I’ve never seen a single minute of “Welcome to Wrexham,” because I do not like Ryan Reynolds. But following that football club’s ascension since its Hollywood takeover has been genuinely fascinating. That is not because of who bought the team, but because the system of promotion/relegation is inherently fascinating. Pro/rel (where the worst teams in a league at the end of each season drop down to a lower tier, while the best teams from that tier move up to take their place) is the best and most enthralling fan experience. Every single game matters every single season. You’re fighting for your spot in the higher tiers as much as trophies and playoff berths.

My social media algorithms have weaponized this drama against me. May is when pro/rel battles in soccer get real. In the last couple weeks I’ve seen countless clips of Rochdale defeating Boreham Wood in penalties to advance out of the National League, Coventry City scoring late to secure its promotion to Premier League, and Lincoln City scoring late to go to League One. The scenes in those small stadiums are bonkers and I want that for us.  

Will this ever happen in American sports, and there will be an American Wrexham? No! We do not deserve nice things.

But what if we did? Join me on a journey to imagine a better world.

Level Setting: We’re Not Doing Soccer

First, I know it would be easiest to make the apples-to-apples comparison and create a fantasy scenario in which U.S.-based professional soccer has true, comprehensive pro/rel. And U.S. soccer might actually be the sport most (comparatively) likely to adopt it. USL will have two teams, and later three, go up and down between USL 1 and 2 starting in a couple years. But USL is not the highest tier of soccer in America – it’s Major League Soccer, which was purposely built more on the model of other American sports, i.e. with a closed franchise model and no appetite to expand its ranks without steep fees. Maybe the USL model will push MLS to someday consider pro/rel? I am not holding my breath.

No, if we’re going to do this thing, I want to really go for it. I want to upend a sport that has survived through several World Wars. A sport that, only this year, decided to let technology we’ve had at our fingertips for decades help correctly call balls and strikes. I want to imagine a parallel universe that can truly never, ever happen. That’s right: we’re going to invent a world where baseball has pro/rel.

Let me be clear: this is absolutely impossible and will never happen for myriad reasons. But we can imagine a world in which we’ve collectively hypnotized: (1) all 30 MLB owners; (2) Rob Manfred and his successors; and (3) the MLB Players Association, including ex-Tiger Tony Clark. I also need to hold hostage the families of stadium bondholders, city governments, heads of national TV networks and weird regional sports networks like FanDuel and ROOT (note: we live in Hell!), corporate sponsors, senators, congresspeople, the people who run the Hall of Fame, competition regulators, and many others. With all due respect to those hundreds if not thousands of powerful individuals, please SHUT UP because this idea is too fun to fail and we must proceed.

Building the Fake Baseball Pro/Rel Pyramid

First order of business is to build some scaffolding of what our baseball pro/rel pyramid is going to look like, at least for the purposes of this exercise. We have the current 30 major league teams and roughly 270 minor league teams when you include independents and rookie-complex. Only 120 of the minors (reduced from 160 in 2021) are directly tied to Major League Baseball in Triple-A down to Single-A. We’re going to stick with those teams, because I need to reasonably scope this thing.

The independent pro teams are an especially tough cut. We lose teams like the Gastonia, NC Ghost Peppers and their average attendance of about 1,500 a game. They’re completely independent, built from scratch, and honestly more like a “pub team” in England operating below EFL level than any affiliated minors. But the proof of concept will benefit from some restraint.

In our parallel universe, the pro/rel pyramid snaps into existence right now, in 2026.

Tier 1 – Baseball Premier League: All 30 current major league teams get grandfathered into Tier 1. These are the best and brightest. The most expensive rosters. The biggest stadiums and TV audiences. The most history and class. Except for the Colorado Rockies – we will get to that later.

Tier 2 – Baseball Championship Division:  Triple-A baseball (also 30 teams) becomes Tier 2, aka the Championship Division. Some big entities here include the Iowa Cubs, Durham Bulls, St. Paul Saints, and Scranton Railriders. At the high end you’ll see a bit less than 10,000 per game watching the Lehigh Valley IronPigs in Coca-Cola Park, which sells candied bacon on a stick.

