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"A simple form of realignment being seriously considered has been raised in the labor talks between Major League Baseball and the players' association, according to four sources: two leagues of 15 teams, rather than the current structure of 16 teams in the National League and 14 in the American League".
"According to a highly ranked executive, one consideration that has been raised in ownership committee meetings is eliminating the divisions altogether, so that 15 AL and 15 NL teams would vie for five playoff spots within each league. Currently, Major League Baseball has six divisions".
I'm all for eliminating division play, I would like to see either 28 or 32 teams, so we could eliminate inter-league play, and have every team play the same schedule.
that way we could be sure the best teams make the playoffs
I think 4 playoff teams in each conference sounds better than 5, with 5 there has to a bye.
but this plan has more promise then others I heard
It is insane to have unequal numbers of teams in different divisions. A team i the NL Central has only one chance in 6 of winning a division, and in the AL west, one chance in 4. Thats a difference of about four titles in a fan's 50-year lifetime, which is completely unfair.
Baseball ought to at least make a modicum of effort to give the appearance of being fair. Say the Cards and Mets are in a race for a wild card. The Cards always have to play interleague games against the Royals, while the Mets are always playing the Yankees. What's fair about that?
The logical switch would be the Astros into the AL West, which would put five teams in each of 6 divisions. The odd number of teams in each league is easily and quickly solved by distributing the interleague games through the whole season, with one interleague matchup every day, with the odd NL team playing against the odd AL team. That would give each team about 11 interleague games through the season, and if that's not enough, you can add in a week in which everyone plays interleague.
I'd go for a 32-team league with four four-team divisions in each, with two expansion franchises, probably in southern markets like New Orleans or Oklahoma City.
It is insane to have unequal numbers of teams in different divisions. A team i the NL Central has only one chance in 6 of winning a division, and in the AL west, one chance in 4. Thats a difference of about four titles in a fan's 50-year lifetime, which is completely unfair.
Baseball ought to at least make a modicum of effort to give the appearance of being fair. Say the Cards and Mets are in a race for a wild card. The Cards always have to play interleague games against the Royals, while the Mets are always playing the Yankees. What's fair about that?
The logical switch would be the Astros into the AL West, which would put five teams in each of 6 divisions. The odd number of teams in each league is easily and quickly solved by distributing the interleague games through the whole season, with one interleague matchup every day, with the odd NL team playing against the odd AL team. That would give each team about 11 interleague games through the season, and if that's not enough, you can add in a week in which everyone plays interleague.
Buster Olney had previously reported that Houston would be the logical team and it would create an instant rivalry with Texas. I think Milwaukee would be a better choice because they were the last american league team to switch leagues. Then they could go to their no-division set up with the 5 best teams making the playoffs in each league.
I think Milwaukee would be a better choice because they were the last American league team to switch leagues. Then they could go to their no-division set up with the 5 best teams making the playoffs in each league.
I like the division and I do not want Milwaukee to leave to some other division. When Milwaukee was in the AL East there were times when Milw was 35 games above .500 and they were still in third place, I feel for the Rays my adopted AL Team. B.O. talked about splitting up the Sox and the Yanks one into the AL and one in the NL.
Every business's success depends on the market's perception of its product. If MLB can't sell Fairness, they will have no product.
The bottom line is now that MLB merely stages events which are presented by the much larger entertainment media networks, at times and dates dictated by the network to meet their overall scheduling needs. TV network ad salesmen are not selling programs, they are selling the delivery of viewers to the advertisers, and the program content is of no relevance. They will buy and air the program that promises to deliver the most viewers to the ad buyers.
If Baseball hopes to be the purveyors of this programming, instead of Poker, then Baseball must have a positive and attractive fan perception, pulling viewers to in front of their sets. Fairness is one way to do that, but is probably no longer the most effective way, and is quick to be abandoned if something else works better.
East: Baltimore, Boston, New York, Tampa Bay, Toronto Central: Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, K.C., Minnesota West: L.A., Oakland, San Diego, Seattle, Texas
NATIONAL
East: Atlanta, Florida, New York, Philly, Washington Central: Chicago, Cincinatti, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, St. Louis West: Arizona, Colorado, Houston, L.A., San Francisco
one consideration that has been raised in ownership committee meetings is eliminating the divisions altogether, so that 15 AL and 15 NL teams would vie for five playoff spots within each league. Currently, Major League Baseball has six divisions".
Let's see what would have happened in past two years with this setup. (I'm moving the Brewers back to the AL for our purposes.)
So, the same four teams that did make it, make it again with the addition of the Red Sox. What pennant race there would have been would have involved Texas, Boston and the White Sox competing for that fifth slot.
National: PH 97-65
SF 92-70
AT 91-71
CN 91-71
SD 90-72
SL 86-76
CL 83-79
Clearly here the division set up is superior. Under the five in/out approach, the same four teams make it with the addition of San Diego, and the nearest competition is four and seven games back. Not much of a race at all, especially compared to how it played out with the divisions, coming down to the last day with SF, SD and Atlanta all in win or go home situations.
2009:
American: NY 103-59
LA 97-65
BS 95-67
MN 87-76
TX 87-75
DT 86-77
SE 85-77
In this case the five post season slots system would have been better. The division reality was no race at all in the AL East or West, only the Tigers and Twins contesting the AL Central. Anyway, it is the same four teams plus Texas, and it would have been a four team battle for the final two slots.
National: LA 95-67
PH 93-69
CL 92-70
SL 91-71
SF 88-74
FL 87-85
AT 86-76
This had been a dull division race dynamic, two of the divsions weren't close and the only real contest going was to see which team in the remaining division won it and which would be the wild card. Under the new set up, it would have been a pretty good four way battle for the final two slots. The same four teams would make the post season with the addition of San Francisco. And how can that have been a bad thing?
If someone has the motivation and energy, he or she may go back and look at all the adjusted races since MLB reached 30 teams and see how things would have been different. I suspect that the pattern will be sometimes the old way made for the better race, and sometimes the new set up would have been better.
My dream divisions would be four 8-team leagues:
American : Bos, NYY, Tor, Clev, Det, CWS, KC, Minn
National: Mets, Phil, Pitts, Cin, Cubs, StL, Milw, Colo.
(The above two would preserve as close as possible the historic AL and NL.)
Southern: Balt, Wash, Atl, Fla, TB, Hou, Tex,
Western: Sea, SF, Oak, LA, Ana, SD, Ariz.
(An open space in the Southern and Western for expansion.)
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