By the next decade, Major League Baseball (MLB) could look drastically different than the league looks currently. By the beginning of the 2028 season, the now-Oakland Athletics will be located in Las Vegas, NV, and MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred is on record that he wants the game to expand to 32 teams before he retires in 2029. Currently, the leaders in the clubhouse for expansion are Austin/San Antonio, Texas, Portland, OR, Orlando, FL, Charlotte, NC, Mexico City, Nashville, TN, Salt Lake City, UT, and Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

On Sept. 25, former MLB Reliever with the then-Cleveland Indians and current Co-host of Guardians Live on Bally Sports Great Lakes, as well as an MLB Network Host and Analyst Jensen Lewis posted on X the idea of an expanded MLB. The expansion would include 32 teams, with Las Vegas taking over the A’s from Oakland and the two expansion teams coming from Salt Lake City and Nashville.

If the league does expand, it would be the first time MLB had a drastic change in team alignments since 1998. The addition of two teams would force MLB to change its division format, as there are currently six divisions and 32 is not divisible by six.

Lewis’ X post inspired this article, as I will explain my reasoning behind MLB’s potential new alignment under Lewis’ proposal (MLB should also trim regular season games, as there is no need for 162 contests per regular season, but that is another article for some time in the future!)

As it stands right now, the divisions in MLB (East, Central, and West) for both the American League (AL) and National League (NL) are mostly geographically correct (a lot more accurate than the current National Football League (NFL) divisions.) With the potential expansion to 32 franchises, I have essentially copied the NFL model and named the divisions the East, West, North, and South for each conference. I also tried to keep rivalries in the same division for the most part, especially if they are geographical. History of rivalries also played a factor.

Without further ado, let’s get into what would be the new AL East division (*= expansion team)

AL East: NYY, BOS, TOR, PIT

Analysis: The New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, and Toronto Blue Jays are all holdovers from the current AL East while the Pittsburgh Pirates slide into a completely new side of the universe, moving from the NL Central to the AL East.

AL West: LAA, LV, SEA, COL

Analysis: In the NFL, the AFC West consists of the Chiefs (Kansas City), the Raiders (Las Vegas), the Broncos (Denver) and the Chargers (Los Angeles). Three of those elements fit here in this division with the Angels (Los Angeles), A’s (Las Vegas), and Rockies (Colorado). I so badly wanted to slide the Royals in this division, but there’s more West Coast teams in baseball than football, and unlike what MLB had in the past where there were six teams in the NL Central and only four in the AL West, I wanted to make each division even with four teams. The biggest move in this division is the Rockies leaving the NL West and coming over to the AL side.

AL North: CLE, CHW, CIN, DET

Analysis: If I could, I would have made a division of the AL North between Cleveland, Baltimore, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh just like the AFC North in the NFL, but it was impossible due to the geographic nature of MLB. Baltimore or Pittsburgh could have gone in here, but then I didn’t like having the White Sox in the same division as the Cubs, as both of those teams are in Chicago. The Ohio Cup gets even more meaning as the Reds head over from the NL to battle with their in-state rivalries in Cleveland, and the Tigers and White Sox stay put.

AL South: TEX, HOU, NSH*, KC

Analysis: This division looks a lot like the AFC South in football, as the Astros (Houston) and newly expanded Nashville team (Tennessee) enter the division. Texas continues their in-state rivalry with Houston. The Kansas City Royals are the outliers in the American League, as Missouri is about a two-hour flight to Arlington, TX, a two-hour flight to Houston, TX, and a 90-minute flight to Nashville. It’s not terrible, but geographically it’s not as close as some of the other divisions.

NL East: NYM, PHI, WAS, BAL

Analysis: An interesting division, as the Mets (New York) and Phillies (Pennsylvania) are in the same location geographically as the Yankees and Pirates, respectively, in the other conference, and the Nationals (Washington, D.C.) and Orioles (Baltimore) are right up the road from each other. The Mets, Phillies, and Nationals hold from the original NL East while the Orioles trade conferences.

NL West: LAD, SF, ARZ, SD

Analysis: Remember how I said up above in my AL West analysis the MLB has too many West Coast teams? This division does not change from how it is now, outside of it loses the Rockies. Three of these teams are from the California area, with Arizona not that far off. The Dodgers, Angels, Padres, Giants, make four California MLB teams.

NL North: MIL, STL, CHC, MIN

Analysis: The old-school three-way NL Central rivalries remain in-tact with the Brewers (Milwaukee), Cardinals (St. Louis), and Cubs (Chicago). Maybe it doesn’t make too much sense to have the Cardinals and Royals play in different regional divisions, but like I said, there’s no perfect solution, and I wanted to keep the integrity of most of the NL Central in place. Minnesota slides over from the AL Central to create some new rivals. Minnesota, Chicago, and Milwaukee (Wisconsin) are all NFC North rivals in the NFL, so this felt like a natural fit for the Twins.

NL South: TB, ATL, SLC*, MIA

Analysis: This will be the weirdest division in all of the new divisions. Tampa slides from the AL East all the way down to the NL South. Atlanta and Miami move from the NL East to the NL South to create an in-state rivalry between the Rays (Tampa) and Marlins (Miami). The Rays and Braves already have an NFL connection with the Bucs and Falcons being rivals in the NFC South. Then, there’s the newly expanded Salt Lake City, who while Utah is definitely more towards the west, I would argue is less west than California (LAD, LAA, SD, SF), Arizona (ARZ), Colorado (COL), Las Vegas (LV) and Seattle (SEA). That’s why they’re in this division. From Salt Lake City to Atlanta, it’s a near four-hour flight and from SLC to Miami and Tampa, it’s a near 4.5 hour flight, the furthest distance from state to state between any of the new divisions.