The Pointless Realignment Outpost

[TrueYankee26 1,127]

A group of 5 football fans, a Manchester United, Liverpool, Millwall, Birmingham City, and a Newcastle United fan originally from America were tired of corruption in FIFA, UEFA, and eventually the FA & Premier League. So they have created the Soccer Leagues of England (SLE), which is the English version of a larger vision they had, which is to add similar leagues for all countries in the world, and for that, they also created the Confederation of Soccer Leagues (CSL).

 

Soccer Leagues of England

England League 1 Premiership (EL1P)

• Albion Liverpool (Red, White, Blue)
• Aquae Sulis Bathonians (Red, Green)
• Birmingham Bulls (Red, Yellow, Blue)
• Birmingham Irish (Green, White, Orange)
• Brixton Windies (Green, Yellow, Black, Blue, Red)
• FC Cumbria Carlisle (Green, Blue)
• Hull Wednesday (Blue, Orange)
• Leicester Rangers (Yellow, Blue)
• Liverpool Welsh (Red, White, Green)
• London Sultans FC (Green, White)
• London Victorians FC (White, Red)
• Mancunia FC (Red, Sky Blue)
• Oldham Owls FC (Black, Yellow)
• Reading Abbey Sporting Club (Green, Yellow)
• Royal Leeds Sporting Club (White, Blue)
• Royal Westminster (Royal Blue, White, Gold)
• Sheffield Blademen (Black, Blue)
• Royal Southampton Sporting Club (Red, White)
• Sunderland Sporting Club (Black, Red)
• TWBC 2028 Newcastle [Tyne & Wear Ball-Game Club 2028] (Blue)

England League 2 Premiership (EL2P)

• Athletic Club of Bristol (Blue, White, Green)
• Birmingham Scottish (Blue, White)
• Blackpool Orange (Orange)
• Bradford Bees (Yellow, Black)
• Coventry Motor FC (Red, Green)
• Jersey Islanders (Red, White)
• Kernow Truru (Black, White, Yellow)
• Liverpool Celtic (Green, Gold)
• Liverpool Zulu Warriors (Black, Red, Yellow, Green)
• London Greeks (White, Blue)
• London Hibernian (Green, Orange)
• London Italians (Blue)
• London Kurds (Red, Green, Yellow)
• London Turks (Red, White, Teal)
• Luton United FC 2041 (Orange)
• Manchester Arabs (Black, Green, White)
• Middlesbrough Lions (Red)
• Milton Keynes Roundabouts (White, Black, Red)
• Nottingham Sheriffs (Green)
• Polonia Londyn (White, Red, Black)

[Brewers11 1]

I threw together this realignment of major league baseball, with 32 teams, to try to have more of those "exciting" regional interleague matchups (Brewers/Twins, Cubs/White Sox, Angels/Dodgers, Giants/A's, Mets/Yankees, etc.) occur more frequently throughout the season, and allow for the opportunity for potential interleague postseason matchups and an intraleague world series:

 

MLB North:                           MLB South:                           MLB East:                                MLB West:

Montreal Expos (N)               Cincinnati Reds (N)               Boston Red Sox (A)                  Seattle Mariners (A)

Toronto Blue Jays (A)           Tampa Bay Rays (N)             New York Yankees (A)               SF Giants (N)

Detroit Tigers (A)                  Atlanta Braves (N)                 New York Mets (N)                   Oakland A’s (A)

Chicago Cubs (N)                Miami Marlins (N)                  Pittsburgh Pirates (N)               Colorado Rockies (N)

Chicago White Sox (A)         Mexico City (A)                    Philadelphia Phillies (N)             LA Angels (A)

Milwaukee Brewers (N)        Kansas City Royals (A)         Baltimore Orioles (A)                 LA Dodgers (N)

Minnesota Twins (A)            Texas Rangers (A)               Washington Nationals (N)           Arizona D-backs (A)

St. Louis Cardinals (N)         Houston Astros (A)             Cleveland Indians (A)                  San Diego Padres (N)

 

Of note, I decided that the Cardinals/Cubs rivalry would be more important to the MLB than the Cardinals/Royals interleague rivalry, so the Cardinals were placed in the North and Kansas City in the South. The Reds, Royals, and Indians are the most geographically out-of-line in this scenario, something that could be adjusted depending on where the expansion teams are placed or if any franchises should relocate.

