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Could MLB follow the path of the NBA with an in-season tournament? Or perhaps split the 162-game campaign into two? What about expansion and realignment?
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said those ideas have been floated among the league’s offices.
“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.
Read more: What MLB Could Look Like After Expansion
But would that possibly place teams in the same region or even in the same city – like the New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles teams — into the same division?
“I think you would try to keep the two-team cities separate,” Manfred said. “That would be my thinking.”
Read more: MLB Expansion? The Case For 9 Cities in 3 Countries
That shift would alleviate teams’ traveling during the season and create a more favorable postseason path.
Manfred also said he’d like the expansion and realignment issue settled before his contract ends in 2029. He reiterated that he will not seek to stay in charge after that.
“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.”
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