I previously posted on Major League realignment. This post looks at the 2016 season under that plan.
Ignoring effects on scheduling, the 2016 regular season results and playoffs:
| American | National | Expansion | |||
| Texas | 95-67 | Chicago | 103-58 | Washington | 95-67 |
| Cleveland | 94-67 | Los Angeles | 91-71 | Toronto | 89-73 |
| Boston | 93-69 | New York | 87-75 | Seattle | 86-76 |
| Baltimore | 89-73 | San Francisco | 87-75 | Kansas City | 81-81 |
| Detroit | 86-75 | St Louis | 86-76 | Miami | 79-82 |
| New York | 84-78 | Houston | 84-78 | Colorado | 75-87 |
| White Sox | 78-84 | Pittsburgh | 78-83 | Milwaukee | 73-89 |
| Los Angeles | 74-88 | Philadelphia | 71-91 | Arizona | 69-93 |
| Oakland | 69-93 | Atlanta | 68-93 | San Diego | 68-94 |
| Minnesota | 59-103 | Cincinnati | 68-94 | Tampa Bay | 68-94 |
In this scenario, the Cleveland-Detroit rainout would have to be made up. If we assume Detroit won, Cleveland would be in second place.
Postseason with 9 teams:
Postseason:
- tiebreaker game : #8t SF (N) at #8t NY (N)
- #9 SEA (X) at #8 SF/NY winner (N)
- #7 BOS (A) at #2 TEX (A)
- #6 TOR (X) at #3 WAS (X)
- #5 LA (N) at #4 CLE (A)
- Wild card winner at #1 CUB (N)
In the four-team playoff, it would be Cleveland at Texas in the American League, and Washington at the Cubs in the other series.
However, during the days of the 162-game schedule and the 10-team leagues, each team played each of the other teams 18 times (9 at home, and 9 away). I figured the head-to-head percentages for teams in the same league and extended those to 18 games, recording wins to two places. I did not consider home and away records. In case of 6-0 or 3-0 sweeps, I used 6½-½ or 3½-½ as appropriate. For teams that did not play at all, I used the total wins of each team against the league (including interleague play); so for San Francisco vs Houston, I used 87-84, which led to 9.16 wins for San Francisco and 8.84 wins for Houston. I then totaled the wins, and rounded the top fractional totals up (and the rest of them down) until I had 810 wins for the league.
The revised standings are presented below.
| American | National | Expansion | |||
| Baltimore | 98-64 | Chicago | 99-63 | Seattle | 94-68 |
| New York | 93-69 | New York | 95-67 | Toronto | 94-68 |
| Boston | 90-72 | Los Angeles | 92-70 | Miami | 91-71 |
| Texas | 84-78 | St Louis | 87-75 | Kansas City | 83-79 |
| White Sox | 82-80 | Houston | 85-77 | Milwaukee | 83-79 |
| Cleveland | 81-81 | Pittsburgh | 81-81 | Washington | 83-79 |
| Detroit | 79-83 | San Francisco | 79-83 | Tampa Bay | 82-80 |
| Los Angeles | 70-92 | Atlanta | 69-93 | San Diego | 68-94 |
| Oakland | 67-95 | Cincinnati | 64-98 | Colorado | 67-95 |
| Minnesota | 66-96 | Philadelphia | 59-103 | Arizona | 65-97 |
The AL East teams move up from not having to play Toronto. Central division teams lose Kansas City, while western teams lose Houston. National League teams are brought to the center by playing Houston; NL West teams no longer get to pick on Arizona and Colorado. Atlanta benefits from not playing Washington. In the expansion league, many teams are brought to the center by playing teams they did not play in the real world in 2016. Philadelphia falls from having to play the Cubs, Cardinals, and Dodgers more.
Nine-team postseason:
- #9 BOS (A) at #8 MIA (X)
- #7 LA (N) at #2 BAL (A)
- #6 NY (A) at #3 SEA (X)
- #5 TOR (X) at #4 NY (N)
- Wild card winner at #1 CUB (N)
The four-team postseason would require a playoff between Toronto and Seattle for the Expansion League pennant, with the winner to play Baltimore while the Mets play the Cubs in the NLCS.