 

In this alignment, there could be 156 total games played per team, with each team playing 12 games against each team in its division and then one three game series against the 24 other teams in MLB. I also kept the National and American league designations, and in doing so each expansion franchise (Montreal and Mexico City) were placed in opposite leagues and Arizona and Tampa Bay had to switch leagues to maintain a balance of four NL teams and four AL teams per region. While I have kept the league designations, I think the playoff format would be more exciting if it were a twelve team postseason, with each regional winner being seeded 1-4 and the next 8 best records overall in the MLB being seeded 5-12. Playoff scheduling could be 

 

First Series, “WC Weekend (Fri.-Sun.)” – 5 v. 12, 6 v. 11, 7 v. 10, 8 v. 9. Four three game series.

Second Series, “DS” – 1 v. (8/9) 2 v. (7/10), 3 v. (6/11), 4 v. (5/12). Four 5 game series.

Third Series, “CS” – (1/8/9) v. (4/5/12), (2/7/10) v. (3/6/11). Two 7 game series.

Fourth Series, “WS” – (1/8/9/4/5/12) v. (2/7/10/3/6/11). One 7 game series.

 

The Wild Card weekend would have a very march madness type of feeling, with games being "around the clock" Friday through Sunday, with each divisional region offering a neutral site for a game to be played. This allows a spread of games from Eastern to Pacific time. Otherwise, games could just be played at the higher seed's home stadium for the entirety of the weekend.

[TrueYankee26 1,127]

I made a website relating to my 2100 series at trueyankee26.wordpress.com

[kroywen 2,280]

Since there's a ton of talk about MLB expansion, here's my hack at it:

 

Two divisions per league, eight teams per division. The two division champions and two wild cards make the postseason in each league. The LDS would be expanded to seven games.

 

The two LDS matchups in each league would be Division Champion 1 (best record in league) vs. Wild Card 2, and Division Champion 2 vs. Wild Card 1. In the LCS and World Series, division champions would always receive home field advantage over a wild card team (in a matchup between two division champions, or two wild cards, the team with the better record would receive HFA).

 

The divisions would be as follows:

 

AL East:

Baltimore Orioles

Boston Red Sox

Chicago White Sox

Cleveland Indians

Detroit Tigers

New York Yankees

Tampa Bay Rays

Toronto Blue Jays

 

AL West:

Houston Astros

Kansas City Royals

Los Angeles Angels

Minnesota Twins

Oakland Athletics

Portland Beavers (expansion)

Seattle Mariners

Texas Rangers

 

NL East: 

Atlanta Braves

Cincinnati Reds

Miami Marlins

Montreal Expos (expansion)

New York Mets

Philadelphia Phillies

Pittsburgh Pirates

Washington Nationals 

 

NL West:

Arizona Diamondbacks

Chicago Cubs

Colorado Rockies

Los Angeles Dodgers

Milwaukee Brewers

San Diego Padres

San Francisco Giants

St. Louis Cardinals

[insert name 5,048]

22 hours ago, kroywen said:

Since there's a ton of talk about MLB expansion, here's my hack at it:

Adding some to this:

Interleague would continue but I would limit Interleague Play to a 2 Weekend Series, 1 in June and 1 in July.

 

I would add 1 more WC team to each division. 2 Wild Card games on Tuesday and then 2 more on Wednesday. The LDS will stay a Best-of-5. 

[the admiral 28,735]

Put the Astros back in the NL West, move the Cubs and Cardinals back east, abandon hopes of Montreal.

[JerseyJimmy 1,270]

Here, have my super unrealistic ideal NBA.

