Baseball Should Expand and Re-Align
by Kernel on Oct 16, 2008 7:52 AM PDT
46 comments
I have a problem with the disparity between leagues and divisions, and it has bothered me ever since the Brewers went all National on everyone. As an Angels fan, I'm tired of hearing about how the West is small and soft, and as a proponent of fair play I don't get how it's remotely fair for one league to let about 28.5% of its teams into the playoffs and another to only let 25%. While the American League is probably a more competitive division at the top, it's hard to say how things would shake out if you had added two new clubs to the bigs (my picks would be Portland and the rapidly growing OKC, personally), of course to the AL to give each league 16 teams.
One of my favorite things about baseball is that it's never been easy to make the playoffs. In the NBA, a vast portion of teams sneak into the playoffs; in fact, the 1983-1984 season saw 16 of the 23 clubs make the playoffs. In other words, so long as you weren't godawful, you managed to have a shot. Washington, the #8 seed in the Eastern Division, had a sparkling .427 winning percentage, generally good enough for last place in baseball (though a few teams always aspire to be even worse). Other than giving the top seeds a pseudo-bye, all it seemed to do was extend the playoffs needlessly while also glorifying a playoff hunt that rarely paid off. Football is a bit more even-keeled, as each 16-team conference sends 6 teams to the playoffs.
The road to the World Series is much more difficult, however, and I've always loved that. When I was a kid, you could only win the West by clambering over six other teams. But as baseball expanded, adding a whopping four teams in the '90s, it also evolved, splitting the game into the current formation, which is nothing short of bizarre. Divisions with varying team counts, leagues with a 2-team difference, and the Wild Card, a playoff role not native to baseball. You don't have to be the best team in your division to make the playoffs, after whcih all bets are off anyway in the microscopic 5-game series that tests a team's 3-man rotation and hot streaks more than a team's overall depth. By adding two teams, baseball could go to an NFL-style split with a baseball-style playoff system. Split divisions into North, South, East, and West, and give each division a champion who moves on to the playoffs. Forget this Wild Card thing, which only serves as a playoff footnote (like when the Angels and Giants played in the WS, when their status as Wild Cards got more play than anything else, save Barry Bonds and the Rally Monkey).
Maybe I'm crazy, but divisional and league symmetry, as well as crowning champions only, sounds best to me. Baseball likes the Wild Card, though, because it extends the validity of the season for many teams that would otherwise have faded away (like Milwaukee). By keeping more teams in the "mix", baseball gets more games on prime TV slots, more butts in seats, and more of that playoff chase glow when many division races just wouldn't be that interesting.
Baseball should get back to crowning champions, not second-place teams. Go 4x4x2 and have a representative team from each region. You may have more jockeying for home-field advantage and less for real playoff spots, but you're almost guaranteed to represent more areas of the country (though baseball did pretty well on that front this year, especially in the AL), and when two teams meet in the World Series, the greatest of championships, they both arrive as winners, not second-bests who underdogged their way to a championship game they would have had no place in 20 years ago. Restore champions to baseball, and stop giving second-place teams a ticket to the playoffs they only earned because baseball didn't know what to do with 30 teams (since keeping an interleague series going at all times was apparently some kind of nightmate). Get it done now, before the wild card settles in too much more as some kind of "tradition." If a team here or there has to move (say, out of Miami), you don't even have to change the alignment. And t'll even tell you how to do it, Bud, just so you can agree with me.
NL East
Mets
Phillies
Pirates
Nationals
NL South
Braves
Marlins
Cardinals
Astros
NL North
Cubs
Brewers
Rockies
Reds
NL West
Dodgers
Diamondbacks
Padres
Giants
AL East
Yankees
Red Sox
Orioles
Blue Jays
AL South
Royals
Rays
Rangers
Oklahoma City/Nashville/Louisville/Des Moines Franchise
AL North
White Sox
Twins
Tigers
Indians
AL West
Angels
A's
Mariners
Portland Expansion
There. Done. Fix baseball like this.
This Fan-Post is authored by an independent fan. Tell us what you think and how you feel.
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It sounds good and everything
But what you’re forgetting is that there’s gonna have to be a huge talent dilution for something like this to happen.
http://inplaynoouts.blogspot.com/ - A blog about teams I like, written by me.
Bingo
Not sure there is a solid 50 more big league players running around that could keep the AL strong. The AL West and South would be god awful.
Willie Mays Aikens is FREeeeeeeee
by Angel Aviator on Oct 16, 2008 8:52 AM PDT up reply actions
expand, no - realign, yes
I really don’t like how the NL Central has six teams and the AL West has four. Here’s a suggestion:
1.) Move KC to the AL West
2.) Move MIL back to the AL Central
The three affected divisions look like this:
AL West:
LAA, TEX, OAK, SEA, KC
AL Central:
MIN, CHW, CLE, MIL, DET
NL Central:
CHC, STL, HOU, PIT, CIN
Six divisions with five teams each. Makes sense, doesn’t it?
If the Red Sox and Dodgers play for the World Series, I will not watch a single minute of a single game.
