The Pointless Realignment Outpost

[nelroy78]

https://www.mlb.com/news/featured/the-story-of-the-los-angeles-browns-changed-baseball-forever
 

An alternate history based on if the St. Louis Browns had moved to Los Angeles in the early 1940s.

 

—The A’s move to San Francisco

—The Dodgers move to Dallas

—The Giants move to Minnesota

—The Astros are in the AL from the start as an expansion team

—Baltimore Orioles are AL expansion team in 1961

—California Angels are NL expansion team instead of AL in 1961

—Mets lose 1969 World Series to LA Browns (my favorite)

—The Senators move to Atlanta (we would have won 1987 and 1991 World Series...over the Braves in 1991, oh the irony)

—The Milwaukee Braves stay in Milwaukee

—The Seattle Pilots never move, but the original San Diego Padres (wearing blue and red instead of brown and orange) do move to Washington to become the Stars in 1974 as what almost happened in real life, and the Padres are reborn in the Mariners’ spot in the AL in 1977

 

–The Rays almost move to Oakland, would not have made sense without a new ballpark but at least it would have got the Astros out of the AL West. 

 

—The Cardinals are now in the NL West split from the Cubs, that and Atlanta being in the AL and not being the Braves doesn’t sit well with me, I like reality better even though Atlanta does get one more WS in this Browns to LA timeline.

 

 

[nelroy78]

I think I would keep the Senators in Washington, and still have the Braves move to Atlanta, the Pilots move to Milwaukee, and so the Padres still don’t move to Washington in this alternate timeline. So the Mariners still exist. I can’t fathom the Atlanta Senators.

[sportsfan7]

IRL, the Senators changed their name after both moves, so there's no reason to think they wouldn't do so here. The Atlanta Crackers in various minor leagues from 1901-65 and I think the Senators would've adopted that name instead.

[Walk-Off]

On 5/17/2020 at 9:18 AM, nelroy78 said:

https://www.mlb.com/news/featured/the-story-of-the-los-angeles-browns-changed-baseball-forever
 

An alternate history based on if the St. Louis Browns had moved to Los Angeles in the early 1940s.

 

—The A’s move to San Francisco

—The Dodgers move to Dallas

—The Giants move to Minnesota

—The Astros are in the AL from the start as an expansion team

—Baltimore Orioles are AL expansion team in 1961

—California Angels are NL expansion team instead of AL in 1961

—Mets lose 1969 World Series to LA Browns (my favorite)

—The Senators move to Atlanta (we would have won 1987 and 1991 World Series...over the Braves in 1991, oh the irony)

—The Milwaukee Braves stay in Milwaukee

—The Seattle Pilots never move, but the original San Diego Padres (wearing blue and red instead of brown and orange) do move to Washington to become the Stars in 1974 as what almost happened in real life, and the Padres are reborn in the Mariners’ spot in the AL in 1977

 

If, in this alternate timeline, (a) Clark Griffith died at more or less the same moment in time as in our history and still left the Washington Senators to his nephew, Calvin Griffith, and (b) Calvin still retained ownership of that team for at least two decades, then I think that the younger Griffith would have been very unwilling either to relocate the Senators to Atlanta at any point in his ownership or to wait until 1966 to move the team anywhere far away from Washington, D.C.

 

Among the things that we have come to learn about Calvin Griffith is that, on at least one occasion, he

 

1. accused black people -- the predominant residents of the neighborhoods surrounding the Washington Senators' ballpark and, historically, a large percentage of the population of the whole District of Columbia -- of being generally unwilling to attend baseball games regularly, and
2. admitted that he was thrilled that the whole state of Minnesota had presumably only a few thousand black inhabitants when the Senators became the Twins in 1961.

 

Thus, in a world where the Minneapolis-St. Paul area somehow gained an MLB club before the Senators could move to that region, I think that Calvin Griffith would have passed up a city as heavily black as Atlanta -- especially if, just as in our world, the federal government had banned racial discrimination in both employment and public accommodations by the time that Atlanta had an MLB-ready stadium -- in favor of a comparably populous MLB-free area in the United States (or even in Canada) with a much higher ratio of white residents to black residents.  Specifically, Buffalo (one of the cities proposed for a team in pro baseball's stillborn Continental League, and a decidedly larger city in the late 1950s and early 1960s than today), Denver (the tentative home of another Continental League club), Toronto (where a third CL team would have played), Montréal (Calvin Griffith's hometown), and even Indianapolis and Seattle all strike me as being far more likely destinations for a Washington Senators team under his particular ownership than Atlanta.