 

Atlantic Division

-Boston Celtics

-Charlotte Hornets

-Miami Heat

-New Jersey Nets

-New York Knicks

-Orlando Magic

-Philadelphia 76ers

-Washington Wizards

 

Central Division

-Atlanta Hawks

-Chicago Bulls

-Cleveland Cavaliers

-Detroit Pistons

-Indiana Pacers

-Milwaukee Bucks

-Minnesota Timberwolves

-Toronto Raptors

 

Frontier Division

-Dallas Mavericks

-Denver Nuggets

-Houston Rockets

-Kansas City Kings

-Memphis Pharaohs (Grizzlies)

-New Orleans Jazz (Pelicans)

-San Antonio Spurs

-Utah Bobcats (Jazz)

 

Pacific Division

-Las Vegas Bandits (expansion)

-Los Angeles Lakers

-Phoenix Suns

-Portland Trail Blazers

-San Diego Clippers

-San Francisco Warriors

-Seattle SuperSonics (Thunder)

-Vancouver Grizzlies (expansion)

 

[kroywen 2,280]

9 hours ago, Jimmy Lethal said:

Here, have my super unrealistic ideal NBA.

Pacific Division

-Las Vegas Bandits (expansion)

-Los Angeles Lakers

-Phoenix Suns

-Portland Trail Blazers

-San Diego Clippers

-San Francisco Warriors

-Seattle SuperSonics (Thunder)

-Vancouver Grizzlies (expansion)

 

Vegas, but no OKC? I'd rather have the successful existing market than the wild card that is Las Vegas.

 

I do like the reinsertion of Vancouver into the fold, though. Frankly, that market got screwed by a weak Canadian dollar and five years' worth of a 1962 Mets-quality expansion team. The NBA ditched Vancouver right as it was taking off as a fashionable and hip destination for young people - another five years (maybe not even), and I think the idea of leaving Vancouver would've become unfathomable.

[JerseyJimmy 1,270]

6 hours ago, kroywen said:

Vegas, but no OKC? I'd rather have the successful existing market than the wild card that is Las Vegas.

 

My basis being that I hate both the Thunder's entire identity and the state of Oklahoma.

[the admiral 28,735]

Over the last few months I've been working on an NHL omniconcept for a universe better than ours, where the '90s relocations never happen and the league more or less leaves the South alone. 

 

SMYTHE DIVISION

Calgary Flames, Denver Avalanche (1993 expansion), Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings, San Francisco Sharks (1991 de-merger of the North Stars playing in a new arena next to the Cow Palace, explicit continuation of the Oakland Seals), Phoenix Coyotes (2000 expansion), Seattle Evergreens (1993 expansion), Vancouver Canucks

 

NORRIS DIVISION

Chicago Black Hawks, Dallas Renegades (1993 expansion), Detroit Red Wings, Minnesota North Stars, St. Louis Blues, Toronto Maple Leafs, Winnipeg Jets

 

ADAMS DIVISION

Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Hamilton Tigers, Hartford Whalers, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Quebec Nordiques

 

PATRICK DIVISION

Florida Panthers (2000 expansion), New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Tampa Bay Lightning, Washington Capitals

 

The scheduling matrix is pretty much the one the NHL used from 2008-2012, with some nips and tucks. It's an 84-game season, as the league flirted with from 1992-1994. To make up for the two extra games, the preseason is reduced from six to eight games to just four. Additionally, one in every four home preseason games is to be played at a neutral site. The regular season will always start no later than the 1st of October so as to make an informal holiday out of NHL Opening Day.

 

The schedule would break down thus:

64 games within the conference:

- 4 games against each team in the opposite division of the conference, 28 for Smythe and Patrick teams, 32 for Norris and Adams.

- 12 games against sustaining divisional rivals. Each team would have two teams designated for six-game season series every single year. In the case of Chicago, Toronto, and Detroit, all three are each other's two, same with New York, Long Island, and Jersey. Others would interweave: Boston would be locked into six with the Habs and six with the Whalers, but the Whalers would have their set series with the Bruins (Battle of New England) and Nordiques (WHA rivalry). 

- 12 games against rotating divisional rivals: the other division teams rotate between six-game and four-game season series from year to year. So some years, the Hawks would get six with the Stars, other years four. Same with the Flyers and Devils, Bruins and Sabres, Leafs and Jets. The Smythe and Patrick have an extra four-gamer in their rotations.

- 8 (Norris/Adams) or 12 (Smythe/Patrick) games with divisional teams who are out of the six-game rotation.

