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During the Rob Manfred era at the MLB helm, the commissioner has made some good moves, but also some not-so-good ones. But that won't stop him from coming up with new ideas to improve his sport.
In fact, just yesterday (Thursday), Manfred chatted at length on WFAN-AM radio with Craig Carton and Chris McMonigle.
Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred said on WFAN that he has discussed major changes to the sport's schedule: both a split season and an in-season tournament.
He also acknowledged that they would be difficult to implement.
https://t.co/7tTEajX5cO– Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) January 8, 2026
The commissioner then revealed that Major League Baseball had held discussions around an in-season tournament resembling the NBA Cup, as well as a calendar split into two half-seasons.
We talked about split seasons. We talked about in-season tournaments. We understand that 162 games is a long journey. I think with the difficulty of doing these kinds of events in-season, we're almost inevitably starting to talk about fewer regular-season games.
But according to the MLB head honcho, it won't be an easy project to pull off.
It's much more complicated in our sport than in others. Because of all our full-season records, you're playing with something that people really care about.
Major League Baseball has never held a tournament during the season, although it has tried a split campaign twice. In 1892, the National League organized a split season in an effort to increase fan interest. It didn't really take off then, however. Then, in 1981, MLB held another divided campaign after a players' strike interrupted the regular season.
Commissioner Manfred also discussed his vision of a realignment of the divisions. If this were to happen, then teams from the same city would not be placed in the same section.
Rob Manfred said on WFAN that in his vision for MLB divisional realignment, he would *not* put teams that share a market in the same division. The Mets and Yankees would be in separate groupings, as would the Cubs and White Sox, and the Dodgers and Angels.https://t.co/7tTEajX5cO
– Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) January 8, 2026
This means that the New York Yankees and Mets would not be reunited, as would the Los Angeles Dodgers and Angels, and the Chicago Cubs and White Sox.
This content was created with the help of AI.