 

Finally, I cannot help but suspect that Calvin Griffith was a hardened enough racist that he would have sought to move the Senators out of Washington, D.C. as soon as possible after he inherited the team, even if Baltimore still did not have its own MLB franchise and even if neither the AL nor the NL had expanded yet.  In that case, I think that, in the early 1960s in this parallel universe, each league still adds two teams, the NL still grants a franchise to New York City to fill the void left jointly by the Giants and the Dodgers, and the AL still bestows a franchise upon Houston.  However, the NL would have had trouble deciding whether its other planned expansion club for the early Sixties would compete with the Browns for fans in Los Angeles or exploit and avenge the AL's departure from D.C.  Meanwhile, the AL would have felt a lot of pressure in the earliest part of the 60s to say no to any bid from Baltimore and instead put a new team in the District before the NL could do so.

[wdm1219inpenna]

32 team MLB:

 

 

 

16 teams in each league.  4 teams into 4 divisions.

 

Only division winners advance to the post season.

 

In each league, the Atlantic & Central division champions would play a best 3 out of 5 Division Series, the winner would become Eastern Conference Champions.

 

And the Pacific & Midwest champs would square off also in a best 3 out of 5 to become Western Conference Champions.

 

Then the East vs West champs would play in the LCS in a best of 7.  This brings back the East/West that was used from 1969 - 1993.

 

No interleague play.

 

Divisional games would be 22  (66 total)

Teams in the other division in your conference would be 12  (48 total)

6 games each against each of the other 8 teams in the other conference  (48 total)

 

162 game season.

 

The Houston Astros would return to the National League.  The Milwaukee Brewers would return to the American League.

 

The Arizona Diamondbacks would move from the NL West to the AL West.

 

Two expansion teams both in the NL, the return of the Montreal Expos (a new version of the Expos)...all the old Expos records and history would remain with the Washington Nationals.

 

The Portland Pioneers would be a brand new franchise in the National League West, the Pacific Division.

 

Most teams would now have natural interleague rivals, although personally I am not a fan of interleague play at all.

 

Texas is far too big to not have a National League representative.

 

Many rivalries would stay in tact while new ones (Washington vs Montreal) would prove most interesting (similarly to the Browns & Ravens in the NFL).

 

.

[sportsfan7]

2 hours ago, wdm1219inpenna said:

32 team MLB:

 

 

 

16 teams in each league.  4 teams into 4 divisions.

 

Only division winners advance to the post season.

 

In each league, the Atlantic & Central division champions would play a best 3 out of 5 Division Series, the winner would become Eastern Conference Champions.

 

And the Pacific & Midwest champs would square off also in a best 3 out of 5 to become Western Conference Champions.

 

Then the East vs West champs would play in the LCS in a best of 7.  This brings back the East/West that was used from 1969 - 1993.

 

No interleague play.

 

Divisional games would be 22  (66 total)

Teams in the other division in your conference would be 12  (48 total)

6 games each against each of the other 8 teams in the other conference  (48 total)

 

162 game season.

 

The Houston Astros would return to the National League.  The Milwaukee Brewers would return to the American League.

 

The Arizona Diamondbacks would move from the NL West to the AL West.

 

Two expansion teams both in the NL, the return of the Montreal Expos (a new version of the Expos)...all the old Expos records and history would remain with the Washington Nationals.

 

The Portland Pioneers would be a brand new franchise in the National League West, the Pacific Division.

 

Most teams would now have natural interleague rivals, although personally I am not a fan of interleague play at all.

 

Texas is far too big to not have a National League representative.

 

Many rivalries would stay in tact while new ones (Washington vs Montreal) would prove most interesting (similarly to the Browns & Ravens in the NFL).

 

.

 

I think if you're going to put the Brewers in the AL you should swap them with the White Sox. The Brewers don't have any rivalries in the AL Central, but could play the Twins in the AL Midwest, who are their permanent interleague opponent.

