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MLB Re-Align


goforbroke

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I've got a better idea. In fact, this is may even blow you all away into your washing machines.

Ready?

Why don't we... keep it the way it's been since 1998, because it's worked out pretty well and stop trying to re-invent the wheel.

G'night everyone! ^_^

:notworthy:

"In the arena of logic, I fight unarmed."

I tweet & tumble.

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I like the effort, but the only problem is that each league needs to have even numbers of teams, otherwise there would be at least 1 Interleague series going on at a time or 2 teams would be playing at all.

That's exactly what I'm suggesting MLB do. There would be enough interleague series to stretch through out the entire season. I don't see what the problem is in doing that. The alignment would be perfect and schedules would be even. The only other way to accomplish that is to either expand or contract 2 teams, and I don't see any of those two as possibilities in the near future.

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I think the only problem with how the MLB is aligned now is that the NL Central has 6 teams, while the AL West only has 4. I say move Houston to the AL West, or move them to the NL West and move a NL West team to the AL (I'm thinking the Rockies) That way it's balanced, and if the Astros move to the NL you have an instant Astros-Rangers rivalry, and I'm sure the Rockies would fit right into the AL West.

BTW, why did the Brewers move over to the NL in the first place? I've never known why...

Both leagues had 14 teams until Tampa Bay and Arizona came into the league in 1998.

I think MLB was wanting each league to get a new team, so they had to find a candidate from one league to switch to the other league. Since Milwaukee had been originally an NL city (and still had a large core of Braves fans there and considered themselves an NL town), not to mention the Brewers were once owned by the current Commissioner, made it a pretty easy decision.

Detroit also switched divisions, leaving the AL East to take Milwaukee's spot in the Central so Tampa could move into the East.

That was also the time when they were going back to a more unbalanced schedule. The "schedule math" doesn't work as well with a 15-team league as it does with 16 or 14.
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EASTERN CONFERENCE/AMERICAN LEAGUE

Atlantic Division

Boston Red Sox

New York Mets

New York Yankees

Philadelphia Phillies

Toronto Blue Jays

Southeast Division

Atlanta Braves

Baltimore Orioles

Florida Marlins

Tampa Bay Devil Rays

Washington Nationals

Central Division

Cincinnati Reds

Cleveland Indians

Detroit Tigers

Pittsburgh Pirates

WESTERN CONFERENCE/NATIONAL LEAGUE

Northwest Division

Chicago Cubs

Chicago White Sox

Milwaukee Brewers

Minnesota Twins

St. Louis Cardinals

Southwest Division

Arizona Diamondbacks

Colorado Rockies

Kansas City Royals

Houston Astros

Texas Rangers

Pacific Division

Los Angeles Angels

Los Angeles Dodgers

Oakland Athletics

San Diego Padres

San Francisco Giants

Seattle Mariners

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Interleague play is alright for a few series' during the May and June periods of the season, but that's it. It's one of the traditions of baseball, and that's what makes baseball the greatness it is. The respect for tradition.

How is Interleague play alright in May or June, but not during August and September? The games count the same.

Yes, the games do count the same, but come late August and September, the schedule should be heavy on divisional play. What would be more exciting to watch on one of the last weekends of the season, the Mets and Braves playing a series with first place on the line or the Mets playing the Twins and the Braves playing the Royals? And while you can't have teams play only divisional games throughout the month of September (due to the numbers), at least when it is intraleague, there's a good chance some of the match-ups will influence the wild card race. I don't like interleague play, but at least it is in May and June, before the pennant races heat up.

The only realignment I'd be for would be if the Marlins are forced to move, if they move to Portland or Las Vegas or somewhere else out west, then they could move to the AL West, the Rangers would be free to go to the AL Central, the Tigers or Indians move back to the AL East, and the Devil Rays could replace the Marlins in the NL East. That way the Rangers won't have to play so many games in the Pacific Time Zone, and only 2 teams would have to switch leagues--one starting out in a new city, and the other with a forgettable history. The new Devil Rays owner would be open to moving to the NL--he said so in an interview back in April on WFAN in New York--because the amount of money elite DHs make add to the problems small-market AL teams have.

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Say, that's a solid plan you have there. My only problem with it is that I kinda like the entire National League using grass.

♫ oh yeah, board goes on, long after the thrill of postin' is gone ♫

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I like the effort, but the only problem is that each league needs to have even numbers of teams, otherwise there would be at least 1 Interleague series going on at a time or 2 teams would be playing at all.

That's exactly what I'm suggesting MLB do. There would be enough interleague series to stretch through out the entire season. I don't see what the problem is in doing that. The alignment would be perfect and schedules would be even. The only other way to accomplish that is to either expand or contract 2 teams, and I don't see any of those two as possibilities in the near future.