 

20 games against the opposite conference:

- 5 games against five teams you only play at home

- 5 games against five teams you only play on the road

- 10 games against five teams you play home and away. There's another wrinkle here, which is that of sustaining conference rivals. They're pretty much what you expect: for the Original Six, Chicago, Detroit, and Toronto will always play Boston, New York, and Montreal home and away. For the WHA, Edmonton and Winnipeg will always play Hartford and Quebec home and away. Toronto will always play Hamilton home and away. The prior season's Stanley Cup matchup will be guaranteed a home-and-home (. From there, priority will be given to setting up Canadian and Sun Belt home-and-homes, like Calgary-Montreal or Dallas-Tampa. Toronto's fifth pair would rotate between Ottawa and Buffalo unless they win the Cup against a team that's not Ottawa or Buffalo.

For remaining games, teams should cycle through groups: if an opponent is in the Only @ Campbell group, next year it should be Only @ Wales or Home/Away, and vice versa, so you're getting to each town at least once every two years. A team in the Home/Away group can repeat as such the next year if the participating teams are amenable to it.

 

Would this make more sense as a picture?

 

I think it ends up being rather pretty! Dark gold cells are the sustaining matchups, purple means the Campbell team hosts, green means the Wales team hosts.

 

Here's what the broadcast territories would end up being. I put this together a while back with Census data, media market maps, and a hypomanic phase.

 

 

Closer look at the overlaps in the northeast/midwest:

As you can see, lots of mutual territories (Rangers/Islanders/Devils, Maple Leafs/Tigers, Senators/Canadiens/Nordiques) and overlaps (Pennsylvania, Iowa, the whole West; Winnipeg shares Saskatchewan with the Flames and Oilers and shares Thunder Bay/Kenora/Rainy River with the Leafs and Tigers, how nice, rights to three teams for a total population of like 200,000). I like this non-exclusivity. Give fans options, try to supersaturate the market. Capitals and Penguins fans brawling in the streets of Harrisburg. Also, look how nice and cozy that Adams Division is! Patrick minus the Floridas, too! The Wales can get by with a whole lot of Amtrak and really keep costs down.

 

Here's where I admit it's not a perfect system:
 

- Hey dickweed, you left most of Ohio unserved, and the parts that are served are by the hated Penguins and Red Wings! Yeah, I feel bad about that one, but I had to hit my marks elsewhere and couldn't get to Columbus in 30. If my NHL went to 32, Cleveland/Columbus/Cincinnati would definitely be 31. My preference is actually Cincinnati, I've never been 100% sold on Columbus because of the OSU factor, and Cincinnati seems to be of a kind with Milwaukee (another expansion candidate) and St. Louis. They have nothing but mid-major hoops between the Bengals and Reds.

- Hey dickweed, you left LIKE THE ENTIRE SOUTHEAST unserved! I don't feel bad about that one. They have enough to do. Let the NHL largely be one of those weird northeastern things, like being really into Bruce Springsteen. But maybe there could be an "NHL on Fox Sports South" package where they get a quasi-national slate of featured games from other FSNs, primarily from Dallas, Tampa, and St. Louis (but also Florida, Detroit, Minnesota, L.A., and Phoenix in a pinch). 

- Leafs in the West? Well, it worked before, and if this is going to be a primarily Great Lakes/St. Lawrence/East Coast league, someone's gotta go west. I like Toronto playing 2x2s with VAN/CGY/EDM for TV purposes. I wouldn't have the Leafs or Wings visit Phoenix while Arizona is with Pacific Time, though, just to throw them that small bone.

- Why do the Flyers have a permanent six-game season series with the Florida Panthers? Yeah, that was precisely where my whole sustaining/rotating system broke down. It was working so well right up to that point! Everything else made sense!

 

I'm thinking of really fleshing this out and doing all sorts of concepts and alternate timelines if there's any interest. 

[cmm 386]

10 hours ago, the admiral said:

- 12 games against sustaining divisional rivals. Each team would have two teams designated for six-game season series every single year. In the case of Chicago, Toronto, and Detroit, all three are each other's two, same with New York, Long Island, and Jersey. Others would interweave: Boston would be locked into six with the Habs and six with the Whalers, but the Whalers would have their set series with the Bruins (Battle of New England) and Nordiques (WHA rivalry).

