video game. He touched on expansion, geographic realignment, the whole thing and honestly, I’m not sure if we can actually trust him to make it work.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred says expansion could spark major changes:

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred says expansion could spark major changes:

• Geographic realignment to ease travel
• A more appealing postseason format for partners like ESPN
• New opportunities in untapped markets

pic.twitter.com/5r0qXVYYni

— Front Office Sports (@FOS) August 18, 2025

MLB hasn’t added a team since 1998, and Manfred wants two more by the time his contract runs out in 2029. Nashville and Salt Lake City are the frontrunners, and with that comes the idea of blowing up the entire divisional structure.

Whether you like Rob Manfred’s past moves or not (I don’t), they have made the product better. Tweaks to the pitch clock, bigger bases, and shift restrictions made the game faster, sharper, and a hell of a lot more watchable.

Baseball feels alive again, and that’s not nothing but expansion and realignment is different. That’s not just shaving a few minutes off game time. That’s ripping at the very fabric of baseball. Rivalries shift, travel schedules flip, playoff races completely change.

All of the sudden, you’re not just tinkering with the product; you’re rewriting its DNA.

Here are Jim Bowden proposed realignment

Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/l0xLhvgfAQ

— BaseballHistoryNut (@nut_history) August 18, 2025

This is the same league office that can’t get through a labor negotiation without turning it into a public knife fight. The last CBA was tense, and the next one won’t be any easier. So why should anyone blindly trust a radical realignment plan before we even know what the next agreement looks like?

Expansion on its own could be exciting. More cities, more fanbases, more baseball, right? Expansion plus realignment feels like a risky “legacy project” move from a commissioner who already has one foot out the door. The game is in a good place right now. There’s no need to risk blowing it up just because Rob Manfred wants to play architect.

Until there’s a new CBA signed and some actual trust between the league and the players, I’m not on board with anything drastic coming out of the commissioner’s office. Baseball doesn’t need a full facelift, it just needs to keep building on the progress it’s already made.

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