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KC Royals could tango with new teams in potential realignment for 2020

By Leigh Oleszczak

PHOENIX, ARIZONA - APRIL 07: General view inside of the Milwaukee Brewers spring training facility, American Family Fields of Phoenix on April 07, 2020 in Phoenix, Arizona. According to reports, Major League Baseball is considering a scenario in which all 30 of its teams play an abbreviated regular season without fans in Arizona's various baseball facilities, including Chase Field and 10 spring training venues. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
PHOENIX, ARIZONA - APRIL 07: General view inside of the Milwaukee Brewers spring training facility, American Family Fields of Phoenix on April 07, 2020 in Phoenix, Arizona. According to reports, Major League Baseball is considering a scenario in which all 30 of its teams play an abbreviated regular season without fans in Arizona's various baseball facilities, including Chase Field and 10 spring training venues. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /
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Major League Baseball is tossing around realigning the divisions for what could end up being a shortened 2020 season. That realignment would put the KC Royals in a division with four different teams than usual.

Rather than keep up with the American and National leagues and having East, Central, and West, Major League Baseball is kicking around a different idea. Per Bob Nightengale of USA Today,

"The plan would have all 30 teams returning to their spring training sites in Florida and Arizona, playing regular-season games only in those two states and without fans in an effort to reduce travel and minimize risks in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.The divisions would be realigned based on the geography of their spring training homes."

So, as such, the Kansas City Royals would play their games in Arizona and be a part of the Cactus League Northwest. Their division rivals would consist of the Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego Padres, Seattle Mariners, and Texas Rangers, which would be interesting to say the least.

Playing games in one area without fans might be the only way Major League Baseball can go on this year. While playing games in Florida – who has been hit hard by COVID-19 – could be trickier, there was also discussions on only playing games in Arizona.

This would be a different idea for sure, but as Tony La Russa was quoted in the article, there might not be an opportunity to play in the regular stadiums this season. If this is what Major League Baseball has to do to have a season, then isn’t that better than nothing?

"“I’m not sure we’ll be able play in our own cities across the country, so if you split it up like that, it’s a possibility.’’"

My concern with starting sports back up again anytime soon is that what if an individual tests positive? Once again, things are forced to shut down and then we’re back where we started.

This was supposed to be an interesting season for the KC Royals. No, they weren’t going to compete for a playoff spot, but a lot of intriguing prospects were going to make their debuts in 2020 and that was going to give fans hope for the future.

In a division against the Brewers, Padres, Mariners, and Rangers, the Royals are probably only better than the Mariners so this realignment wouldn’t necessarily increase their playoff hopes. Fans weren’t expecting a postseason berth, but the entire 2020 season getting canceled would be unfortunate.

Hopefully we continue to flatten the curve enough so that cases decrease and we can all return to normalcy.

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