[Gary]

I would leave the Diamondbacks in the NL West where they have rivalries with the Dodgers and Giants. Plus it would be smarter to have the Pioneers in the AL where they could have a natural rival with the Mariners.

[sky1324]

32-team MLB in the style of the NHL:

 

American League:

Atlantic:

• Baltimore Orioles
• Boston Red Sox
• Chicago White Sox
• Cleveland Spiders (formerly Indians)
• Detroit Tigers
• Miami Marlins
• New York Yankees
• Toronto Blue Jays

Pacific:

• Anaheim Angels
• Houston Astros
• Kansas City Royals
• Minnesota Twins
• Oakland Athletics
• Portland Roses (expansion)
• Seattle Mariners
• Texas Rangers

National League:

Atlantic:

• Atlanta Braves
• Charlotte Knights (expansion)
• Cincinnati Reds
• Montreal Expos (formerly Rays)
• New York Mets
• Philadelphia Phillies
• Pittsburgh Pirates
• Washington Nationals

Pacific:

• Arizona Diamondbacks
• Chicago Cubs
• Colorado Rockies
• Milwaukee Brewers
• Los Angeles Dodgers
• San Diego Padres
• San Francisco Giants
• St. Louis Cardinals

 

I emphasized keeping teams in their current league, though the Florida teams got switched to get Montreal and Washington in the same division. Portland and Charlotte get expansion teams, Portland in the AL Pacific to give Seattle a geographic partner and Charlotte in the NL Atlantic to create a rivalry with Atlanta (and to a lesser extent, Washington). Top two teams in each division qualify for the playoffs, division winners get home field advantage, and World Series home field is determined by the better record between the two teams that make it. 

[TrueYankee26]

And as promised: Triple A Baseball

 

International League

• Akron RubberDucks (Cleveland Guardians)

• Albany-Colonie Yankees (New York Yankees)

• Brooklyn Cyclones (Brooklyn Avengers)

• Dayton Dragons (Columbus Clippers)

• Indianapolis Indians (Indianapolis Speed)

• Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs (Philadelphia Phillies)

• Lexington Legends (Cincinnati Reds)

• Louisville Bats (Louisville Slugs)

• Quebec City Expos (Montreal Expos)

• Pawtucket Captains (Hartford Captains)

• Rochester Red Wings (Buffalo Bisons)

• Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders (Philadelphia Keystones)

• Syracuse Mets (New York Mets)

• Toledo Mud Hens (Detroit Tigers)

• West Virginia Pirates (Pittsburgh Pirates)

• Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (Milwaukee Brewers)

• Worcester Red Sox (Boston Red Sox)

Pacific Coast League

• Albuquerque Dukes (Albuquerque Isotopes)
• Bakersfield Dodgers (Los Angeles Dodgers)
• Berkeley Athletics (Oakland Athletics)
• Colorado Springs Sky Sox (Colorado Rockies)
• Columbia Browns (St. Louis Browns)
• East St. Louis Redbirds (St. Louis Cardinals)
• Fresno Grizzlies (Sacramento River Cats)
• Inland Empire 66ers (Los Angeles Stars)
• Iowa Cubs (Chicago Cubs)
• Lake Elsinore Storm (San Diego Padres)
• Lincoln Dynamite (Des Moines Dynamite)
• Omaha Storm Chasers (Kansas City Royals)

• Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (Anaheim Angels)

• Reno Aces (Las Vegas Aviators)
• Rockford White Sox (Chicago White Sox)
• San Jose Giants (San Francisco Giants)
• Spokane Moose (Boise Moose)
• St. George Red Rox (Salt Lake Bees)
• St. Paul Twins (Minnesota Twins)
• Tacoma Rainiers (Seattle Mariners)
• Tucson Sidewinders (Arizona Diamondbacks)
• Vancouver Americans (Portland Beavers)
• Wichita Wind Surge (Omaha Express)

Southern League

• Aberdeen Ironbirds (Baltimore Orioles)

• Arkansas Travelers (Memphis River Boats)

• Arlington Senators (Washington Senators)

• Baton Rouge Riverbats (New Orleans Canes)

• Clearwater Devil Rays (Tampa Bay Rays)

