What If...Baseball Finally Merged?

Just a "what if." I get the feeling that the two leagues will never actually completely merge because of history. Here's my idea anyway. I have always believed that great rivalries come from geographic proximity, so I have done my best to accommodate that into a new-look Major League Baseball.

If teams still want to play with or without the DH, that is entirely up to them. I don't think merging of leagues should affect that.

MLB EAST - Yankees, Mets, Boston, Atlanta, Baltimore, Washington, Tampa, Florida, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia

MLB CENTRAL - Toronto, Detroit, Milwaukee, Minnesota, White Sox, Cubs, Cleveland, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Kansas City

MLB WEST - Dodgers, Angels, Oakland, Seattle, Texas, Houston, Arizona, Colorado, San Francisco, San Diego

Divisional play is 72 games; eight games versus each divisional opponent.

INTERDIVISIONAL PLAY works like this:

Five Central teams play five West teams four times each, while the other five Central teams play five East teams four times each (20).

Five East teams play five Central teams four times each, while the other five East teams play the other five West teams four times each.

Five West teams play five East 4 times each. The other five West teams play five Central teams four times each.

Teams then play the other half of the division that they did not play before.

This adds up to 40 games per team against each of the other two divisions, or 80 games total against the other two divisions.

The regular season therefore totals 72+80, or 152 games.

PLAYOFFS

The top two teams in each division play in the Division Series.
The two Wild Card teams, which would be the next best teams from anywhere in the three divisions, play each other. Four teams emerge from these series.

For example:

Top 2 East: Yankees, Braves
Top 2 West: Angels, Astros
Top 2 Central: Toronto, Cubs
Wild Cards: Kansas City, Tampa Bay

In the second round, the four remaining teams are seeded 1-4 based on record.

i.e.
(1) Yankees (100-52) vs (4) Tampa Bay (88-64)
(2) Astros (97-55) vs (3) Boston (94-58)

The remaining two teams play for the World Series. Imagine a Red Sox-Yankees match-up for all the marbles, instead of just the AL crown. Wouldn't it be awesome?