Atlanta Braves could join AL East clubs in radical realignment plan

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Cool Today Park – the newest in-season home of the Atlanta Braves? (Photo by Mark Cunningham/MLB Photos via Getty Images) /

Problems Still Remain

While this certainly helps get past some of the Arizona-only issues, this doesn’t completely fix everything. Here are some pros and cons that MLB would have to work through:

PRO SIDE
- More stadiums to work with.
- The domed parks at St. Petersburg (Tropicana Field) and Miami (Marlins Park) might also be leveraged
- Acceptable travel distances for the most part
- Avoids forcing teams to play outdoors in the middle of the day in an Arizona summer (part of the real problem shoving 30 clubs onto 11 fields)
- Fewer issues with extra-inning games
SOME OF THE CONS
- Florida weather issues (rain, heat, humidity, mosquitos, hurricanes) in the Summer might not be a lot better than Arizona, though all clubs could schedule evening games
- Still could have some heat issues in Arizona (though evenings would be tolerable, averaging low 80’s with little humidity)
- Still have to sequester teams, plus hotel and game staffs stringently
- East coast of Florida is actually a bit tight on facilities: Nationals and Astros share a new venue in West Palm; the Marlins and Cardinals are together in Jupiter. Miami’s stadium is a bit over an hour away.
- “Inter-league play” (i.e., crossovers from Arizona-to-Florida and v.v.) would be out.

This strict geographic alignment – based on Nightengale’s work – also has the chance to potentially hose some teams with new divisional rivals they hadn’t counted on:

Minnesota – while they were expecting their chief competition to come from the Indians and White Sox, this ‘Grapefruit South’ division looks like it could make their road to the playoffs much more difficult.
White Sox fans were likewise hoping for at least a Wild Card berth in the AL Central, but they could end up in a Cactus West division that includes the Dodgers, Reds, Indians, and Angels. No Detroit, no Kansas City to roll over.
On the flip side, Rangers and Brewers fans might like a Cactus Northwest division including these teams with the Royals, Mariners, and Padres.

No doubt, there would be howls of protest if the Yankees and Red Sox aren’t in the same division… as Nightengale suggests, that’s not in the plan he published.

New York would end up with the Phillies, Jays, Tigers, and Pirates… which might give them an easier time.

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