[FuzzyRussianHat]

Ever since its inception in 1901, Major League Baseball was the largest of the world’s professional leagues. MLB began as 48 total teams split between the National Association and American Association. Originally, each association had two 12-team leagues; the Eastern League and Midwest League for the NA and the Southern League and Western League in the AA. Every squad also had a minor league affiliate team.

With the continued growth of baseball and the population booms for both the United States and Canada, MLB expanded for the first time for the 1982 season. This gave MLB 56 teams with four added to each association. Both also realigned from the previous league structure into a setup with four divisions of seven teams each. This format held firm through the 2020 season and was considered a massive success.



In around 40 years, baseball continued to thrive worldwide. By the 21^st Century, there were high quality pro leagues on every populated continent and a proliferation of the game to every corner of the globe. MLB maintained the general position as the highest level pro league. In this time, both the US and Canada and their major cities continued to grow. America’s population grew by 105 million from 1980-2020 and Canada’s increase by 12 million. As the 2010s progressed, discussions began in earnest about a new round of expansion for MLB.

Supporters noted the additional revenues that would come with expanding to new markets and players liked the idea of more big league jobs. Some detractors thought it could water down the product. However, between the thriving US/Canada amateur scene and the explosion of international talent, there was no shortage of quality players. A few other logistical questions had to be answered before this could become a reality.

First, how many teams would you add? Many tier two and tier three type cities had grown significantly and had invested into infrastructure needed for a pro team. Many of these cities had been minor league affiliates previously and now felt ready for the big time. However, many of the markets were untested for a major pro sports team. Almost all of the markets with experience hosting an NFL, NBA, or NHL team had already been part of the MLB fold. Many options quickly emerged as contenders, but there were also concerns about cannibalizing existing markets. Several established teams disliked the idea of having a neighboring city eat into their territorial claims.

Next, how would you restructure the league? The idea had the most favor was maintaining the current setup and simply adding a team to each division. This would make each association have 32 teams with four divisions of eight teams. Very few argued for more than eight total expansion teams between talent dilution concerns and having enough viable markets. Some argued for adding four or six total teams, but this would require unbalanced divisions or a major format shift. A few wanted to return to the original leagues format, but the majority was happy with the divisional format that had thrived since the 1980s.

By the mid 2010s, MLB owners and officials had essentially settled on the eight team plan with one new squad per division. From there began the vetting of possible franchises. There ended up being around 30-40 markets that threw their name into the hat for consideration. MLB officials put significant weight into finding untapped markets, looking to avoid areas that already had strong established fan bases. Location, market size, and infrastructure quality all played a part in the formula. Secondary cities also needed to be identified for new and replacement minor league affiliates.

By the end of the decade, the winners had been chosen and the expansion plans were put into place. The expansion draft would take place after the 2020 season and the new teams would start play in 2021. One final question that had fierce debate was if the playoff structure would be changed. With 64 total teams and 32 per association, many felt that 12 total playoff teams weren’t going to be enough. The postseason originally had eight total teams, but had been at 12 since 1952.

The decision was made to expand the postseason by two total teams, making each association have a seven-team field with the four division winners and three wild cards. Instead of the top two seeds having byes, only the #1 seed would automatically advance to the second round. Officials also wanted to give division winners a significant award for their first place finish.

The new first round would be a best-of-five that was more like a best-of-four. The division winner would receive a one game advantage, meaning they would only need two wins out of four to advance. The wild card would have to win three out of four to move on. In addition, the division champ would be the host for all games of the round. The second round remained a traditional HH-AA-H best of five with a reseeding prior to play. The Association Championship and World Series remained best-of-sevens with a HH-AAA-HH format.