We love a good hypothetical at Crossing Broad, and this is my favorite of the week:

I’d happily trade the Nationals, Marlins, and Braves for the Yankees and Red Sox. Are you kidding me? <Tom McGinnis voice> I would make this switch in a heartbeat. A Phillies, Mutts, Yankees, and Red Sox division would be awesome baby!

In terms of positives, the obvious is that these are four of the best fan bases in Major League Baseball. The parks would constantly be full and the interest would be high. No summer lull when you add the baseball-crazy Boston market and other team from the New York market. Everything is hyperlocal, so very easy for Phillies fans to go up to the Bronx or Fenway and likewise for their repulsive fans to come down here. Let the Nationals and Marlins go be irrelevant in another division. Same thing with the Braves, who continue to have a casual fan base that always will prioritize SEC football and other such things above the Cobb County baseball team.

The negative would be losing the Atlanta rivalry, of course. There’s a long history with the Phils there. And playing the Yanks and Sox would mean the division is much more competitive, and therefore harder to win. The Marlins and Nationals aren’t there to beat up on. It would be a murderer’s row year-in and year-out, with no easy division wins to be found.

Obviously this is just a hypothetical, but if they did realign the divisions to something like this, I’d prefer to go back to the previous schedule, which featured more division games. Nobody needs to see 16 games against the Nationals every year, but I’d watch 16 Yanks/Phils games. Hell yeah I would. Playing in a division like this would just mean more. Everything would be elevated. Trim the Washington and Miami fat. Big time baseball for big time fans. Who wouldn’t want that?