• Corpus Christi Hooks (Houston Astros)

• Daytona Tortugas (Orlando Tropics)

• El Paso Diablos (Austin Diablos)

• Gwinnett Stripers (Atlanta Braves)

• Jupiter Hammerheads (Miami Marlins)

• Nashville Music (Nashville Sounds)

• Norfolk Tides (Virginia Colonials)
• Oklahoma City 89ers (Texas Rangers)
• Pensacola Blue Wahoos (Tallahassee Sharks)
• Potomac Nationals (Washington Nationals)

• Raleigh Capitals (Durham Bulls)

• Rock Hill Knights (Charlotte Knights)

• Round Rock Express (San Antonio Fiesta)

• Tulsa Drillers (Oklahoma City Drillers)

More teams coming soon I'm tired

[TrueYankee26]

Another preview of the NAUAA.

 

Trailblazer Conference (TBC):

• Big Bear Bruins*
• Honolulu Swans
• Las Vegas Rattlesnakes
• Los Angeles Romans
• Portland Tech Dragons
• Scottsdale Saguaros
• Tacoma Tribe
• UC Anaheim Tigers
• UC Eureka Miners
• Vancouver Ospreys**

*Located in Big Bear, California.

**Located in Vancouver, Washington.

 

[TrueYankee26]

New TrueYankee26 Series: The North American University Athletics Association (NAUAA - pronounced "Naw-aah").

 

Big Southeast (BSE):

• Asheville State Crusaders*
• Carolina Piedmont Professors**
• Charleston Rays
• Havana Crocodiles
• Jacksonville Tech Panthers
• Macon Mavericks
• Miami State Suns
• San Juan Borinqueños***
• Savannah Pelicans****
• Tampa-Ybor Corsairs

*Secular school despite the Crusaders name, founded as a Catholic school but became public. Despite that, they still have a large cathedral on campus.

**Located in Gastonia, North Carolina.

***Their baseball team is also known as Los Reyes (The Kings) because of their North Dakota State football like dynasty in baseball, winning 7 of 10 between 2035-2044.

****Only religious school in the BSE (Southern Baptist) when Asheville State University became a public school.

 

Trailblazer Conference (TBC):

• Big Bear Bruins*
• Honolulu Swans
• Las Vegas Rattlesnakes
• Los Angeles Romans
• Portland Tech Dragons
• Scottsdale Saguaros
• Tacoma Tribe
• UC-Anaheim Tigers
• UC-Eureka 49ers
• Vancouver Ospreys**

*Located in Big Bear Lake, California.

**Located in Vancouver, Washington.

 

Big 11 Conference (B11):

• Albuquerque Turquoise
• Bartlesville Oilers*
• Conway Warthogs**
• Dallas State Longhorns
• East Tennessee Black Bears***
• Fort Worth Ranchers
• Lubbock Sidewinders
• Oklahoma City Chiefs
• Topeka State Cyclones
• Tulsa State Black Panthers
• West Tennessee Sunbirds****

*Located in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

**Located in Conway, Arkansas

***Located in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

****Located in Memphis, Tennessee. They are the biggest football powerhouse, with 7 titles between 2024-2040 with no other college winning more than 2.

 

Metropolitan Ten (Metro 10/M10):

• Bedford-Stuyvesant Biggies*
• Bronx Broncos
• Hoboken Hornets
• Ironbound Dragons**
• Jamaica Beavers***
• Jersey City Liberty Hawks
• Manhattan Nighthawks
• New Haven State Dolphins
• Port Chester Lakers****
• Poughkeepsie Dutch Tigers
• Trenton Tigers

*Located in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York. The Biggies name comes from a certain rapper.

**Located in the Ironbround neighborhood of Newark, New Jersey.

***Located in Jamaica, Queens, New York. And the neighborhood of Jamaica gets its name from the Algonquin word for beaver which is Jameco, not the Caribbean Island.

****Located in Port Chester, New York.

 

Midwest Eleven (MW11):

• Cape Girardeau Bobcats
• Illinois-ESL Blue Jays*
• Iowa Tech Reapers
• Michigan South Loons**
• Minneapolis Beavers
• Omaha State Cyclones
• Ozark Mountain Hawks***
• St. Louis City Eagles
• St. Paul Roebucks****
• Wisconsin North Northmen*****
• Wisconsin South Vipers******

*Located in East St. Louis, Illinois.