If every team plays 18 interleague games, there would be a total of 270 interleague games. The season is around 180 days long. The way things would work out, you could have all the "rivalry" interleague games in two weekends (Memorial Day and 4th of July, perhaps?), with one series at a time throughout the rest of the season, with possibly a few days with three interleague series.

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I have a problem with the whole mixing of National and American league teams. I'm sorry. I'm all for progress and trying new things, but let's keep the NL teams in the NL and the AL teams in the AL. The whole East-West thing is crap. This isn't hockey, this isn't basketball. It's baseball.

This thread is giving me a headache.

(I know, I know... "that's what she said!")

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I like the effort, but the only problem is that each league needs to have even numbers of teams, otherwise there would be at least 1 Interleague series going on at a time or 2 teams would be playing at all.

That's exactly what I'm suggesting MLB do. There would be enough interleague series to stretch through out the entire season. I don't see what the problem is in doing that. The alignment would be perfect and schedules would be even. The only other way to accomplish that is to either expand or contract 2 teams, and I don't see any of those two as possibilities in the near future.

Yes, and what AstroBull said is exactly why I was saying they shouldn't do it. I just didn't properly articulate it, thus the confusion about interleague play from my previous comment.

Here's my last suggestion for realignment (without expansion). They COULD use the Triple-A method, where the PCL has 16 teams with 4 divisions of 4 teams, and the IL has 14 teams with 2 divisions of 4 and 1 division of 6:

National League

WEST: Arizona - LA Dodgers - San Diego - San Francisco

CENTRAL: St. Louis - CHI Cubs - Cincinnati - Milwaukee

EAST: NY Mets - Philadelphia - Pittsburgh - Washington

SOUTH: Atlanta - Florida - Houston - Tampa Bay

In past realignment plans from MLB, I have seen a South with Houston (and some with Texas as well) and Atlanta/Florida/Tampa Bay. But, if this were still too stretched out, here's an alternate, with the West remaining the same:

CENTRAL: STL - CHC - HOU - MIL

EAST (or NORTH): CIN - NYM - PHI - PIT

SOUTH (or EAST): ATL - FLA - TB - WAS

Now the American League

WEST: Colorado - LA Angels - Oakland - Seattle

CENTRAL: CHI Sox - Cleveland - Detroit - Kansas City - Minnesota - Texas

EAST: Baltimore - Boston - NY Yankees - Toronto

If the AL in the 4/6/4 format is too extreme, throw either Detroit or Cleveland into the East and return it to a 4/5/5 layout.

BTW, I swapped Tampa Bay and Colorado. It allows Texas to move into the AL Central where it belongs, and Tampa Bay to be near other teams. Right now the Rays are kind of in AL no man's land down there. Plus, with Colorado being such a home run park, I figured, with the added offense in the AL, due to the DH, it would create more excitement. The AL has been the dominant league, as far as power and scoring, so I think Coors Field would help facilitate this even more (and I'm a die-hard National League fan... go figure). Imagine, David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, A-Rod playing there every season (assuming they don't leave for the NL via free agency or a trade). I would usually put Arizona into the AL because they haven't been around as long, and I don't necessarily think their World Series title is enough to justify them staying, but I thought about Coors Field in the AL and thought it was a good enough reason to suggest the switch for the Rockies.

(Also, if Portland got a team, due to relocation or expansion, there is no way they'd be in the AL. Seattle would not allow that. They (Seattle) wouldn't want a team in Portland, anyhow, so they can keep exclusive rights to the Northwest. But I think there'll end up being one, though to maintain some peace with Seattle, they'd put Portland in the NL.)

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Pittsburgh and Cincinnati must remain in the same division at all times. To have two of the oldest and most stories franchises in baseball in the same division {Not to mention the two cities are bitter rivals in the NFL and College sports} is something that should not be tampered with. I doesnt hurt to put is with Philly either. Its good to show them that even as a sucky team, we can still beat them.

The Pirates should be moved back to the NL East with the Phillies where they belong.

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Yes, the games do count the same, but come late August and September, the schedule should be heavy on divisional play. What would be more exciting to watch on one of the last weekends of the season, the Mets and Braves playing a series with first place on the line or the Mets playing the Twins and the Braves playing the Royals? And while you can't have teams play only divisional games throughout the month of September (due to the numbers), at least when it is intraleague, there's a good chance some of the match-ups will influence the wild card race. I don't like interleague play, but at least it is in May and June, before the pennant races heat up.

August and September schedule would still be heavy on divisional play. Extending interleague play would not change that. Just in September there would probably only be one series at a time. You could even make the games rivalry games, so they are more "exciting". MLB could work it so that each team only has one interleague series in the 15 series of the season too. That way it wouldn't be a big deal. It may not directly affect the wildcard, but how many times does a wild card contender play an eliminated team during this same stretch. I'm sure it's about the same amount of time.