Tier 3 – Baseball League One: Our third-tier League One will initially consist of the 30 current double-A minor league teams, divided into an Eastern, Southern, and Texas League. While the Portland Sea Dogs, Pensacola Blue Wahoos, Rocket City Trash Pandas, and Tulsa Drillers all have interesting presences, the Frisco RoughRiders are probably the big dog in this tier – they have a roughly $30 million roster and boast top attendance in Double A, and pro/rel immediately creates a bit of entitlement for the 240,000 people in Frisco who are expecting big things right away.

Tier 4 – Baseball League Two: Our bottom tier is a combination of 60 current High-A and Single-A teams strewn throughout the Midwest, Northwest, California, Florida and elsewhere. The Quad City River Bandits, Jersey Shore BlueClaws, and newly minted Ontario Tower Buzzers’ promotion dreams start today.

Pro/Rel Rules: Our pyramid is set. Now, mirroring the English football system, we’ll have 3 teams promoted and 3 teams relegated from each tier (except, obviously, from the top of 1 and bottom of 4) per year.

Biggest Hand-Waving: In addition to all of the people I hypnotized into agreeing to this, I am also hand-waving a few big issues. Our minor league teams that occupy the pyramid, for sake of discussion, have all obtained separate and local funding to buy out the player development contracts from their MLB parent clubs and set up their own payrolls, player scouting, etc. There would be crazy (and good!) ripple effects of this all the way down to Little League. We’d have to right-size rosters and salary caps. Local TV deals would collapse and have to be renegotiated from the ground up, etc. etc. It’s fine – these aren’t the droids you are looking for. Move along.

The Simulation Begins: Years 1-3

The summer of 2026 marks the dawn of our new, pro/rel era, and many teams and their owners are thrust into it kicking and screaming. There are lawsuits and regulatory inquiries, all of which resolve in favor of the pro/rel experiment. Teams in the lower tiers of the pyramid start attracting new fans and investments almost immediately, and American baseball becomes the hottest topic in the world.

2026: The Atlanta Braves defeat the Tampa Bay Rays in 6 games to claim the last World Series guaranteed to involve only old-guard major league teams. The Angels, Rockies, and White Sox are all relegated to Tier 2. Nobody is surprised about the Rockies, in particular. The 7,000-foot-elevation pitching curse follows them down. Also to the surprise of no one, the aforementioned Lehigh Valley IronPigs are promoted to Tier 1, along with the Las Vegas Aviators and Durham Bulls. Frisco, another burgeoning favorite, is promoted to the Championship (Tier 2), along with the Somerset Patriots and Hartford Yard Goats.

2027: Serious action on the investment front. Mark Cuban buys the Frisco RoughRiders and Jeffrey Lurie (Eagles owner) buys a controlling interest in the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, who sign Juan Soto right away. The Mets, Marlins, and, in a serious shockwave, the Boston Red Sox, are all relegated to Tier 2, while the Worcester Red Sox are promoted to Tier 1, creating an insane identity crisis for Boston-area baseball fans. The Lansing Lugnuts become the big story in Tier 4, with several 9-figure investments from the Ilitch family, Dan Gilbert, and Mat Ishbia. The Lugnuts make several big signings and the olive burger at Jackson Field becomes a social media sensation. The Lugnuts finish with a commanding 90-30 record, and are promoted to Tier 3. The Yankees win the World Series.

2028: The Pirates, Athletics, and Royals are sent to Tier 2, joining 6 other former Tier 1 teams who are still toiling at that level. The superpowered Lugnuts cruise through Tier 3 and are promoted to Tier 2. At the end of the first three years, Tier 1 consists of 21 original major league teams and nine new teams, which in addition to the ones named earlier also include the Sacramento River Cats, Toledo Mud Hens, Sugar Land Space Cowboys, and Indianapolis Indians. THIS IS FUN, RIGHT? However, the Dodgers win the World Series again, and fans question whether pro/rel will ever be more than a novelty.