**Located in Battle Creek, Michigan.

***Located in Branson, Missouri.

****The Hockey powerhouse, who sweep the 2030s in women's ice hockey and won all but two (2033, 2037 which both went to the Minneapolis Beavers) men's ice hockey titles in the decade.

*****Located in Green Bay, Wisconsin

******Located in Elkhorn, Wisconsin.

 

Mountain Conference (MTN):

• Cheyenne Vikings
• Denver SkyHawks
• Eastern Colorado Wranglers*
• El Paso Rangers
• Los Angeles Christian Aztecs
• North Dakota Tech Chaparrals**
• Phoenix Sand Gators
• Salt Lake Evangelical Eagles
• Santa Fe Thunderbirds
• Southwestern Arizona Spurs***

*Located in Sterling, Colorado.

**Located in Bismarck, North Dakota.

***Located in Yuma, Arizona. Soccer powerhouse of the NAUAA thanks to being aggressive in recruiting in Mexico and the Southwest.

 

New England Eleven Conference (NE11):

• Fenway Clippers*
• Foxborough Vikings
• Glasgow Blue Raiders**
• Manchester Ravens
• Moncton Fighting Marlins***
• Pittsfield Bearcats****
• Portland Maine Buccaneers
• Providence Seagulls
• South Boston Bulldogs*****
• Stamford 49ers******
• Troy State Warriors*******

*Located in Fenway-Kenmore, Boston, Massachusetts.

**Located in Hartford, Connecticut. Founded by a Scottish man from Glasgow hence the name of the college.

***Located in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. One of only two colleges outside of New England in the conference, and one of two NAUAA colleges in Canada.

****Located in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

*****Located in South Boston, Boston, Massachusetts.

******Located in Stamford, Connecticut. They get their nicknames from the school's colors being Red and Gold and the football team's jerseys looking similar to the San Francisco 49ers of the early 2000s.

*******Located in Troy, New York. The other non-New England college. Troy State used to be the name of Troy University in Alabama.

 

Rust Belt Conference (RBC):

• Buffalo Elephants
• Chicago South Huskies
• Cincinnati Vikings
• Cleveland Celtics
• Indianapolis Catholic Rough Riders
• Indianapolis State Trojans
• Michigan North Fighting Santas*
• Owensboro Sparrows**
• Rockford State Bears
• Scranton State Electrics
• Shepherdstown Rams***

* Located in Ishpeming, Michigan. Their mascot resembles Santa Claus.

**Located in Owensboro, Kentucky. Sparrows nickname inspired by Jack Sparrow, played by Johnny Depp who is from Owensboro. Their mascots are a pirate and a sparrow bird.

*** Located in Shepherdstown, West Virginia.

 

Tidewater Conference (TWC):

• Baltimore Cardinals
• Cary Jesuit Cougars
• Hagerstown Mountain Cats

• Hilton Head Islanders

• Justice Eagles*

• Knoxville Golden Eagles

• New Castle Fighting Turkeys**

• Newport News Seahawks

• Norfolk Scots

• UNC-Jacksonville Hurricanes
• Washington Evangelical Lions

*Located in Silver Spring, Maryland.

**Located in New Castle, Delaware. Nickname and mascot inspired by Virginia Tech. Founder of the University is a Virginia Tech Alumni.

 

Western 20 Conference (W20)

• Northern Division:
  • Coeur d'Alene Skyhawks
  • Dickinson Rams*
  • Idaho Baptist Ravens**
  • Montana Tech Browns***
  • Oregon-Salem Screamers****
  • Rapid City RedHawks
  • Saskatoon Royals*****
  • Seattle Liberty Sharks
  • Tacoma Holy Cross Swiss Knights
  • Yakima Falcons
• Southern Division:
  • Aurora Northern Lights******
  • BYU-Las Vegas Cougars
  • Glendale Trojans*******
  • Grand Junction Spartans
  • Los Angeles College Lasers
  • Phoenix Mojave Roadrunners
  • San Francisco Mission Sea Lions
  • San Joaquin Valley Devils********
  • Tucson Rangers
  • Utah-St. George Dragons

*Located in Dickinson, North Dakota.

