Snyder's Soapbox: MLB expansion and realignment could be great for the league... on one condition

Welcome to Snyder's Soapbox! Here, I pontificate about matters related to Major League Baseball on a weekly basis. Some of the topics will be pressing matters, some might seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things, and most will be somewhere in between. The good thing about this website is that it's free, and you are allowed to click away. If you stay, you'll get smarter, though. That's a money-back guarantee. Let's get to it.

On Sunday night, during the national broadcast of the Little League Classic, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred mentioned something about potential MLB expansion also including realignment. Obviously, if there is expansion, realignment has to come with it, since there are six divisions of five right now and there's no way to add two teams -- the likeliest number -- without moving the 32 teams into eight divisions of four. 

Of course, the second Manfred says anything, it lights a fire on social media that burns with the intensity of 162 suns. I'm often embarrassed for people when they go nuts and say things like "Manfred is ruining baseball" while also still clearly being die-hard fans who closely follow the sport. Sure enough, I saw a bunch of that nonsense Sunday night floating around various social media platforms. 

I have two thoughts on the matter. 

1. Settle down. It's about time to add two more teams and shuffling the divisions a little bit isn't going to hurt anything. However...
2. ...Don't you dare do away with the American League and National League, Mr. Manfred. 

I'll start with the first point. Expansion is fun. There's a ton of great baseball talent in the world right now and there's plenty to go around for 32 teams instead of 30. That won't be an issue at all. Portland, Salt Lake City, Orlando, Nashville and Charlotte are just a few of the cities we've seen bandied about and any two from the group would be great. The league hasn't expanded since 1998 when the Devil Rays and Diamondbacks joined the party. That's a long time for a thriving league to go without adding teams. 

It is possible to re-align without getting very radical and mixing up some of the biggest rivalries. I'm talking like Giants-Dodgers, Cubs-Cardinals and Yankees-Red Sox level rivalries that need to stay intact. Some of the more recent hot rivalries sprung up due to competition within divisions and realigning things can bring on fresh rivalries. That's a good thing.

As an example, take the Brewers of the '80s. They played in the AL East and contended for division titles against teams like the Orioles and Blue Jays. Now their fan base despises the Cubs and Cardinals. Back in the '80s, they didn't care a lick about those two teams. Things can evolve in sports. 

Remember, before divisional realignment in the '90s, the Braves were in the NL West. The Mets and Phillies were in the NL East. Ask Braves fans now who their biggest rivals are. The Mets and Phillies were sure not the answer to that question back in the '70s and '80s. Think also about the Astros. They tangled with teams like the Braves, Reds and Dodgers in the old NL West before heading to the NL Central and locking horns with teams like the Cubs and Cardinals. Then they moved to the AL and most recently the Rangers have become a big rival. The Mariners, too. 

Through it all, the Astros fan base survived just fine. 

Flipping a few things around into fresh divisions could be a lot of fun when we think about how things can change in the matter of a few decades. 

Now, I'd join the people who freak out here if some of these suggestions I've seen floating around the internet actually happen. It's stuff like putting the Yankees and Mets in the same division in the Eastern Conference while the Angels and Dodgers are in the same division in the Western Conference. 

That's a gigantic nope for me. Absolutely not. Any expansion teams from the past are fair game, as far as I'm concerned, to switch leagues in a realignment to make room for the two expansion teams. We've already seen both the Brewers and Astros switch leagues and while there was initial uproar from those fan bases, things are perfectly fine right now with both franchises where they are. 

The American League and National League feel too sacred, to me, to be eliminated. I like having AL and NL records. I love thinking about the AL and NL pennants. I still want there to be awards for each league (NL MVP and AL MVP, for example) instead of consolidating into one MLB-wide award. If we went down to one, history changes in that it was easier for a long, long time to win one than it would be moving forward. 

Keeping history in mind, the following teams absolutely, positively cannot be forced to switch leagues: Yankees, Red Sox, Tigers, Guardians and White Sox. The Twins were once the Washington Senators while the Orioles were the St. Louis Browns. I suppose they need to stay, too, but it's not as much of a non-starter for me as the others since they moved cities (and I wonder if Orioles fans would cherish the idea of getting away from the Yankees and Red Sox in the long run?). The Athletics were also an original, but they've moved so many times (Philadelphia to Kansas City to Oakland to Sacramento to maybe Las Vegas?) and are currently a nomad team, so whatever. Do with them what you please.  

On the NL side, the following teams absolutely, positively cannot leave the NL: Cubs, Cardinals, Giants, Dodgers, Pirates, Phillies, Braves and, obviously, the first professional team in the Reds. 

Keeping the AL and NL means you'd still have lots of other teams from which to choose if looking to switch teams from one league to the other in order to accommodate the expansion teams while realigning the divisions. 

I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes down. I rather enjoy seeing media and fan proposals for how they would realign things and I'll do my own whenever we have a better idea what the two expansion teams will be. But, Mr. Manfred, don't you dare touch the AL and NL. We can balance the history of the game while embracing the future at the same time here.