The New Normal and WooSox Nation: Years 4-6

By 2029, everyone has gotten used to the system, and there are several Apple TV+ and Peacock shows seeking to capitalize on the popularity of “Wrexham.” One of them is called “Meet the WooSox,” about the Worcester Red Sox, which has been purchased by a consortium of investors including Mark Wahlberg, who becomes the face of the franchise. Obviously there is a Wahlburgers in Polar Park. “Meet the WooSox” is a polarizing TV show.

2029: The Reds, Rays, and Nationals are sent to Tier 2, while Lansing continues its meteoric rise and joins the Premiership, along with the Buffalo Bisons and Nashville Sounds. The Yankees win the World Series in a dominant, 4-game sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers. But that’s not the story of the 2029 playoffs. The WooSox make it to the ALCS, falling just short of a World Series appearance when Cam Schlittler throws a complete game shutout in Game 7. Their playoff run is a sensation, and despite Wahlberg’s nature, the WooSox become America’s Team.

2030: Buffalo is relegated after only their first season in the Premiership, despite a late-season cash infusion from retired quarterback Josh Allen, who now runs a Hollywood production company alongside his wife Hailee Steinfeld. The Tigers and Reds are also relegated. The Lugnuts are promoted to Tier 1 in just their second year trying, and are now the only Michigan team in the highest echelon, with the Great Lakes Loons also surging through the ranks behind investments from the Dow family. The future of the Tigers is in serious doubt. The WooSox pick up right where they left off and lose only 1 game en route to a World Series against the Chicago Cubs. The 2030 World Series destroys modern sports ratings records and each of the 6 games becomes the most watched American sporting event other than Super Bowls. The WooSox become the first promoted team to win a World Series, and they won’t be the last.

2031: The “WooSox Hangover” year. Three previously relegated major league teams: the Pirates, Rays, and Royals, all make it back to Tier 1, the WooSox miss the playoffs entirely, and the Lehigh Valley IronPigs are sent back to Tier 3 along with the Frisco RoughRiders. The Dodgers win the World Series against the Yankees. People wonder if the experiment, as soon as it had finally paid off, is suddenly failing.

Cementing the Future: Lugnut Lunacy and Beyond

Remember, this isn’t the end of pro/rel, it’s only the beginning of the glorious next chapter in American sports. Interest in at least the first 3 Tiers, and baseball generally, is at an all-time high by 2032. By 2033, there are 6 concurrent stadium expansion projects: Lansing, Altoona, Sacramento, Reno, Norfolk and Salt Lake City are all pushing their capacities to 27,000 or more. Regular season baseball games are routinely given prime time slots on network television.

By the time 2034 comes around, half of the Tier 1 teams are franchises that didn’t play at this level in 2026. That’s proof in the pudding. Tier 3 has four teams (the Rockies, White Sox, Angels and Reds) who were once at the highest level. The 2034 World Series, for the very first time, is entirely non-original teams. The Lansing Lugnuts survive an early scare against upstart Richmond Flying Squirrels in the NLDS to make it to a showdown with the WooSox in the World Series, which again obliterates viewership numbers. The dominant Lugnuts win the World Series in 5 games.

In less than a decade, the sport and life in general has been fundamentally transformed for the better. Little League regional tournaments (and not just the LLWS) are now broadcast on ESPN+. Baseball merchandise is now hyper-local. It’s as common to see an Albuquerque Isotopes hat as it is an Astros hat, and season tickets at even the smallest stadiums in Tier 4 are selling out. Bad owners get punished, not protected, and new and recognizable owners come into baseball almost yearly. Pro/rel creates three new beats at every local newspaper and generates massive coverage needs; in some markets this singlehandedly resurrects demand for printed papers and leads to a boom in college journalism majors. People are happier. Life is better. We can dream it.

This piece is in Recommend If You Like The Baseball Issue Summer 2026. You can find physical copies in bars, cafes and stores in Chicago and Washington, D.C. The newspaper is available for purchase here.  

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