Rays likely ought to benefit from any MLB realignment

TAMPA — The clock is ticking, and the stakes are high.

The Tampa Bay Rays are under new ownership, and the team’s zip code looms larger than its winning percentage. Everyone wants to know what Major League Baseball is thinking and where the Rays will eventually land.

If I may offer a suggestion:

Somewhere outside the gated community of the AL East.

That’s not what you were expecting, I know. The new owners, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and most everyone with a pulse has ideas about Tampa Bay’s unsettled stadium situation. And, no doubt, that is priority No. 1 for the team’s long-term health.

But realignment should be priority No. 1B.

They go hand-in-hand, in case you were wondering. A better stadium situation is needed for increased revenues, and a more palatable division is necessar