I was thinking about a major restructuring of the league.
First, eliminate the American League and National League entirely and replace them with a single league divided into four divisions. In the first year, 32 teams would compete, with 8 teams making the playoffs.
In year two, the system evolves: the 8 playoff teams from the previous season are placed into a new “Championship Division.” The playoffs then expand to 10 teams. Within this format, the top two seeds receive a double bye. In the early rounds, higher seeds would only need to win one game to advance, while lower seeds would need to win two—essentially creating short, advantage-based series where the higher seed has a significant edge.
Teams that fail to make the playoffs while in the Championship Division are relegated back to a lower division the following season.
Divisions would be realigned every year based on performance. There would also be a designated “Losers Division” made up of the bottom 8 teams. If a team remains in this division for more than three consecutive seasons, it would be relegated to AAA, and a AAA team would be promoted to replace it. The promoted team cannot be an affiliate of the relegated franchise.
As for player movement: players on a relegated team who are not under long-term contracts and who have at least five years of experience would become free agents. Players without long-term contracts and with fewer than five years of experience could be assigned to the promoted AAA team, if that team chooses to accept them. If not, those players would enter a mini-draft, where other teams could select them (provided they have available roster space). Any undrafted players would then become free agents.
Just a crazy idea which would never happen so Manfred if you are listening please do this.