North Shore Nine

We had The Athletic’s Stephen Nesbitt join us on North Shore Nine Live this week, and the timing couldn’t have been better. Stephen recently laid out his version of MLB realignment if (or more like when) the league expands to 32 teams. Naturally, we had to ask the obvious question: Stephen, why do you hate Pittsburgh?

In his map, the Pirates land in a division with the Mets, Phillies, and Nationals. From a geography standpoint, it makes sense — Pittsburgh’s not quite Midwest, not quite East Coast, and sliding them into the “new” NL East keeps the circles tidy on the map. But let’s be honest, that’s a nightmare draw for a small-market team trying to claw back into relevance. Competing yearly with New York and Philly payrolls? Yikes.

Stephen broke down why he thinks MLB will aim for a plan that preserves the AL/NL structure instead of going full “nuclear option” with NFL-style conferences. He also gave insight into which expansion cities are heating up — Nashville and Raleigh being the most intriguing.

Of course, we couldn’t let him go without sneaking in some Bubba Chandler talk. Two outings in, Bubba has looked the part, and Stephen echoed the growing belief that the Pirates may finally be figuring out how to graduate pitchers to the majors ready to succeed.

It was a fun conversation mixing future-of-the-game speculation with some present-day Pirates optimism.