The next baseball expansion should include two more teams, and the 162 games for a regular season should remain. How could baseball manage another expansion which results in balanced schedules for all teams while limiting the regular season to 162 games? I propose that baseball expand to both Montreal and Nashville as the two added teams. I somewhat radically submit that baseball break up the "leagues" into four divisions, each with four teams per division. I very radically suggest that six teams change their league affiliations, similar to what happened to the Houston Astros a few years back. My new "leagues" would look like this:

AL One: Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays, and Tigers. Detroit and Toronto are not that far in distance, so this works.

AL Two: White Sox, Twins, Brewers, and Cubs. Getting the Cubs to move should present a major issue, but all four of these teams are geographically close to one another. Three of the four teams have been traditionally in the American League, so only one league switch is necessary.

AL Three: Royals, Rangers, Astros, and Cardinals. Cardinal Nation would be up in arms about moving to the American League, but regional rivals make a difference, Three of the four teams are currently in the American League, so the Redbirds get outvoted with my proposal.

AL Four: Angels, Athletics, Mariners, and Rockies. Seattle and Denver have to fight it out for Grass Creek, but most of Wyoming is already Rockies territory. The state of Washington and the state of Colorado may struggle the other for "grass" bragging rights. The Rockies would have to change "leagues," but they have been in the National League for much less time than Houston faced with the switch of the Astros.

NL One: Dodgers, Giants, Padres, and Diamondbacks. I see no problem with this division.

NL Two: Reds, Indians, Pirates, and Phillies. Cleveland would have to switch leagues, but the other three teams have been traditionally in the National League. Cincinnati and Cleveland could contest for Ohio, while Pittsburgh and Philadelphia have Pennsylvania up for grabs. This looks like a natural division.

NL Three: Marlins, Rays, Braves, and Nashville. The Rays are not an old franchise so Tampa Bay should adjust. Atlanta needs a rival, so Nashville is my choice with Charlotte and New Orleans in the mix. The "National" League would own the SEC, but the "American" League would just have to get over it while controlling the territory of the old Big 8/12 for its own purposes.

NL Four: Mets, Nationals, Orioles, and Montreal. Montreal needs some outdoor stadium or one with a retractile roof, but the city used to draw more than two million fans on a regular basis. Baltimore would switch leagues. Washington D.C. and Baltimore have always contested media rights, so why not place them together? Washington D.C. and Baltimore were both together in the same league from 1954 through 1971, so that has happened before. A bonus is New York still facing Washington D.C. for the real power capital, and another feather in the cap for this division is having the old Expos supporters getting the chance to imagine "what could have been" when the Nationals travel north.

Basically, I suggest that the Orioles Rays, and Indians move to the "National" League, while the Cubs, Cardinals, and Rockies head in the opposite direction. To make this work, two more changes would be necessary in order to result in a balanced schedule with 162 games for a regular baseball season. First, baseball would have to drop the regional rivalry games, but most of these matches are already figured into the divisions. New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco/Oakland would no longer feature interleague contests between the Yankees/Mets, the Angels/Dodgers, and the Giants/Athletics, but regional competition for the rest of the divisions become more intense. As a consolation the baseball fans in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco/Oakland are given the chance with some short travel to see all the teams in baseball, which leads to my next point. Second, baseball should eliminate all interleague games. For example, with 16 teams in each "league," a team would play 14 games in a season against each of the three other teams in their division, for a total of 42 games. That team would also play each of the other 12 teams in their "league" 10 times per season, for another 120 games. It all adds up to a balanced schedule for all teams within the 162 game standard. The alternatives don't appear all that appealing, with teams in each three division league facing an unbalanced variable of either four or five opponents for the small flag. I don't see a way for some balanced schedule if baseball retains features like three divisions per league, rivalry games, and interleague play.