How the Blue Jays benefit from playing in proposed "North" division

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred got the baseball world talking by his comments during ESPN's Sunday Night baseball game. He suggested that "geographical realignment" and MLB expansion are on the horizon. He mainly briefly hinted that teams like the New York Mets and New York Yankees could wind up in the same division, in an attempt to limit the wear and tear on the players as their travel schedules would be lightened.

If that is the case, there would certainly be some fallout for the Blue Jays, either they would be thrust into a double New York division, or they would move out and be placed elsewhere. However, former MLB executive, and insider for The Athletic, Jim Bowden presented a much different idea that would be an easier pill to swallow for Blue Jays fans.

Instead of having to compete with yet another major market in their own division, the Blue Jays would be the ones with the heavies wallets in a four team "North division" comprised of Toronto, Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Guardians and Cincinnati Reds.

How do we get here?

Bowden's proposal includes not just divisional realignment but expansion as well. He adds two new teams, one in Charlotte, North Carolina and one in Nashville, Tennessee, bringing the league total to 32 teams. He also gets rid of the American League and the National League and just moves everyone to an Eastern and a Western Conference. The Blue Jays get placed in the Eastern Conference, North division, with four divisions of four teams making up each conference.

Does it address 'wear and tear?'

For the Blue Jays, this new "North" division would cut down on their travel time to their new division rivals. Their longest flight would be shorter than their current shortest flight as indicated by the tables below.

Current AL East:

Proposed North Division:

Historical context

From 1977 to 1993 the Blue Jays, the Tigers and the Guardians all played in the AL East. While the Guardians and the Blue Jays never had a heated rivalry, the Blue Jays and the Tigers sure did. The 1980's was practically defined by these two clubs with the up and comers Toronto, trying to take down the savvy veterans in the Tigers. It was Jack Morris vs Dave Stieb. Allan Trammell vs Tony Fernandez. George Bell vs. Kirk Gibson.

In 1998, the Tampa Bay Rays came into existence and moved into the AL East, while the Tigers moved over to the AL Central, leaving the Blue Jays behind in the mighty AL East - thus cooling off the rivalry as well. This North division would have a chance to reignite those flames. Meantime, the Blue Jays and the Reds don't have a ton of history together, outside a few notable trades. But you'd likely get a ton of fans from both teams travelling regularly to games at either venue, with the distance being so close.

Does this idea help the Blue Jays overall?

The Blue Jays are no longer the small market team trapped in a big city. They are big spenders and in fact have the fourth highest payroll in baseball now. So if they were thrown into a division that included another team from New York, it shouldn't realistically hurt the Blue Jays chances of competing with the other big spenders. However, in this new "North" division - they could the ones controlling the game with their wallets.

Detroit is ranked 15th in payroll this season, Cincinnati is 18th and Cleveland is 22nd. And that is not an outlier either. These are three teams who rarely try to outspend everyone else. There have been years when the Tigers do have bigger payrolls, for instance in 2016 they were fifth in the league while Toronto was ninth, and the Blue Jays made the postseason while Detroit did not.

Even in years where the Blue Jays weren't spending big money on their players, playing in a division with these three teams would have allowed Toronto to realistically compete year in and year out. Playing in the AL East for so many years when they couldn't possibly keep up with the Red Sox and Yankees payrolls, Toronto would have needed everything to go right, and they needed to get lucky, just to sniff the postseason - which they didn't do for 22 years between 2015 and 1993.

Conclusion?

While it may never happen, and a lot would have to fall in place for this to come to fruition, a proposed North division featuring the Blue Jays would be an exciting concept and one that could result in more year-to-year success for Toronto.