Will Baseball go to Three Divisions?

The baseball purists are breathing in a paper bag right now. To ensure that there is a season in the middle of a pandemic, Commissioner Rob Manfred is going to have to be creative. On the other side, if you get a 60-game season, what's the point? It's a season played with an asterisk.

There's a new report from the USA TODAY on Tuesday that paints a unique scenario where there will be at least 100 games if they start in late June or July. But aside from the obvious hardships, which include keeping the players, coaches, staff, and umpires healthy, baseball is considering getting rid of the American and National Leagues just for one season.

If you're a baseball fan, bettor, or enjoy fantasy sports, you wouldn't really worry or care about whether there are a few changes as long as there are meaningful games to be played. So throw out tradition and start with three new divisions instead of six. Discard the American and National Leagues, and bring in the East, West, and Central, where teams are paired by geography.

Under this proposal, teams will be playing in their home ballparks (likely without fans) and only playing against the squads in their own division. While that's part that appears to be the most head-scratching part, at least it eliminates traveling across the country and players can see their families. Under the previous plans, teams would have to relocate to Arizona or Arizona and Florida or add Texas, Arizona and Florida.

There is also still hope that the players can return to stadiums, not at the beginning, but possibly later in the season.

Finally, what about the playoffs? These teams haven't played either division all season, so they will have an expanded playoff.

But when you think about having an Eastern Division with the Mets, Yankees, Red Sox, Nationals, Orioles and Phillies, you have six teams within about seven or eight hours. In the West, the Dodgers, Angels, Giants, and Padres all reside in California. While the Central puts the White Sox vs. the Cubs and the Reds vs. the Indians. The only team appears to be a little left out is Atlanta.

We're still not 100% sure that baseball will start their season and of course, they'll need a few weeks of some kind of spring training, especially for the pitchers. This plan appears to make the most sense and give the players a chance to see their families on a semi-regular basis, instead of playing a few months without them.