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With MLB’s Eyes On Expansion, Realignment, Who Is In The Yankees’ Division

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Matthew Blittner | Last updated Aug 18, 2025 6:22 PM ET

Hang on to your hats. MLB, as you know it, is (potentially) heading for a massive change. The National League has existed since 1876. The American League joined in 1901. Now, their demise might not be far away. (And yes, this is all hypothetical conjecture for the time being).

On Sunday night, during ESPN’s broadcast of the Little League Classic, Commissioner Rob Manfred said, “I think if we expand, it provides us with an opportunity to geographically realign.” While Manfred did not mention anything about The NL and AL specifically, his comments have caused quite the stir on social media, with many baseball people speculating that radical geographic realignment would mean the death of the two longstanding leagues.

People like Howie Rose took to Twitter/X to say the following:

This is what I’ve been telling you is inevitable for quite a while now. The American League (1901) and the National League (1876) will cease to exist as we know them. The last move before total destruction of the traditions that made baseball great. https://t.co/P88WdqWvDu
— Howie Rose (@HowieRose) August 18, 2025

While I fully believe Rose is right and agree with his sentiments, let's take a walk on the other side and see where it leads us. If the current divisions are no more, who might be the Yankees’ new division rivals? Assuming MLB expands to 32 teams, the easiest realignment would be eight divisions with four teams each.

Under that math, the Yankees would have three other teams joining them in their new division. Most would assume the Mets would join the Yankees, but that might be a little too much for baseball purists who are used to having the New York teams separated.

The Red Sox would have to be one of the teams to join the Yankees if for no other reason than their historical rivalry, even if the heat has significantly cooled off over the last decade.

The Phillies, Pirates, Orioles and Nationals are all close enough geographically to make sense. But if the Mets don’t join the Yankees, then the Phillies should stick with their current New York rival. The Pirates and Orioles both have history with the Yankees dating back multiple decades, so there could be some fun in reigniting those dormant rivalries. The Nationals kind of feel like the odd team out, but D.C. is only a four-hour drive from New York City, so they can’t be discounted as an option.

Our best guess says the new division would be: Yankees, Red Sox, Mets and Phillies. That leaves the Pirates, Orioles, Nationals and potentially the Guardians or Reds to make up one of the other divisions.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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