Aug 1, 2025; Chicago, IL, USA; Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred announces Major League Baseball and the Chicago Cubs will host the 2027 All Star game at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images
First thing's first this week...
When I started writing this opinion blog every week about a month ago I called it Midweek Musings. Then, one of my Phillies colleagues called it "The Old Man Column."
I threw that into one of the subsequent posts and people have responded to it, and the messages I get about it refer to it as such, even though that wasn't its official name.
While I don't consider myself an old man, I do understand why it has that moniker. So, I'm leaning into it. This weekly post has been officially renamed. It's now "The Old Man Column."
I'll try to be as curmudgeonly as possible from here on out.
Onto this week's column:
When I saw that Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred was going on the broadcast of the Little League Classic on Sunday night, my reaction was pretty much the same as it is every time he's about to speak publicly.
"What's this guy going to say that's going to tick me off this time?"
Well, in what has become a time honored tradition, he did it again.
By this point, we all know that he dropped hints about expansion and geographic realignment.
Rob Manfred going on national TV and basically giving the plan for expansion *right before* a CBA dispute is pure chess move BS and nothing more
We have two teams playing in MINOR LEAGUE STADIUMS, and we think we can support another 4 teams in 3-4 years? pic.twitter.com/wnLD0FA7vV
I have zero problem with expansion. Cities like Nashville and either Salt Lake City or Portland will be great additions for the sport.
I also get that divisional realignment would be a necessary evil with 32 teams, and trying to keep them geographically convenient to one another certainly makes sense.
So, what did he say that ruffled my aging feathers?
Well, it's the devil in the details. In other words, the things he didn't say out loud specifically, but that have leaked out through trusted voices instead.
The first thing that got me was the idea that MLB could abandon the two league structure that has existed for 125 years and go to a one league, two conference format.
There are those that would argue that it's basically already set up that way now that the DH is universal and that every team plays each other every season, so why should it matter that the names change.
Well, because we already have 125 years of statistical history that will get thrown out the window.
Let me give an example.
Last year, when Aaron Judge hit his 62nd home run, the sport and everyone associated with it celebrated it as an American League record.
Aaron Judge’s 62nd homer-120 FPS pic.twitter.com/0ZsyxdacmS
But it's not the Major League record. He didn't come close to Barry Bonds hitting 73 in 2001.
In fact, Sammy Sosa topped 62 three times and Mark McGwire topped it twice - all five instances were in the National League.
And while I'm with those who make the argument that Judge is the first to hit 62 that wasn't shrouded in performance enhancing drug controversies, the reality is, baseball doesn't put asterisks on Bonds, McGwire and Sosa, so Judge's record is still just an American League record.
But if Manfred and owners have their way, the American League won't exist anymore. Nor will the National League. They'll be conferences instead, and everything will be under one league.
Eradicating the historical tradition of the country's oldest sport sucks.
But we can get past that one - maybe - as long as we avoid some of the others.
Like going to eight four-team divisions. Why? That creates so much more upheaval than necessary. Sure, you can make divisions geographically closer, but if you are still playing every team in the sport, you're still travelling a lot. Is that extra two hour flight to Miami or Atlanta really going to put the Phillies out?
Why not just go to four divisions of eight? That really cuts down on the travel and makes for better divisional rivalries. More games against Divisional opponents is a good thing.
But then there are those who say, "Well, the math doesn't work with four divisions of eight."
And to that I say hogwash.
Yeah, it doesn't add up cleanly and neatly. But it's definitely doable.
For a 162 game-season, you would play 90 games against divisional opponents and 72 against non divisional opponents.
That means a three-game series against every non-divisional team, of which there would be 24, alternating years when you face a team at home or on the road - like they do now with most interleague games.
As for the 90 in-division games. Easy - you play six teams 13 times, three get the extra home game and the other three your team gets the extra home game, and one team 12 times, and that rotates every year.
Are Philadelphia and New York fans going to complain that the Phillies and Mets play one fewer game every seven years? No.
All this makes sense, right?
Except, that's not what's part of this new wave of baseball that's coming.
I read a story today by the great Jayson Stark of The Athletic that says with expansion could come a slightly shortened schedule. How so? well, again, math.
Rob Manfred dropped plenty of breadcrumbs last weekend about expansion, realignment, and a changed playoff format in baseball.
One that he didn't say?
The demise of the 162-game schedule. pic.twitter.com/n2GQsFvnK9
Jayson points out that it's nice and easy to cut to 156 games and make the math work out:
Want to know why that sucks? That means only 23% of your season is played in-division. Why should a division race be determined when 77% of your games aren't even played against one another?
At least in my example, 56% of your games would be in-division. But 23%? That's absurd.
And not only that, but long-standing rivalries are sure to be destroyed. So long to the Braves and welcome back... the Pirates?
Sure, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia were division rivals at one time, and split up when the Central Division was created and the Pirates were shipped out of the N.L. East. But the Cubs and Cardinals were in the East then too. Things had to change with expansion, which is why I called this a necessary evil, but going to four-team divisions instead of five means moving a lot of teams from their current divisions (at least eight) whereas truncating from six divisions of five to four divisions of eight allows for some great rivalries to be maintained, even if you are putting two divisions together.