You can't do that.
That would mean 15 teams in each league, an odd number. Unless they always had an interleague series playing, there would be a team in each league not playing for 3 days in a row.
Hostility abounds on Halos Heaven
I personally don't either
but MLB wants to make it a big deal every time it comes around.
Hostility abounds on Halos Heaven
can you rotate that three days between each team?
i’m sure they wouldn’t mind an extra mid-season break. something similar to a bye week in football. there has to be some way you can type 15 teams into a computer and have it pump out a reasonable schedule with a few days off spread throughout the season.
If the Red Sox and Dodgers play for the World Series, I will not watch a single minute of a single game.
how about you
just move arizona to the AL West and move Houston to the NL West. There, balance restored.
also, why would toronto be in the north but cleveland in the east? Toronto is right above new york and cleveland is right by all those teams in the midwest. no sense
AZ
The Diamond Backs were initially supposed to be put in the AL West. Jerry Colangelo made a deal with MLB that he would only make the Diamond Backs happen if they were to be put in the NL West.
"why do you we still have quitlin?" -VladdyG
having lived in az for a couple years
I would love to see the angels trip here three times a year. lets do it.
Balance but not evenness
Having an odd number of teams in a league makes scheduling more difficult, so it’s said. But since the unbalanced schedule throws a monkey wrench into that argument, it’s not clear that’s so important anymore.
Witty .sig goes here.
yea
i say just move teams around. I asked myself this earlier and thought we should move an NL west team to the AL west and call it a day. Bringing in two new teams would just have to many hurdles to climb. Two new teams would take a ton of new talent to start. IT not like basketball and football, wouldn’t you have to stock there whole minor leagues too?
"Throw some CHED!"
I think Interleague Would Be Better, Yes
If Selig and Co. would just let it happen, I’m sure they could work it out in two 15-team divisions, which would be best for all involved. At the same itme, I still don’t like the Wild Card.
You’re right about CLE and TOR, though. I should have switched them; think I will update it.
I think dilution is a valid argument as well, one I’m not sure baseball is yet ready for. But I’d like to see something done; as it is, I’d like a team to win under reasonably similar circumstances to others, understanding no two divisions are exactly the same.
i see this as likely
as a team forming in Vegas, which would actually be better than a team in Portland IMO.
Vegas is a very tough nut to crack.
The Angels may have beat them 8 times in a row, but winning three before they do is all that matters.
Although all the gambling revenue could build a nice stadium if they saw fit to do so.
The Angels may have beat them 8 times in a row, but winning three before they do is all that matters.
Doyers leaving Las Vegas
Understand they are pulling out of Vegas
Willie Mays Aikens is FREeeeeeeee
by Angel Aviator on Oct 17, 2008 1:15 AM PDT up reply actions
This is correct
They are returning to their long-time stomping grounds of Albuquerque since the Fish started looking for a AAA affiliate closer to Florida. Cashman Field, by modern standards, is fairly small so far as player amenities are concerned.
Witty .sig goes here.
coming from the northwest...
… portland would be an amazing spot for an expansion team. The “bad weather” is highly overrated. We have a ballpark that would need minimal improvements to be MLB caliber, and we’ve shown how we can support a professional franchise with the Blazers… Hell, the rose garden sold out during the “jailblazers” days.
Perhaps you've heard of me from the pages of Sports Illustrated...
What park is that?
Surely you can not be referencing PGE park. That is a nice facility for a minor league team, but it would take a hell of a lot more than “minimal improvements to be MLB caliber.”
PGE is sandwiched in between a light rail system, on a city street with buildings everywhere and the most exclusive athletic club in the city. Good look expanding the dimensions and adding the necessary seats to make it MLB caliber.
The Angels may have beat them 8 times in a row, but winning three before they do is all that matters.
Portland will never build a stadium IMO
They also do not have enough of the large corporations required to fill the luxury boxes.
The Angels may have beat them 8 times in a row, but winning three before they do is all that matters.
yeah. who are those nike guys anyways...
Perhaps you've heard of me from the pages of Sports Illustrated...
Nike and Addidas going to buy every luxury box in the stadium?
I think not.
The Angels may have beat them 8 times in a row, but winning three before they do is all that matters.
i dont even think a team should go into the northwest
but i wouldnt really doubt the money nike would put into it if it was in oregon
Intel (and other semiconductor co.'s)
have begun leaving the silicon valley for the NW. Not saying that they would buy or sponsor, but it may be part of a trend of Larger corporations leaving CA for a more business freindly environment.
Lamest poster of all-time.
by ineptituderunsamok on Oct 18, 2008 6:38 PM PDT up reply actions
Portland is very unfriendly to business
They have a city and county tax on top of state tax.
The Angels may have beat them 8 times in a row, but winning three before they do is all that matters.
This also forgets
that Portland came close to losing their AAA franchise about 2-3 years ago.
Witty .sig goes here.
It Doesn't Forget
It never knew. You could sub a good 10 different markets that could conceivably support baseball.
