Let’s face it, some of you would really love this because you could finally unleash those pent up feelings about the Cubs or White Sox depending on who you root for. Some fans already view the other side as rivals, but what if one day the Cubs and White Sox were actually competing for the same division title? Well, we have one scenario from The Athletic’s Jim Bowden, where that could be the case.
At the center of Bowden’s premise is for new divisions being much more geographically inclined. So, in Chicago, the Cubs and White Sox would become a full-time rivalry in Bowden’s new-look MLB, but other traditional rivalries would fall victim to his plan.
Cubs vs. Cardinals? No more. Here’s how Bowden would divide the eight, four-team divisions. In this scenario, the two expansion teams would be in Nashville and Charlotte.
Midwest
Cubs
White Sox
Brewers
Twins
Southwest
Astros
Royals
Cardinals
Rangers
Pacific Coast
Rockies
A’s
Mariners
Giants
West
Diamondbacks
Angels
Dodgers
Padres
East
Red Sox
Mets
Yankees
Phillies
North
Reds
Guardians
Tigers
Blue Jays
Mid-Atlantic
Orioles
Charlotte (Expansion Team)
Pirates
Nationals
Southeast
Braves
Marlins
Nashville (Expansion Team)
Rays
Included in Bowden’s proposal, MLB could still have 12 playoff teams, with each division winner getting an automatic spot in the postseason plus one wild card berth in each conference. Via The Athletic.
MLB could maintain the 12-team postseason field, with six clubs from each conference — the four division winners and two wild-card berths — and the playoffs could be structured in a similar manner to last year if desired. Or not!
So what could the new conferences and divisions look like? Just for fun, here’s the Bowden Realignment Plan. (For this exercise, I included Charlotte and Nashville as the expansion cities, both in the Eastern Conference, and left open the possibility of the A’s remaining in Oakland or moving to Las Vegas.)
So, Cubs fans and White Sox fans, are you on board with both teams eventually playing in the same division?
We’ll discuss Jim Bowden’s idea Wednesday night on the Pinwheels And Ivy Podcast, starting at 8 p.m. CST.
Last week we talked about the over/under on the win totals for the White Sox and Cubs. The number for the White Sox has been set between 83 and 85, while the Cubs has been around 78. Now, a week away from pitchers and catchers officially reporting to spring training, Fangraphs has released its ZiPS projected standings for the American League and oh boy do they not like the White Sox chances to be good in 2023.
According to these projected standings, the White Sox are looking at a third place finish in the American League Central division, ending the season with a 74-88 record.
We’ll take a closer look at some of these projections and discuss what seems spot on what we’re surprised about.
One last thing, as a reminder for those of you who follow along on the Pinwheels And Ivy Podcast, if we get to 1,000 subscribers on YouTube, then we will give away two tickets to a White Sox or Cubs game this season.
I’ll be waiting more-or-less for the rivalry in the NFL when they put a different team in Soldier Field. This could happen the year after the Bears move to The Racetrack. Maybe expansion but probably more like the Jaguars moving out of Jacksonville. Their(Jaguars) chances of not moving, may improve a touch with a better team. However they average 30th out 32 teams in attendance numbers yearly. Their merchandise is only a tad better at 29th. The revamped Soldier Field that wasn’t good enough for the Bears, could be perfectly feasable for a team, like the Jags which could skyrocket… Read more »
I think it would be a great opportunity for the Cubs and the Sox to play in the same division and be equally disappointing and mediocre year in and year out.
I’m not biting on this; I mean they play games in different countries sometimes. Besides i just don’t see it. Why would you do that when the MLB is playing interleague games.