 

- Why do the Flyers have a permanent six-game season series with the Florida Panthers? Yeah, that was precisely where my whole sustaining/rotating system broke down. It was working so well right up to that point! Everything else made sense!

 

I'm thinking of really fleshing this out and doing all sorts of concepts and alternate timelines if there's any interest. 

I would consider making the Devils and Flyers as the permanent rivals and sticking the Islanders with the Panthers. I don't think the Isles and Devils have much of a rivalry. Yes, you do get a good number of Devils fans when they play in Brooklyn/Uniondale, and likewise many Islanders fans make the trip to Newark. But the intensity isn't really there. I'm an Islander fan, and I hate the Penguins and maybe even the Flyers more than I hate the Devils. On the other hand, Devils fans hate the Flyers almost as much as they hate the Rangers, and I don't think Flyers fans are fond of the Devils either.

[the admiral 28,735]

Yeah, I wanted to get Penguins-Islanders in there, but that felt like #3 behind Capitals and Flyers. For the sake of travel costs, guaranteeing the New York metro teams always get three and three seemed like the natural thing to do. The Panthers just break everything, I guess.

[Magic Dynasty 2,401]

Why not just replace the Panthers with Columbus, or if you’re really against that then the Predators? I really don’t think that the Panthers are that important to save, especially with Tampa Bay’s success (both on and off the ice)

[the admiral 28,735]

Even my wildest fantasies accede to the relative necessity of a presence in South Florida. It's like beating off to anyone you want but choosing the girl who works at the grocery store, or like being a Democrat.

[BBTV 20,111]

All things being equal, the Flyers rivals are the Rangers and Devils.  Sure, right now the fans get all amped up for the Penguins games, but that's only because they're really good. All things being equal, the Phi / Pit "rivalry" is more of a Pittsburgh thing than a Philadelphia thing - unless they went to Penn State, most Philadelphians probably don't even know where in the state Pittsburgh is.  New York is our rival - mostly for the same reason Pittsburgh thinks PHiladelphia is theirs - "little brother" complex.

[the admiral 28,735]

I get all that, and it's not that they would cease to be rivals, just that they'd have to give up a pair of games every couple years. (I wouldn't even be averse to rigging the rotation so that we'd get Flyers-Devils x6 more often than not, same with Blackhawks-North Stars.) I mean, as it stands, no one's playing six with anyone anymore because of this idea that we need every team to play home and away.

[goalieboy82 1,017]

On 10/21/2017 at 8:04 PM, kroywen said:

Since there's a ton of talk about MLB expansion, here's my hack at it:

 

Two divisions per league, eight teams per division. The two division champions and two wild cards make the postseason in each league. The LDS would be expanded to seven games.

 

The two LDS matchups in each league would be Division Champion 1 (best record in league) vs. Wild Card 2, and Division Champion 2 vs. Wild Card 1. In the LCS and World Series, division champions would always receive home field advantage over a wild card team (in a matchup between two division champions, or two wild cards, the team with the better record would receive HFA).

 

The divisions would be as follows:

 

AL East:

Baltimore Orioles

Boston Red Sox

Chicago White Sox

Cleveland Indians

Detroit Tigers

New York Yankees

Tampa Bay Rays

Toronto Blue Jays

 

AL West:

Houston Astros

Kansas City Royals

Los Angeles Angels

Minnesota Twins

Oakland Athletics

Portland Beavers (expansion)

Seattle Mariners

Texas Rangers

 

NL East: 

Atlanta Braves

Cincinnati Reds

Miami Marlins

Montreal Expos (expansion)

New York Mets

Philadelphia Phillies

Pittsburgh Pirates

Washington Nationals 

 

NL West:

Arizona Diamondbacks

Chicago Cubs

Colorado Rockies

Los Angeles Dodgers

Milwaukee Brewers

San Diego Padres

San Francisco Giants

St. Louis Cardinals

i think if the Expos come back, they should be in the AL East (more games against the Blue Jays).  

 

[neo_prankster 3,393]

Pro sports in an alternate 1985...

