MLB May Realign To Play 2020 Season

Could the Reds be division rivals with the Indians for the upcoming season?

As you are well aware, the sports world is in disarray and attempting to find solutions so they can play out their respective seasons. Baseball, unlike many sports, didn't get their season interrupted but instead are trying to find a way to start the year. To do so, they have been trying to come up with creative ways to have a season of substance while attempting to keep social distancing and the safety of their players foremost in their efforts.

One new way that has come out is the teams playing in their home stadiums -- without fans -- but playing only inside their division. That would help with traveling and go a long way to keeping things a bit more local than they could be.  To further those efforts, MLB may realign the league for the 2020 season into three 10-team divisions.

Right now those divisions would be:

EAST: Blue Jays, Marlins, Mets, Nationals, Orioles, Phillies, Pirates, Rays, Red Sox, Yankees

CENTRAL: Braves, Brewers, Cardinals, Cubs, Indians, Reds, Royals, Tigers, Twins, White Sox

WEST: Angels, Astros, Athletics, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Giants, Mariners, Padres, Rangers, Rockies

I do like the idea and like the divisions.  But why not go a little bit further.  Why not have four divisions?  Sure, there would be two 7-team divisions and two 8-team divisions but Major League Baseball dealt with that before when the American and National leagues were uneven (remember the AL West with four teams and the NL Central with six?). It would make the geographic footprint smaller without giving up too many rivalries.  My proposal:

EAST: Blue Jays, Mets, Nationals, Orioles, Phillies, Red Sox, Yankees
CENTRAL: Braves, Indians, Marlins, Pirates, Rays, Reds, Tigers
MIDWEST: Astros, Brewers, Cardinals, Cubs, Rangers, Royals, Twins, White Sox
WEST: Angels, Athletics, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Giants, Mariners, Padres, Rockies

The main difference here is the creation of a second "central" division that would take the southern teams away from the East Division (Atlanta, Miami, Tampa Bay) and the Texas teams away from the West (Astros, Rangers) and split up the Central Division. Now all the Central Division teams are in the Eastern time zone and the new Midwest Division has the Central time zone. You could have four division winners and four or six or eight wildcard teams.

Could you go to a five team format?

EAST: Blue Jays, Mets, Phillies, Pirates, Red Sox, Yankees
SOUTH: Braves, Marlins, Nationals, Orioles, Rays, Reds
CENTRAL: Brewers, Cardinals, Cubs, Indians, Tigers, White Sox
MIDWEST: Astros, Diamondbacks, Rangers, Rockies, Royals, Twins
WEST: Angels, Athletics, Dodgers, Giants, Mariners, Padres

Yeah, but then that makes the rotation smaller than it really needs to be ... and you may as well just keep the current six-division format if you do this.