How Potential MLB Geographic Realignment Could Hurt Atlanta Braves

If there's just one thing all diehard baseball fans have in common, it's the resistance to change.

More than any other major American sport, baseball has been built on tradition. Some of that tradition has been lost through the tenure of commissioner Rob Manfred. But on Sunday night during ESPN's broadcast of The Little League Classic between the Seattle Mariners and New York Mets, Manfred hinted that the most radical change the league could experience may still be coming.

"I think if we expand, it provides us with an opportunity to geographically realign," Manfred said, via SI.com's Eva Geitheim. "I think we could save a lot of wear and tear on our players in terms of travel.

"I think our postseason format would be even more appealing for entities like ESPN because you'd be playing out of the East, out of the West, and that 10 o'clock where we sometimes get Boston-Anaheim would be two West Coast teams. That 10 o'clock slot that's a problem for us sometimes becomes a real opportunity for our West Coast audience."

Manfred has previously discussed the MLB expanding to 32 teams by the time he retires in 2029. But Sunday was the first time the commissioner suggested what that could look like.

It's possible, by the end of the decade, the National and American League could cease to exist.

Atlanta Braves Could Land in MLB's New Eastern Conference

As with any change, there's potentially good and bad with baseball geographically realigning. Let's start with the positive.

With geographic realignment, baseball will have an opportunity to develop rivalries between teams closer in proximity. That will be better for the casual fan, especially in big markets.

For instance, with this new setup -- four teams in four divisions in each conference (Eastern and Western) -- it's almost certainly a guarantee the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox and Phillies would be the "Northeast" division.

That sounds like a cash cow for baseball. Those cities sharing the same division could potentially bring even more people to games and draw bigger local and national television audiences.

The MLB could do this across the league by pairing the Orioles-Nationals, Guardians-Reds, Marlins-Rays, Dodgers-Angels, Cubs-White Sox, Cardinals-Royals and Giants-Athletics into the same divisions.

Here's what the "Eastern Conference" could look like with geography the main focus of MLB division realignment and expansion.

Northeast
1. New York Yankees
2. New York Mets
3. Boston Red Sox
4. Philadelphia Phillies

Great Lakes
1. Toronto Blue Jays
2. Cleveland Guardians
3. Cincinnati Reds
4. Detroit Tigers

Atlantic
1. Pittsburgh Pirates
2. Washington Nationals
3. Baltimore Orioles
4. Charlotte expansion team

Southeast
1. Atlanta Braves
2. Miami Marlins
3. Tampa Rays
4. Nashville expansion team

With this setup, every team in the Eastern Conference is in the Eastern time zone except the expansion Nashville team.

In addition to Nashville, Charlotte was my choice for the other MLB expansion team. Ideally, baseball should have the two expansion teams in separate leagues or conferences. But with geography in mind, I grouped both into my Eastern Conference proposal.

Now, let's take a look at my proposed Western Conference:

Midwest
1. Chicago Cubs
2. Chicago White Sox
3. Milwaukee Brewers
4. Minnesota Twins

Central
1. St. Louis Cardinals
2. Kansas Royals
3. Texas Rangers
4. Houston Astros

Southwest
1. Los Angeles Dodgers
2. Los Angeles Angels
3. San Diego Padres
4. Arizona Diamondbacks

Northwest
1. San Francisco Giants
2. Seattle Mariners
3. Colorado Rockies
4. Athletics

With this realignment, the MLB would achieve its goal of refocusing the league based on geography. As Manfred explained, this would cut down on player travel and make playoff scheduling easier, especially for West Coast teams.

Sidebar -- Manfred and baseball wanting to cut down on player travel a couple years after they elected to reduce the number of division games is quite hypocritical. The league literally just expanded player travel, so stars such as Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge play in every city at least every other year (which is a great thing).

If player travel is suddenly a problem, it's a self-made issue from the league. But I digress.

Is Geographic Realignment Really Better for Baseball Overall?

The thing that stands out right away while trying to group teams together by geography is the MLB would lose a lot of significant rivalries.

The Atlanta Braves might be hurt the most.

The Braves have major rivalries with the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets. But both of those teams would join the Northeast. The Braves would also lose its division showdown with the Washington Nationals.

Replacing them with the Tampa Bay Rays and an expansion team, even though they are closer in proximity, is far from ideal. It actually could greatly hurt Braves tickets sales and reduce the team's television draw.

The Braves-Mets matchups are on national TV regularly. Will Braves-Rays receive the same treatment?

The Braves aren't the only team that would be hurt by geographic realignment. My Western Conference is filled with lost rivalries.

The Cubs and Cardinals aren't in the same divisions. Neither are the Dodgers and Giants.

In my new division setup, eight teams would lose all of their current division rivals -- the Toronto Blue Jays, Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates, Washington Nationals, Baltimore Orioles, Tampa Bay Rays, St. Louis Cardinals, and Kansas City Royals.

Some of those teams gain a geographic rival in the same division. But is the Orioles-Nationals going to be a better rivalry than Orioles-Yankees? I think I know the answer to whether the Cardinals-Royals matchup is more intriguing than Cardinals-Cubs (it's not).

There's a reason the Dallas Cowboys are still in the NFC East. Geography doesn't create interest -- history and tradition do.

My divisions are a very rough draft. Maybe the MLB will find a way to keep the Cubs-Cardinals and Dodgers-Giants together. That would be the equivalent of the NFL keeping the Cowboys with the Philadelphia Eagles, New York Giants and Washington Commanders.

In the NFL's last expansion, the Atlanta Falcons lost their rivalry with the San Francisco 49ers and then St. Louis Rams. But overtime, they gained a rival in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Maybe the same can happen for the Braves with the Rays and the Nashville team. But it's still hard to not see the Braves as one of the biggest potential losers of any MLB realignment based on geography.