I use to think 15-15 leagues would never work myself. But after looking at it, it works out quite nicely. All divisions are equal, and the schedules are even. Baseball is uneven due to salary difference, at least this would fix somethings, even if it was by a little bit each season.

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Yes, the games do count the same, but come late August and September, the schedule should be heavy on divisional play. What would be more exciting to watch on one of the last weekends of the season, the Mets and Braves playing a series with first place on the line or the Mets playing the Twins and the Braves playing the Royals? And while you can't have teams play only divisional games throughout the month of September (due to the numbers), at least when it is intraleague, there's a good chance some of the match-ups will influence the wild card race. I don't like interleague play, but at least it is in May and June, before the pennant races heat up.

August and September schedule would still be heavy on divisional play. Extending interleague play would not change that. Just in September there would probably only be one series at a time. You could even make the games rivalry games, so they are more "exciting". MLB could work it so that each team only has one interleague series in the 15 series of the season too. That way it wouldn't be a big deal. It may not directly affect the wildcard, but how many times does a wild card contender play an eliminated team during this same stretch. I'm sure it's about the same amount of time.

I use to think 15-15 leagues would never work myself. But after looking at it, it works out quite nicely. All divisions are equal, and the schedules are even. Baseball is uneven due to salary difference, at least this would fix somethings, even if it was by a little bit each season.

The point is, every single day (in which a series is being played, obviously not off-days), there would be a National League team and an American League team playing each other, due to odd numbered leagues. No matter what, an NL team is playing an AL team... every series... all season long.

That's what we're saying should not happen. They've always kept the leagues seperate (except for the Interleague periods). That's how it's always been and that's how it always should be. I don't care if you think it's the 21st century so it's okay to do that now because other sports do it. That's what seperates baseball from the other sports. It's the tradition. I don't think you could ever make a strong enough point to justify this happening. That's not against you, it's just the nature of the situation. Most baseball fans want it to stay the way it is with the seperate leagues. Interleague is alright during that periods they play it and then are done. We don't want to see it being played from Opening Day until the final game of the year. It's just not baseball.

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Here's my last suggestion for realignment (without expansion). They COULD use the Triple-A method, where the PCL has 16 teams with 4 divisions of 4 teams, and the IL has 14 teams with 2 divisions of 4 and 1 division of 6:

National League

WEST: Arizona - LA Dodgers - San Diego - San Francisco

CENTRAL: St. Louis - CHI Cubs - Cincinnati - Milwaukee

EAST: NY Mets - Philadelphia - Pittsburgh - Washington

SOUTH: Atlanta - Florida - Houston - Tampa Bay

Now the American League

WEST: Colorado - LA Angels - Oakland - Seattle

CENTRAL: CHI Sox - Cleveland - Detroit - Kansas City - Minnesota - Texas

EAST: Baltimore - Boston - NY Yankees - Toronto

If the AL in the 4/6/4 format is too extreme, throw either Detroit or Cleveland into the East and return it to a 4/5/5 layout.

BTW, I swapped Tampa Bay and Colorado. It allows Texas to move into the AL Central where it belongs, and Tampa Bay to be near other teams. Right now the Rays are kind of in AL no man's land down there. Plus, with Colorado being such a home run park, I figured, with the added offense in the AL, due to the DH, it would create more excitement. The AL has been the dominant league, as far as power and scoring, so I think Coors Field would help facilitate this even more (and I'm a die-hard National League fan... go figure). Imagine, David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, A-Rod playing there every season (assuming they don't leave for the NL via free agency or a trade). I would usually put Arizona into the AL because they haven't been around as long, and I don't necessarily think their World Series title is enough to justify them staying, but I thought about Coors Field in the AL and thought it was a good enough reason to suggest the switch for the Rockies.

McCall, this is by far the smartest, most thought out option proposed on here. I could seriously live with something like this if it were ever to work out. The swap of Colorado and Tampa Bay makes complete sense by adding new teams to different leagues, while possibly making them both compete better with their new opponents.

And for my taste, the 4-6-4 divisional alignment in the AL is a bit odd, and could work, but I'd rather see Detroit re-join their former AL East home and have a 5-5-4 alignment.

Playoffs were another thing I though of, but wouldn't really be a big deal. The AL could keep it's 3 division winners plus the wild card and the NL would just nix the wild card and take the 4 division winners. Format and consistency would stay the same, it would just be that the playoff teams would be slightly different.

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Playoffs were another thing I though of, but wouldn't really be a big deal. The AL could keep it's 3 division winners plus the wild card and the NL would just nix the wild card and take the 4 division winners. Format and consistency would stay the same, it would just be that the playoff teams would be slightly different.

