Cleveland Indians could suffer from expansion and realignment

The Cleveland Indians could be in for some rough times ahead if recent reports of expansion and realignment are to be believed.

According to reports, Major League Baseball could be heading toward expansion to 32 teams sooner rather than later. While the exact details of any expansion are far from certain, the initial plan appears to try to add new teams in Montreal and Portland.

With these two teams added, baseball could make a drastic realignment with four divisions of eight teams and the abolishment of leagues as we know them.

Here’s how baseball could look with the potential expansion and realignment:

East: Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Miami, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, Washington

North: Boston, Cleveland, Detroit, Minnesota, Montreal, New York Yankees, New York Mets, Toronto

Midwest: Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Colorado, Houston, Kansas City, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Texas

West: Arizona, Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers, Oakland, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle

The Cleveland Indians would continue to have American League Central foes Detroit and Minnesota in their newly formed North division. Where the problem arises for the Indians is with the addition of the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees and New York Mets, three of the largest markets in all of baseball.

Throw in the Toronto Blue Jays and Montreal, and you’re also adding two of the biggest markets in Canada into one division. Definitely not ideal for a small market club like the Indians.

The Indians have recently increased payroll to record levels, topping $100 million for the first time in franchise history. But they still can’t compete with the likes of Boston and New York. Even Detroit and Toronto will be tough to compete with year in and year out.

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Those four teams were top five in payroll in 2017, behind only the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Indians will never approach top ten in payroll, let alone top five. Going from a division with one top-five payroll to possibly four is a major setback for the Tribe.

Of course, any new realignment won’t stop the Indians from competing. They have a great organization that is always well run; however, their margin for error will always be smaller than the big markets.

They will be the smallest market in a division of eight under the new alignment, not the second smallest out of five as they currently are. Any windows the Indians have to compete in will likely be smaller than they currently are.

The good news is this is still only a “what if” at this stage. There are plenty of major hurdles for Major League Baseball to overcome before they can even expand from 30 teams to 32 as television rights make it tough to break into new markets.

However, more teams do mean more money and it’s been 20 seasons now since the last expansion back in 1998. Baseball is definitely due for it and considering the National Hockey League just expanded to 31 teams, baseball can’t be far behind.

What could be good for the Indians is expansion but without this radical realignment that has been proposed. Four divisions of four teams in both the American League and National League seems like a possibility and that could play to the Tribe’s advantage.

A division of the Indians, White Sox, Tigers, and Blue Jays or Orioles still puts big markets in with the Tribe but nothing as drastic as the other plan.

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So what do you think, are expansion and realignment something you want to see? Or do you see things my way and believe it could have some devastating effects on the Cleveland Indians’ future title hopes? Let us know in the comments below.

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