**Located in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

***Located in Helena, Montana.

****A screamer is a bird native to South America, which the founder of the university discovered in a trip to the continent. Also inspired by loud, screaming fans.

*****The second Canadian college in the NAUAA.

******Located in Aurora, Colorado. The athletics teams are called the Northern Lights, but the football team is called the Aurora Trail Blazers.

*******Located in Glendale, Arizona. Founder is a USC alum.

********Located in Fresno, California.

 

Independents:

• Antigua Crapos*
• Cincinnati College Romans
• Jamaica Reggae Warriors**
• Harlem Lions***
• Notre Dame-Cleveland Seahawks

*Located in St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda. Their mascot is a crapo (frog). Cricket and soccer powerhouse. Also has a strong football program who gets recruits from Florida, won 2 national championships in 3 years from 2031-2033. They have an intense rivalry with the Jamaica Reggae Warriors.

**Located in Kingston, Jamaica. They are tied with the Indianapolis Catholic Rough Riders and the Ironbound Dragons with the most basketball championships with 3.

***Located in Harlem, New York.

Edited June 25, 2020 by TrueYankee26
You know what? I took out the reason for NAUAA existing, I don't want this thread locked

[schlim]

Just curious, has anybody here ever conjured up a league using contraction? 48 teams in MLB seems pretty unreasonable, but has anybody come up with a smaller league, perhaps realigned in different ways besides putting teams in Portland, Charlotte, Nashville, etc? The once possible prospects of a three 'division' MLB set into East, Central and West seemed exciting for a short season. But what happens if baseball isn't played for two years? Can Miami survive? Cleveland? What would MLB look like with 22 teams?
I'd be curious to see what people think.

[sky1324]

8 hours ago, schlim said:

Just curious, has anybody here ever conjured up a league using contraction? 48 teams in MLB seems pretty unreasonable, but has anybody come up with a smaller league, perhaps realigned in different ways besides putting teams in Portland, Charlotte, Nashville, etc? The once possible prospects of a three 'division' MLB set into East, Central and West seemed exciting for a short season. But what happens if baseball isn't played for two years? Can Miami survive? Cleveland? What would MLB look like with 22 teams?
I'd be curious to see what people think.

I'll take a crack at that. We'll start in 2001 where MLB had voted to contract two teams for the 2002 season. In our timeline, this never went through due to legal challenges with the Twins' lease at the Metrodome and issues with the Players' Union. However, we'll take that idea and run with it. In 2002, the Montreal Expos and Minnesota Twins were contracted and players dispersed to other teams. As it stands, there are currently 28 teams in Major League Baseball, with 14 in each league. After the success of the contraction, both Florida franchises also became targets, however, both survived (through different means). With 28 teams, MLB was reorganized into 4 7-team divisions, 2 in each league. Additionally, the Brewers were moved back to the American League. This is in 2005, four years after the contraction.

 

American League:

East:

• Baltimore Orioles
• Boston Red Sox
• Cleveland Indians
• Detroit Tigers
• New York Yankees
• Tampa Bay Devil Rays
• Toronto Blue Jays

West:

• Anaheim Angels
• Chicago White Sox
• Kansas City Royals
• Milwaukee Brewers
• Oakland Athletics
• Seattle Mariners
• Texas Rangers

National League:

East:

• Atlanta Braves
• Chicago Cubs
• Cincinnati Reds
• New York Mets
• Philadelphia Phillies
• Pittsburgh Pirates
• Washington Nationals (former Florida Marlins)

West:

• Arizona Diamondbacks
• Colorado Rockies
• Houston Astros
• Los Angeles Dodgers
• San Diego Padres
• San Francisco Giants
• St. Louis Cardinals

 

Not sure how realistic this is, I'm a too young to remember anything about MLB in the early 2000s, but I think this would be a decently realistic scenario. Despite contraction, MLB would probably start looking at expansion in the early 2010s to "catch up" to other leagues, with the popular sites like Las Vegas, Charlotte, and Nashville joined by Minnesota and Miami. If it was up to me, I would've contracted both Florida franchises, but I decided to go with what was the most likely at the time.

