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Like Texas A&M spiking all their most storied rivalries by fleeing to the SEC, the Dodgers and Giants somehow splitting for different divisions just ... wouldn't feel right.
That's what former MLB GM Jim Bowden, now an analyst for The Athletic, has in mind, though, in the wake of MLB's likely expansion still to come.
Now that the league has changed to a balanced schedule for 2023, with fewer weight on division games and faceoffs between each and every team slated for this season, Bowden sees no reason to keep the American League and National League teams fenced off.
In an effort to incorporate two new expansion teams -- which Bowden has placed in Charlotte and Nashville (probably assuming the A's go to Vegas) -- he's moved things around, mingling the leagues and crafting eight four-team divisions.
In this fantasy, the Dodgers find themselves still in the West, sharing space with the familiar Padres and Diamondbacks while welcoming the Angels to the fray. The Giants? They're in the "Pacific Coast" alongside the Rockies, Athletics and Mariners. Brutal.
When MLB expands to 32 teams, it should forget the AL and NL.
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) February 7, 2023
Embrace a dramatic geographic realignment.
Here's one way @JimBowdenGM thinks it could look ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/ipYj7C4ouZ
The Athletic's Jim Bowden wants to take Dodgers and Giants out of NL West
While bad blood is brewing between the Dodgers and Padres' fan bases, it's not the same and never will be. MLB losing one of their crown jewels in a realignment just to save a little travel time and welcome Charlotte into the fray would seem to be an avoidable mistake.
And notice they kept the Yankees and Red Sox together...
Shudder to think what the Sunday Night Baseball schedule might look like in this universe. Maybe the Dodgers and Pads could weasel one in there between Yankees-Sox and Yankees-Mets "divisional" battles.
Blurring the lines between the leagues is closer than ever to being a reality. The Dodgers finally get regular cracks at the Yankees, Sox and Astros beginning this year, as all three rivalries effectively reach their final destination.
But losing the Giants, even with divisional games reduced, feels like the final blow to a bygone era. At least, if the end is near, the Dodgers probably earned the last victory of the Olden Days, turning away the 107-win Giants in the 2021 postseason. The way it oughta be.
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