I have seen some suggest that you merge American and National League teams together - like a division that would be the Phillies, Mets, Yankees and Red Sox.
Now that Rob Manfred has confirmed regional divisions are "coming soon," here is Jim Bowden's proposed realignment.
Do you like this idea by MLB?
What teams would you swap? pic.twitter.com/YQNN4HhYKK
What are we going to call that, the Amtrak Division?
Not only that, the sport would have a great imbalance. You'd put four teams who are huge spenders at each others throats every season, creating an even greater disparity from the smaller market teams who won't have to spend nearly as much to compete in their smaller market divisions.
One example had Atlanta, Tampa Bay, Miami and Nashville together in a division. How would that even be close to equitable?
However, under my realignment, most of what currently exists would stay the same. The East and West Divisions would stay intact and the centrals would be split up amongst them.
So, slide the Pirates, Reds and the expansion Nashville team into the East and move Milwaukee and the Cubs to the West in the NL.
And in the AL, move Detroit, Kansas City and Cleveland to the East and Minnesota, the White Sox, and the expansion team in either Salt Lake City or Portland to the West.
No one has to switch leagues. Most traditional rivalries are saved. More divisional games are played. It's a win for everyone.
Meanwhile, Jayson points out that there's even some debate as to that clean 156-game schedule. Mostly because it would be the third different game total in league history being played and considering baseball records are so sacred, now having to create a third caveat (154-game season, 162 game season and 156-game season) will send stat-heads bonkers.
So, he points out, maybe they just revert back to 154 games, and chalk up the era of 1962-2030ish as the 162-game era.
I don't like that either, because now it's being hypocritical. The number of games only matter as long as they lineup with historical practices, but that historical data doesn't matter because we want to expand. You can't have it both ways.
Owners aren't sure they want to trim the season - that's a lot of lost revenue to suddenly wipe out six-eight games on the calendar. But, if they can make up the difference somehow, they will allow for it.
And the only real way to make up the difference is the most egregious thing of all - expanding the playoffs, again.
Now, if it's just a matter of making series a little longer, you won't get a beef from me. I'm a proponent of making the LDS a best-of-seven and not a best-of-five. Anything that gives an advantage to a team that proved itself to have the best record over a marathon season is deserved.
But that isn't the only thing that's on tap, apparently. Nope, there is a thought to make the playoffs expand to eight teams per league conference, meaning no byes and a best-of-3 series for everyone to start.
Come on!
There's so much wrong here. Let's start with this - making every team play a wild card series renders the entire baseball season useless.
There's nothing to play for except to get into the playoffs, and to do that, you only have to be one of the top eight teams in your half of the league. Division pennant? Doesn't matter. Win enough games to earn a bye? Nope. Doesn't exist any more.
Now, all you have to do is be relatively around .500 and you're fine.
Know what that will bring to baseball?
Load management.
76ers star Joel Embiid is sitting in the stands at the Phillies game and wearing a Bryce Harper jersey 💯#Postseason pic.twitter.com/iOeHeriCi6
Yep. If every team is equal in the postseason save for the ballpark where the game is being played, there's no reason for star players to play that much. Play enough to get there, but make sure you're well-rested, healthy and fresh for the playoffs.
So you're basically playing 154, or 156, or 162 games of which most don't really matter.
It's the NBA on steroids exogenous testosterone.
Never mind the fact that you are now letting middling-to-bad teams into the playoffs and giving them a real chance at an upset - as a Best-of-three series is a crapshoot. There is zero incentive to be the best team in a long season. None.
But let's really get to the ridiculous part.
Let's imagine this season allowed for eight teams in each league to make the playoffs. Right now these would be the two teams in each league to get the final playoff spot, along with their current record:
Yep, that's a sub-500 team in the postseason... in a season with 162 games.
Know what else? Teams like the Braves (58-69) and Orioles (59-67) would still be in the race - only 4 1/2 and 5 games out respectively.
Know what that means - to hell with a trade deadline. So many teams would still be "in it" that fewer and fewer teams would be sellers. I'm not sure Baltimore, Minnesota, San Francisco or Arizona would have sold at the deadline this season if there were eight spots available for a playoff with the volatility of a three-game series in the first round.
The Phillies wouldn't have been able to trade for Jhoan Duran or Harrison Bader. The Mariners wouldn't have gotten Eugenio Suarez and Josh Naylor.
It waters everything down.
Baseball has been all about being forward-thinking and making changes to welcome a new generation of fan. Some have worked. Others haven't. But the idea that the game needed to change that much is crazy.
The average attendance league-wide in baseball this year is 29,261. Know where it was before Covid and all the rule changes?
In 2019 it was 28,203 - when games were, on average, a half-hour longer.
Is an extra 1,058 people per game a sign of a real positive shift in fan interest? Or is it truly statistically insignificant?
Baseball keeps thinking it needs to make all these changes to keep up with the times, when in reality, the game has survived as long as it has because of the game it always has been. Anything else is mere window dressing from owners and a commissioner who only care about the bottom line and not really about what is good for the sport.
Now, get off my lawn.
Gran Torino
2008
Clint Eastwood growls, "Get off my Lawn!" pic.twitter.com/X1UiQwbTe3
