If you ask most baseball fans, commissioner Rob Manfred doesn't exactly get glowing reviews. While most of the rules changes that have happened under his watch (other than the ghost runner rule which still stinks) have turned out well, Manfred has become the face of labor strife in baseball and some of the ideas he has floated have resulted in near universal backlash. However, one idea that he has floated repeatedly including just recently that could work out great for the Atlanta Braves has to do with division realignment.
Baseball has long struggled with how to group their divisions given how many games are played during the season. Figuring out how to make travel (and the associated costs) fair for every team is nearly impossible with the current arrangement and that is before there is any discussion of adding expansion teams.
However, Manfred still seems very interested in division realignment happening before his time as commissioner is over. With his recent comments regarding Manfred's vision for realignment, the Braves appear to be more likely than ever to be one of the biggest beneficiaries down the line.
Braves could end up being the big winners if Rob Manfred gets his way with division realignment
Now, most of Manfred's comments about realignment centered around which markets would be grouped together. The purpose of such a change would be to make more geographic sense when it comes to divisions, but Manfred took great pains with his most recent comments to point out that he would still make sure to not have multiple teams from the same markets in the same division. For those hoping that the Mets and Yankees would have to battle directly for division titles, prepare for disappointment.
However, the current framing of realignment still stands to benefit the Braves greatly. Even if MLB wants to break up the Florida teams somehow, that would still leave Atlanta to have one of the Marlins or Rays, a likely expansion team in Nashville, and a possible expansion team in North Carolina as likely division rivals. There is a chance that the league would have to grab a less "southeast US" team for this new division or just go with both Florida teams anyways, but the Braves would still be in a great spot competitively compared to the bloodbath that is the current NL East.
Would it be a shame if the Braves' division rivalries got blown up? Yeah, it would to a degree. Would Braves fans miss trashing the Mets and their miscues? Of course. However, the trade-off would be that Atlanta would be likely heavy favorites in one of the new divisions and would have the chance to forge new rivalries that would have a regional flare.
We are still a long ways from any actual changes coming, but that sounds pretty fun to us.