I suspect this alignment is more about the planets being aligned from our view point, not that they are in the best configuration for pulling off gravity assist

I suspect this alignment is more about the planets being aligned from our view point, not that they are in the best configuration for pulling off gravity assist for spacecrafts wanting to use the alignment in their favor like voyager 1 and 2 did, IIRC that configuration was set to repeat every 176 years or so. Source: recently watched the voyager documentary