Are you then
advocating completely getting rid of the wild card under your proposed format? Because then I would not agree with this realignment since the disparity between certain league (like we even saw this season) is too great to punish one team for being in such a strong division (AL East) and reward others for being in such a weak one (NL West). So I’m not quite sure it would work out if you did this.
I've got an idear...
How about MLB adds 2 AL teams
Makes four 4-team divisions in the AL & NL
The 3 best division winners from each league advance into the playoffs
Also 1 wildcard team from each league advances.
The wildcard team will be the team with the best record that is not one of the 3 division winners!
If GA wasn't so Lazy, I'd have something clever here.
by TheTypingFiend on Oct 17, 2008 11:25 AM PDT up reply actions
Are you suggesting one division winner not make the play-offs?
Why not have one division and the top 4 teams make the play-offs? Not that I’m suggesting that, I think things are fine the way they are.
I was uncool before uncool was cool.
A couple of things...
1) Wildcard: On another SB Nation site (Seattle’s??) there was a post about the wildcard. The poster made an interesting observation: In the years that MLB has had the wildcard, very rarely has the wildcard team had the worst record of the four playoff teams in the league. (The post’s author said it has only happened twice.) So wildcard teams have, for the most part, earned their spot in the playoffs.
2) Unless there is a completely balanced scedule, having the Cubs and the Cardinals in different divisions would never fly.
The '56 LA Angels (PCL) cap logo...a classic.
Swap the Rocks and the Cards
And that’s fixed.
I don’t think the wild card is necessarily the worst; I just like the concept that the team that wins the World Series wins their division, proving that they are the best of their division over the season, not just being secon-dbest over 162 games, only to be the best over the next 15.
I don't recall that bothering me in '02
# F-Bomb, F-Bomb, you're my F-Bomb #
by UK Halo on Oct 18, 2008 5:49 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
I sometimes wish they would just get rid of the NL and AL
NL teams (particularly the Dodgers in the small market NL West) unfairly have it easy compared to the AL since they don’t have to compete on the field and off the field financially with Boston and the Yankees. Knowing you have to play Boston and New York a bunch of times every year and compete with them for a playoff spot, puts more pressure on management to field a good team through free agency, player development, or both if they want any hope of being competitive. As a result, in my opinion the NL will almost always be inferior to the AL since the presence of the Yankees and Boston raises the bar for other AL teams to improve while in the NL you can be very mediocre and still make the playoffs.
To combat the problem of middling NL teams making the playoffs, teams should be put into conferences such as the Western Conference and Eastern Conference with 2 divisions in each Conference (i.e. the Southwest, Southeast, West, East), 15 teams in each league, and 4 teams from each conference with 2 from each division making the playoffs which means the wild card would be history.
If you did away with the leagues, made every team have to play each of the 30 teams at least 5 times a year, and went with a more balanced schedule, then you would be less likely to see teams with pedestrian regular season records of 82-80 (Padres a few years back) and 84-78 make the playoffs.
This will never happen due to tradition and the travel nightmare of having a number of 2 game series. There is also the problem of having 1 division in each league with 7 teams while the other division has 8 teams. Though radical and not perfect, it seems to be the most fair way to ensure that the best teams make the playoffs though.
I think a better solution would be revenue sharing
Or something better than the luxury tax system in place now. It would put all teams, well almost all teams, on a more even level. The majority of the income difference comes from TV and radio revenue, if that were shared the smaller market teams would no longer be “small market”. The Yankees play the Royals and televise it, why shouldn’t the Royals get some of that money?
I realize this will never happen as it would seriously decrease the value of some clubs, but I think it’d cure a lot of the problems.
Another thing I think would help is a salary base minimum (not a salary cap). If teams are getting money from luxury tax, they should have to use that towards salary, not as a bonus to the owner. If a team’s payroll drops below a certain amount, they lose some of the tax money they receive. This will force a team to be competitive and not put out a team of cheap AAA players.
I was uncool before uncool was cool.
I love the idea
Like you said though certain teams would decrease in value and MLB seems to like the idea of having the Yankees and Boston having a good shot each year of going to the postseason for TV ratings.
If baseball would focus on promoting the star players like Pujols and Morneau instead of the storied franchises like the Yanks, Cubs, and Boston, then maybe the casual fan that just tunes in to watch those teams would be interested in watching the star player perform in the postseason.
Pujols Should Be The Biggest Name In Baseball
Period. That he’s not is ridiculous. Pedroia’s good,, A-Rod may be the home run king, and Cliff Lee is a great story, but Albert Pujols is the greatest player we’ve seen since perhaps Ted Williams, in my mind. This guy is incredible, and his time will be over too soon. I hope the Cards are successful just so more can see this man treat the Major Leagues like a sandlot.
And every team passed over him, time and time again. Everyone should be kicking themselves for passing on a player that turns average teams into contendors, and mediocre clubs into average ones. He oculd be turning a good team into an excellentone, like the 116-win M’s, except with actual rings to show for it.
Who's Albert Pujols?
If he really was so good, he’d be on the Yankees or Red Sux. Everybody knows that.
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