 

MLB

AL East

Baltimore Orioles

Boston Red Sox

Cleveland Indians

Detroit Tigers

New York Yankees

Philadelphia Athletics

Toronto Blue Jays

 

AL West

Chicago White Sox

Kansas City Royals (formerly Washington Senators)

Los Angeles Angels

Oakland Oaks

Portland Beavers

Seattle Rainiers

Vancouver Mounties

 

NL East

Atlanta Braves

Brooklyn Dodgers

Chicago Cubs

Cincinnati Reds

Montreal Expos

Pittsburgh Pirates

St Louis Cardinals

 

NL West

Denver Zephyrs

Hollywood Stars

Houston Astros

Minnesota Twins (formerly NY Giants)

San Diego Padres

San Francisco Seals

Texas Rangers (formerly Philadelphia Phillies)

 

NBA

Atlantic

Boston Celtics

New Jersey Nets

New York Knicks

Philadelphia Warriors

Washington Squires

Atlanta Hawks

 

Central

Chicago Bulls

Cleveland Cavaliers

Detroit Pistons

Indiana Pacers

Milwaukee Bucks

Minnesota Lakers

 

Midwest

Dallas Mavericks

Denver Nuggets

Houston Rockets

New Orleans Jazz

San Antonio Spurs

Spirits of St Louis

 

Pacific

Hollywood Blockbusters

Phoenix Suns

Portland Trailblazers

Salt Lake Royals

San Francisco Clippers

Seattle Supersonics

 

NHL

Smythe

Calgary Flames

Colorado Rockies

Los Angeles Kings

Portland Buckaroos

Seattle Totems

Vancouver Canucks

 

Norris

Chicago Blackhawks

Detroit Red Wings

Houston Aeros

Minnesota North Stars

St Louis Blues

Winnipeg Jets

 

Adams

Boston Bruins

Buffalo Sabres

Montreal Canadiens

New England Whalers

Quebec Nordiques

Toronto Maple Leafs

 

Patrick

Cleveland Barons

NY Islanders

NY Rangers

Philadelphia Flyers

Pittsburgh Penguins

Washington Capitals

 

PRO FOOTBALL

NFL

Capitol

Baltimore Colts

New York Giants

Philadelphia Eagles

Washington Redskins

 

Century

Atlanta Falcons

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Pittsburgh Steelers

 

Central

Chicago Bears

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

St Louis Cardinals

 

Coastal

Los Angeles Rams

Portland Lumberjacks

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

 

AFL
East

Boston Patriots

Buffalo Bills

Miami Dolphins

NY Jets

 

Central

Dallas Texans

Houston Oilers

Minnesota Vikings

New Orleans Saints

 

West

Denver Broncos

Kansas City Chiefs

Oakland Raiders

San Diego Chargers

 

WFL

European

Berlin Brewers

London Monarchs

Paris Musketeers

Rome Gladiators

 

Atlantic

Jacksonville Sharks

Norfolk Neptunes

New York Stars

Orlando Thunder

 

Central

Birmingham Vulcans

Indianapolis Wheels

Memphis Grizzlies

San Antonio Gunslingers

Pacific

Hawaiians

Hollywood Moguls

Phoenix Firebirds

Salt Lake Seagulls

[the admiral 28,735]

2 hours ago, goalieboy82 said:

i think if the Expos come back, they should be in the AL East (more games against the Blue Jays).  

 

I didn't like this line of thinking when the Rangers pissypantsed their way into making the Astros change leagues and I don't like it here. Montreal was a National League town and an affiliate of a National League town. Given that Bell would almost have to own the team, this would have the American League on Sportsnet and the National League on TSN, a fair split. The Blue Jays shouldn't need Montreal to draw or they have big problems.

[Cosmic 6,457]

On 12/8/2017 at 1:44 PM, the admiral said:

 

- Hey dickweed, you left most of Ohio unserved, and the parts that are served are by the hated Penguins and Red Wings! Yeah, I feel bad about that one, but I had to hit my marks elsewhere and couldn't get to Columbus in 30. If my NHL went to 32, Cleveland/Columbus/Cincinnati would definitely be 31. My preference is actually Cincinnati, I've never been 100% sold on Columbus because of the OSU factor, and Cincinnati seems to be of a kind with Milwaukee (another expansion candidate) and St. Louis. They have nothing but mid-major hoops between the Bengals and Reds.

I'm shocked that you of all people left the Coyotes in the league at the expense of a team somewhere in Ohio!