For “at least the past decade,” MLB expansion has been Rob Manfred’s top plan. So far, we’ve come across Nashville and Salt Lake City as the frontrunners. Meanwhile, other cities such as San Jose, Charlotte, Montreal, etc., have all been mentioned here and there to some extent. Manfred has set himself a deadline, expressing that he’d like to have two cities picked before he retires in 2029. Apparently, there’s a Canadian city, except for Toronto, that Manfred had mentioned by name back in 2018, but that slipped past us that time.

It’s Vancouver. And as mentioned, it’s not a new idea. “We have a real list of cities that I think are not only interested in having baseball but also viable in terms of baseball. Places like Portland, Las Vegas, Charlotte, and Nashville in the United States. Certainly Montreal, maybe Vancouver in Canada,” MLB Commissioner said in 2018. The idea was realistic enough that at one point in time, BC Place, built in 1983, was constructed with baseball in mind.

However, that’s in the past. Multipurpose stadiums like BC Place no longer work for MLB anymore.

That means if Vancouver is in the picture, the city would need an exclusive baseball-specific ballpark for an MLB team.

Except for Montreal with 4.6 million, Vancouver has a metro area population bigger than that of other potential cities in the MLB expansion race. Also, let’s keep in mind that Vancouver isn’t competing with any eastern city like Montreal, Nashville, or Orlando.

The reason is that Manfred was clear that he’s exploring one of two new expansion teams to be in the west. “It would have to be two [new teams for expansion]. With the way our schedule would work, you have to do two. The only other restriction is that, ideally, you would need an eastern time zone team and one in… the west.” That being the case, the list is narrowed down.

That leaves Vancouver, probably competing against Salt Lake City, Portland, and San Jose. Now, let’s understand how it’s all going to look like post-expansion.

What would it look like after the MLB expansion?

Now that we’ve three cities as front runners—Salt Lake City, Nashville, and Vancouver—how will it all work out?

For starters, the endangered tradition of the 162-game schedule will come to an end, given that the league will be growing from 30 to 32 teams. It will either be a 156-game or 154-game format.

Moreover, the league hasn’t expanded since 1998. It was back when the Diamondbacks entered the picture. So, one thing is for sure: MLB is now overdue for growth. Before the end of this decade, we’re expecting the expansion to be done.

And when that happens, you can expect the New York Mets to end up in the same division as the Yankees instead of the Atlanta Braves. Meanwhile, in the postseason, instead of three division winners, we would have four. However, the postseason will still be split between the AL and NL. Both sides will have their own bracket.

Clubs like the Mets, Braves, and the Red Sox or Blue Jays won’t be traveling all the way to the West Coast for the division series. The expansion will bring a serious geographical realignment, too. With the current one, players often get drained with all the conveyance. That’s why we can expect that after sorting out the Tampa Bay Rays’ stadium situation, the league will speed up with expansion.