Major League Baseball has been keeping fans entertained with a lot of options concerning this season. So far we have heard about all games being held in Arizona and Florida, a shorter season, teams playing in their home stadiums without fans, and a World Cup postseason format.
There is no official date to start the season yet, but MLB is now considering erasing the American and National Leagues by putting all 30 teams in one major league.
MLB is considering having three 10-team divisions in 2020. These will include an east division, central division, and west division.
All the teams in the AL and NL western divisions will join together in the west division. The same will be for the Central and East divisions except for the Pittsburgh Pirates joining the east division and Atlanta Braves playing in the central division.
I would love to see this format happen in 2020 and beyond, but there are still questions to be answered. For example, what would happen to the designated hitter?
The designated hitter rule belonged to the American League, but since there won’t be an American League, will the national league teams finally not have their pitchers batting? The AL home teams will keep the rule, but what about NL teams hosting other NL teams?
Another big question is what about the postseason? Without two different leagues, there could be an AL team against an NL team in every round. We could also see a World Series we never thought we would see like Pittsburgh vs Philadelphia, New York Yankees vs Boston Red Sox, or even the Cubs vs Marlins that Chicago won in Back To The Future Part II.
Some fans might also be confused of Pittsburgh in the east division and Atlanta in the central division. Geographically, Pittsburgh is more to the east than Atlanta.
Altogether, I am in favor of this new division format. What do you all think of this new idea? Let us know by commenting on the article below, on our Facebook page, and on Twitter @BLS_sports.
preview photo credited to thesportsgeek.com