MartyMcFlyKavanaugh

ALTERNATE HISTORY: In May 1969, after the Browns, Steelers, Colts and the ten AFL clubs quickly agreed to a divisional alignment for their post-merger “American Conference,” NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle issued a new directive. Scrapping an earlier plan to name both conferences’ divisions “Eastern,” “Central” and “Western,” Rozelle announced that the Capitol/Century/Central/Coastal labels dating back to 1967 would be retained indefinitely. (The unending alignment debate among the National Conference owners influenced his decision.) Also, new “C” names would be assigned to the former AFL Eastern and AFL Western divisions. So Cleveland’s division would remain the Century, Washington’s the Capitol, San Francisco’s and L.A.’s the Coastal (even with an inland team like St. Louis), and the remaining National division (with or without the Bears and Packers) the Central. Everything else took place as described in history books, including Rozelle finally settling the National Conference alignment on January 16, 1970, by filling a chalkboard with the owners’ five finalists from eight months of negotiating... ...and his secretary randomly picking Plan #3 from a bowl. This lone scheme with Dallas alongside the East Coast teams actually corresponded quite closely to the late ’60s setup (the Giants and Saints swapped divisions in ’68 and flipped back in ’69 to give the entire Eastern Conference a lucrative road game at New York before the merger). Super Bowl IV loser Minnesota returned to the Central, depriving that division of a warm-weather member (this was pre-Silverdome, pre-Metrodome and pre-Tampa Bay Bucs). The Browns and Steelers jumped conferences to join Paul Brown’s Bengals, and the Colts followed to be grouped with their Super Bowl III nemesis Jets. Cleveland’s departure ended the Browns-Giants rivalry; the duo claimed 15 of 16 Eastern Conference crowns from 1950 through ’65. Without a pair of Eastern, Central and Western divisions, “National Football Conference” and “American Football Conference” and their respective acronyms NFC and AFC would never emerge. So the original names “National Conference” and “American Conference” became permanent. After expansion, several relocations and a major 2002 realignment, this is what we have now.

Good plan. Here's a tweak to the AL. If the A's get their Howard Terminal ballpark and the Rays move to Vegas, this would be the result (going with Nashville as the new club): With the new interleague scheme arriving next year, a post-expansion 162-game season could be: 39 in-division games (13 per 3 rivals), 74 intra-league (6-7 games against 12 league rivals) and 49 interleague (4 vs. "annual rival" + (3 x 15)). Some "annual rivalries" would change: Blue Jays-Expos, Red Sox-Phillies, Stars-Braves, Rangers-Rockies, Astros-Marlins and Rays-D'backs (the '98 clubs!).

Here’s my (much-improved) plan for a 32-team MLB realignment with the addition of Nashville (Stars was the reported nickname) and Montreal Expos 2.0 (instead of Charlotte as I imagined a couple years back). This assumes the Rays stay put and the A’s remain out west (Oakland or possibly Vegas). A western expansion team would complicate things as the Rockies would be roped in with the Central teams. Annual home-and-home interleague pairings: Blue Jays-Expos, Red Sox-Phillies, Yankees-Mets, Orioles-Nats, Guardians-Reds, Tigers-Pirates, White Sox-Cubs, Twins-Brewers, Royals-Cardinals, Stars-Braves, Rays-Marlins, Astros-Rangers, Rockies-D’backs, Mariners-Padres, A’s-Giants, Angels-Dodgers. Why flip the Rockies and Rangers? To evenly split the 8 western clubs and two Texas teams between the leagues. And with the NFL’s Raiders gone to Vegas this (maybe) creates a new Oakland-Denver rivalry (and Seattle-Denver as well). Why not the Astros? Three recent AL pennants. Plus the Brewers aren’t returning to the AL, so why return the Astros to the NL? Nationals in the NL South? Fifty years ago the Washington Senators left RFK Stadium for Dallas-Ft. Worth... “How ‘bout them Rangers?”

With the recent news that Mickey Mouse Club/*NSYNC veteran Justin Timberlake has joined the “MLB to Nashville” movement, here’s my plan for 32-team realignment with expansion to Nashville (Stars is the reported nickname) and Charlotte. Can’t have the NL East without the Braves! Flipping the Rockies and Astros splits the 8 western clubs evenly between the leagues. Plus both Texas teams leave their West Coast division and reunite with old foes. Each team gets ONE annual interleague rival. For the expansion clubs, yearly pairings are Nashville-Detroit (Music City vs. Motor City) and Charlotte-Atlanta. If the Rays someday move to Montreal, then Charlotte and Toronto could swap divisions to get the Canadian teams together, but what about interleague? Expos-Pirates revival, perhaps? Annual interleague pairings: TOR-PIT, BOS-PHI, NYY-NYM, BAL-WSH, DET-NSH, CLE-CIN, CHA-ATL, TB-MIA, CHW-CHC, MIN-MIL, KC-STL, TEX-HOU, COL-ARZ, SEA-SD, OAK-SF, LAA-LAD Scheduling for 162-game season: 20 games each against 3 division rivals (60 total) 7-8 games against 12 league rivals (86 total) 16 interleague games: 3 against every team from one division (6 home, 6 away) 4-game home-and-home against annual interleague rival Using the Orioles and Nationals as an example: When AL East faces any NL division other than East, the O’s play those four NL clubs (12 games) and the Nats (4 games). When AL East meets NL East every four years, the O’s play 3 each against the entire NL East including the Nats, and they also have their annual Nats home-and-home, hence 7 O’s-Nats games total. If their 3-game series is in Washington, then 5 of their 7 games are there. Four years later the O’s host the 3-game series. As for Charlotte-Atlanta: When NL East faces AL East and Atlanta’s division rivals play 7 versus their annual opponents, the Braves get their usual 4 with Charlotte. Only when NL East takes on AL Mideast do we get 7 of Atlanta-Charlotte. Postseason: In non-COVID years 10 teams out of 30 make the postseason (33% of the clubs). Post-expansion I’d go with 12 out of 32 (37.5%). Two wild cards per league travel to the two lowest-seeded division champs’ ballparks for a best-of-3. Winners advance to face the two higher seeded division champions in a best-of-5 LDS, followed by the usual best-of-7 LCS and best-of-7 World Series.