Realignment (sports)

In North American sports, realignment occurs in sports when a league decides to change which teams are in which divisions, usually by creating new divisions. A main reason for having more divisions is that having more division champions can lead to better playoff matchups. Also, since teams generally play more games against teams in their own division, division rivalries can be more intense. If the divisions and/or conferences are based on geography, this also leads to decreased travel, as teams in the East will play most of their games against other eastern teams, and teams in the West will play most of their games against teams based in the west, saving money for the teams. Baseball's Texas Rangers are an exception to this; realignment has grouped them together with three teams on the West Coast. Another reason for realignment might be to create divisions that are more equal in size, as the NBA did in the 2004-05 season. MLB realignment, however, has mainly been for creating extra playoff teams, as in 1969 and 1994 (see also: wild card).

Realignment often happens after a league expands: the 1969 baseball realignment coincided with the addition of four teams; MLB's 1994 realignment (creating a third division in both the AL and the NL) came a year after the league added the Colorado Rockies and Florida Marlins; the National Football League realigned to its current eight-division format when the Houston Texans joined the league in 2002; and the National Hockey League realigned after the league expanded to 30 teams in 2000.