Earlier this week, it was reported that a plan for every team to start the regular season in Arizona was being considered by Major League Baseball. MLB came out and said shortly after that it was just one of several options they were considering for the 2020 season.
On Friday, Bob Nightengale reported on another such plan. In it, the regular season would start in the teams' spring training facilities in Florida and Arizona, and instead of there being a National and American League, it would be a Cactus and Grapefruit League. The teams would play their regular seasons at those sites, and then in November, the winner of each league would face one another in the World Series at a neutral, domed stadium.
Under this new proposal, there would still be three divisions consisting of five teams in each league, based on geography of each team's spring home. As Nightengale notes, a potential outcome for the Pirates would be sharing a division with the Yankees, Blue Jays, Phillies and Tigers.
The season would be 108 games long: 12 games against each divisional rival and six against every other team in the league.
League and division structure would return to normal for the 2021 season.
The reason for starting in spring facilities is the league could potentially begin the season earlier and it would drastically cut down on travel, which would minimize the risk of spreading COVID-19. While Grapefruit league teams are spread out across the state of Florida, Cactus league teams are within an hour of each other.
MLB had previously considered starting the season in Florida as well as Arizona, but it did not address the issue of divisional and league alignment. For example, in the National League Central, the Pirates and Cardinals hold their spring trainings in Florida, while the Reds, Cubs and Brewers do theirs in Arizona. There would be no way to have accurate division standings unless the teams were able to face each other, and traveling between the two states would defeat the purpose of holding games in spring facilities.
There would be another logistical challenge to overcome: Both leagues have 15 teams, so without interleague play, at least one team from each league would need to be off every day. The players union and MLB have discussed plans to get as many games in as possible, including playing more double-headers. That could drastically change how the traditional three game series is set up and scheduled, which could make this possible.
Like the Arizona plan, nothing is official and there is no guarantee any part of it would be implemented. However, if this was to come to fruition, they would start without fans in the stands, which is looking more and more likely for any proposal to get the season underway.
This could also potentially end a proud tradition of National and American League baseball. The has been National League baseball every year since 1876 and American League baseball since 1901.