MLB Fans Blast Commissioner Rob Manfred for Realignment Proposal

Major League Baseball (MLB) fans have been voicing their disapproval of commissioner Rob Manfred’s proposal to realign the league by splitting up the American and National Leagues based on team geography.

Manfred proposed the realignment during an ESPN broadcast of the Seattle Mariners/New York Mets game this week.

“In my mind, I think if we expand, it provides us with an opportunity to geographically realign. I think we could see a lot of wear and tear on our players in terms of travel,” Manfred said. “And I think our postseason format would be more appealing for entities like ESPN because you’d be playing up out of the east, out of the west. And that 10 o’clock time slot, where we sometimes get lost in Anaheim, would be two West Coast teams. That 10 o’clock slot, which is a problem for us sometimes, becomes a real opportunity for our West Coast audience.

“I think the owners realize that there’s demand for Major League Baseball in a lot of great cities. And we have an opportunity to do something good around that,” he added.

Nashville, Tennessee, and Salt Lake City, Utah, are among the proposed cities for expansion, per USA Today.

Manfred said that he hoped to have two teams picked out before he retires in 2029. MLB believes that Nashville, Tennessee, and Salt Lake City could be the next expansion cities, according to USA Today.

MLB fans did not receive Manfred’s proposal with open arms, saying it would destroy the American baseball tradition going back over 100 years.

As noted by Fox News, former MLB general manager Jim Bowden floated a similar idea in an article for The Athletic back in 2023, moving the league into an Eastern and Western Conference format “consisting of four geographically-aligned divisions apiece. Four teams per division, 16 teams per conference.”