Over the next few weeks, you will read about various proposals for MLB's 2020 regular season. Some will be filled with wild ideas like the ESPN report early Tuesday morning, which was shot down by MLB within hours.
Another reported proposal/idea surfaced Friday involving divisional realignment for the 2020 season.
"Major League Baseball, assessing myriad proposals, has discussed a radical plan that would eliminate the traditional American and National Leagues for 2020," wrote USA Today's Bob Nightengale, citing a high-ranking official.
Under this proposal, the 30 teams would be split between Arizona and Florida the way they are during spring training. The Grapefruit League in Florida would be split into three divisions, the North, South and East.
The Phillies would be in the North, along with the Yankees, Blue Jays, Tigers and Pirates.
Again ... this might not happen. It's on the table, as are countless other possibilities which are all subject to change based on the spread of the coronavirus.
What a strange division that would be for the Phillies. It would make geographical sense as Dunedin (Blue Jays) and Tampa (Yankees) are the closest visiting spring training parks for the Phillies.
MLB
The Yankees should be one of baseball's best teams in 2020. They signed Gerrit Cole, who was basically a Create-A-Player at level 99 the last two years in Houston. The delay should also allow the Yankees to get more games out of Aaron Judge and James Paxton, two injured players.
The Blue Jays will be one of the most exciting teams in 2020 as they look to build a core around Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette and Cavan Biggio. But it's still early in their process. They had the look of a 75- to 80-win team in 2020.
As for the Tigers and Pirates? They will be two of the worst five teams in baseball in 2020. Both teams have completely stripped down and couldn't care less about winning this season. In early-March, the over-under win totals were 56.5 for the Tigers and 69.5 for the Pirates.
So if baseball does go this route, the Phillies would be far better off than they would be in the NL East, where four teams are currently built to win. This would likely create a two-team race between the Phillies and Yankees. (What a sentence.)
Here's how the league would be aligned if MLB does eventually go with this plan:
North: Phillies, Yankees, Blue Jays, Tigers, Pirates
South: Braves, Red Sox, Twins, Rays, Orioles
East: Nationals, Marlins, Mets, Cardinals, Astros
And in Arizona ...
Northeast: Cubs, Giants, Diamondbacks, Rockies, Athletics
West: Dodgers, Angels, White Sox, Reds, Indians
Northwest: Brewers, Padres, Mariners, Rangers, Royals
Subscribe and rate the Phillies Talk podcast:
Apple Podcasts / Google Play / Spotify / Stitcher / Art19 / YouTube