Realignment next step after new schedule

For the San Francisco Giants, enough already with the constant games against the Rockies and Diamondbacks. For the Oakland Athletics, enough already with all those weeklong trips into Texas.

Major League Baseball has done us all a favor and introduced a fan-friendlier 2023 schedule in which every team plays every other team.

It means the Yankees and Red Sox would visit Oracle Park every other year. Ditto with the Cubs and Dodgers at the Coliseum. Fans will be able to see high-profile teams more frequently and won’t be subject to as many Giants-Rockies or A’s-Rangers series.

Do you know that nearly a quarter of this year’s A’s games are against Texas teams and 12% of the schedule is in the Lone Star State? Not much variety.

On the flip side, there will be fewer Giants-Dodgers games (13 instead of 19) but only one less series in San Francisco per year. The Dodgers still will make two visits to Third and King.

First it was the universal designated hitter. Now a more balanced schedule. What’s next? Realignment? Don’t bet against it. The leagues are becoming antiquated.

From this corner, six fewer Giants-Dodgers games is worth the sacrifice to provide a more balanced schedule and more balanced playing field, which is particularly significant for teams competing for the playoffs.

It’ll be easier for the Orioles, stuck in the American League East, MLB’s deepest division, to succeed if they play more games outside their division — in 2023, it’ll be 52 games inside the division, down from 76. Not that the Orioles will need that help; they’ve emerged as a legitimate contender for the first time in many years.

It might also be tougher for a team to win 107 games, as the Giants did in 2021 when they pounced on division weaklings Arizona and Colorado, winning 32 of 38 games.

With more teams playing common opponents, fewer complaints will surface in the wild-card races about the unfairness of certain teams having easier schedules.

In a perfect scheduling world, for which MLB is trying to strive, there would be 32 teams, like the NFL, not 30, with divisions divided geographically to enhance local rivalries (Giants-A’s, YankeesMets), which would cut down on travel and travel expenses and guarantee a West versus East World Series (and AllStar Game).

Without separate DH rules in each league and with more games played outside the division than inside the division starting in 2023, the next step is phasing out the National and American leagues altogether and, like the NBA, simply have a Western Conference and Eastern Conference. Commissioner Rob Manfred said he doesn’t want to expand to 32 until the A’s and Rays get new ballparks, but why wait?

First it was the universal designated hitter. Realignment? Don’t bet against it. The leagues are becoming antiquated.

Well, one reason not to expand immediately to Las Vegas — or Montreal or Nashville — is so the A’s can continue to use Las Vegas as leverage to get their ballpark village deal at Howard Terminal.

If MLB decides to expand to Southern Nevada, the A’s threat to relocate would vanish. Regardless, the thought of relocating to Vegas is ridiculous for reasons we’ve repeatedly chronicled, and if it doesn’t work out at the waterfront, and if the MLB folks don’t revisit the Coliseum site or San Jose (yes, we believe they’d get the votes to overturn the Giants’ territorial rights) — or demand new A’s ownership — they’re just not trying.

Ultimately, 32 teams could be divided into four divisions of eight (West, East, Central, South) with the five California teams, Seattle, Las Vegas and Arizona in the west. That’s far more potential for more rivalries, and MLB already has flirted with a geographic realignment; remember, it happened during the shortened 2020 pandemic season.

The playoff format would be simple with 32 teams. Of course, MLB would love an expanded bracket with as many as 16 postseason teams, even if it undermines the 162game grind of the regular season. Twelve or 14 would be better. But if MLB gets its way with 16, the four division winners and 12 wild cards would qualify.

Or, if the 32 teams are broken into eight divisions (four in each conference), the playoff field would include eight wild cards. Either way, it’s coming. Manfred wants it. The owners want it — and of course they do. It means at the very least a $2.2 billion buy-in from each expansion team ownership.

It’s a far more profitable proposition for existing owners if Vegas gets an expansion team, not the A’s. No, John Fisher isn’t paying a $2.2 billion relocation fee.

As we know, the big bucks are in the casinos, and if nothing else, the A’s are being used as an experiment so MLB could gauge the feasibility of an expansion team in the desert.

Meantime, we have a revamped schedule in 2023, and while the Giants get to open at Yankee Stadium, the A’s begin the season against the Angels once again, the sixth time in seven seasons. But A’s fans will experience variety soon enough with the second homestand next year featuring the Mets and Cubs.

It’s refreshing news, and a lot more news is on the way.