[The_Admiral]

Let me stop you right there, Cubs and Cardinals would never be split. The Braves and Reds had to toil in the West because the Cubs, Cardinals, and Mets were insistent on not being split up.

[sky1324]

10 hours ago, the admiral said:

Let me stop you right there, Cubs and Cardinals would never be split. The Braves and Reds had to toil in the West because the Cubs, Cardinals, and Mets were insistent on not being split up.

That's true, I hadn't thought of that. You could switch Atlanta and St. Louis reasonably with the Astros still in the NL. It would suck but the Cubs and Cards absolutely have the power to make that happen.

[nelroy78]

The Diamondbacks would have been the one to switch... https://a.espncdn.com/mlb/columns/mcadam_sean/1274034.html 

 Them and the Devil Rays had a window that they could switch leagues without them having any say...and you can’t just move the Brewers right back to the AL...and I would have kept 3 divisions anyway to keep Atlanta or Cincinnati from moving back to the West...of course it would have been awkward switching the World Series champs, but, Selig...

 

This is what realignment was going to be...

 

 

AL East

Baltimore Orioles

Boston Red Sox

New York Yankees

Tampa Bay Devil Rays

Toronto Blue Jays

 

AL Central

Chicago White Sox

Cleveland Indians

Detroit Tigers

Kansas City Royals

Texas Rangers (moved from AL West)

 

AL West
Arizona Diamondbacks 

Anaheim Angels 

Oakland Athletics

Seattle Mariners

 

 

NL East

Atlanta Braves

New York Mets

Philadelphia Phillies

Pittsburgh Pirates (moved back from NL Central)

Washington Nationals (former Florida Marlins)

 

NL Central

Chicago Cubs

Cincinnati Reds

Houston Astros

Milwaukee Brewers

St. Louis Cardinals

 

NL West

Colorado Rockies 

Los Angeles Dodgers

San Diego Padres

San Francisco Giants

 

 

 

 

 

 

[nelroy78]

I also envisioned a scenario in which the Marlins were contracted instead of the Twins as was also rumored. No NL team would’ve had to switch to the AL. The Pirates AND Reds move East and the Rockies move to the Central.

[nelroy78]

Could you imagine Bob Brenly managing the NL All-Stars in 2002, against his own players? It probably wouldn’t have ended in a tie (the AL probably wins again) and we never would have been stuck with “This One Counts”

[sportsfan7]

Inspired by the Minor League Baseball thread, I present to you the future of Indy Ball!

 

American Association (Merger of AA, Frontier League, and Atlantic League and assuming St Paul and Sugar Land Land join affiliated ball)

East

Evansville Otters

Southern Illinois Miners

Quebec Capitales

Trois-Rivieres Aigles

New Jersey Jackals

Somerset Patriots

Long Island Ducks

Lancaster Barnstormers

York Revolution

Southern Maryland Blue Crabs

West

Winnipeg Goldeneyes

Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks

Sioux Falls Canaries

Sioux Falls Explorers

Chicago Dogs

Gary SouthShore RailCats

Lincoln Saltdogs

Kansas City T-Bones

Joliet Slammers

Schaumburg Boomers

 

Pecos League (Merger of Pecos League and Pacific Association)

Pacific

Napa Silverados

Vallejo Admirals

Sonoma Stompers

Bakersfield Train Robbers

Monterey Amberjacks

Mountain

Alpine Cowboys

Tucson Saguaros

Santa Fe Fuego

Roswell Invaders

Trinidad Triggers

 

All remaining teams would unfortunately fold due to the financial downturn.

[sportsfan7]

I did one earlier for Indy ball, so I figured I'd do another one on the future of Independent hockey.

 

Southern Professional Hockey League (merger of SPHL and Federal League)

 

North

Port Huron Prowlers

Danville Dashers

Elmira Enforcers

Watertown Wolves

Quad City Storm

Peoria Rivermen

Evansville Thunderbolts

Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs

South

Winston-Salem Thunderbirds

Columbus River Dragons

Fayetteville Marksmen

Knoxville Ice Bears

Huntsville Havoc

Birmingham Bulls

Pensacola Ice Flyers

Macon Mayhem

 

All remaining teams would unfortunately fold due to the financial downturn.