Haven't I recently heard some MLB big-wigs talking about adding a second wild card? Doing that (that is, expanding the NL playoff field to 5) would be another solution. Not sure if I like it, though. But I always dislike just one team coming from a division no matter what, it just sets the system up for a ton of griping. Just imagine a wild-card-less AL East the past couple of years...

There are 10 types of people in this world: those who understand binary and those who don't.

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Playoffs were another thing I though of, but wouldn't really be a big deal. The AL could keep it's 3 division winners plus the wild card and the NL would just nix the wild card and take the 4 division winners. Format and consistency would stay the same, it would just be that the playoff teams would be slightly different.

Haven't I recently heard some MLB big-wigs talking about adding a second wild card? Doing that (that is, expanding the NL playoff field to 5) would be another solution. Not sure if I like it, though. But I always dislike just one team coming from a division no matter what, it just sets the system up for a ton of griping. Just imagine a wild-card-less AL East the past couple of years...

I really wouldn't want them to increase the playoff total anymore than 8 teams (4 in each league) as is now. I love baseball more than any sport, but the playoffs are long enough. The NBA and NHL drag there's on waaaayyyy too long. The NFL has 12 teams (6 each conf.), but only play one game, rather than series', which allows it to go faster. I think this is the reason why MLB and NFL playoffs are so much better. Makes a big thing out of 1 month, October for MLB and January for NFL. Having 4 rounds of best-of-7 series is too long and just gets to be too much. Plus, by having limited number of spots, only the best teams really get in... except of course when a division is weak as sh**, kinda like the NL Central this year... or last year... But it makes you play harder for more of the season, because you can't use the "well we only have to finish in the top half of the league" excuse, where they can get a bottom seed and then just hopefully play well through the playoffs. If you're not your division winner, you have one other possibiliy to get in, and 12 (NL, 10 AL) other teams are trying for that same spot.

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Here's my last suggestion for realignment (without expansion). They COULD use the Triple-A method, where the PCL has 16 teams with 4 divisions of 4 teams, and the IL has 14 teams with 2 divisions of 4 and 1 division of 6:

National League

WEST: Arizona - LA Dodgers - San Diego - San Francisco

CENTRAL: St. Louis - CHI Cubs - Cincinnati - Milwaukee

EAST: NY Mets - Philadelphia - Pittsburgh - Washington

SOUTH: Atlanta - Florida - Houston - Tampa Bay

Now the American League

WEST: Colorado - LA Angels - Oakland - Seattle

CENTRAL: CHI Sox - Cleveland - Detroit - Kansas City - Minnesota - Texas

EAST: Baltimore - Boston - NY Yankees - Toronto

If the AL in the 4/6/4 format is too extreme, throw either Detroit or Cleveland into the East and return it to a 4/5/5 layout.

BTW, I swapped Tampa Bay and Colorado. It allows Texas to move into the AL Central where it belongs, and Tampa Bay to be near other teams. Right now the Rays are kind of in AL no man's land down there. Plus, with Colorado being such a home run park, I figured, with the added offense in the AL, due to the DH, it would create more excitement. The AL has been the dominant league, as far as power and scoring, so I think Coors Field would help facilitate this even more (and I'm a die-hard National League fan... go figure). Imagine, David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, A-Rod playing there every season (assuming they don't leave for the NL via free agency or a trade). I would usually put Arizona into the AL because they haven't been around as long, and I don't necessarily think their World Series title is enough to justify them staying, but I thought about Coors Field in the AL and thought it was a good enough reason to suggest the switch for the Rockies.

McCall, this is by far the smartest, most thought out option proposed on here. I could seriously live with something like this if it were ever to work out. The swap of Colorado and Tampa Bay makes complete sense by adding new teams to different leagues, while possibly making them both compete better with their new opponents.

And for my taste, the 4-6-4 divisional alignment in the AL is a bit odd, and could work, but I'd rather see Detroit re-join their former AL East home and have a 5-5-4 alignment.

Playoffs were another thing I though of, but wouldn't really be a big deal. The AL could keep it's 3 division winners plus the wild card and the NL would just nix the wild card and take the 4 division winners. Format and consistency would stay the same, it would just be that the playoff teams would be slightly different.

Question: Explain why one league would have 4 divisions and the other have 3??? <_< Doesn't make sense.

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College sports as we know them are just about dead. The lid is off on all the corruption that taints just about every major program and every decision that the schools or the NCAA make is only about money, money, and more money. We'll have three 16+ team super-conferences sooner rather than later, killing much of the regional flair and traditional rivalries that make college sports unique and showing the door to any school that doesn't bring money to the table in the process. Pretty soon the smaller schools are going to have to consider forming their own sanctioning body to keep the true spirit of college sports alive because the NCAA will only get worse in it's excess from here
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Here's my last suggestion for realignment (without expansion). They COULD use the Triple-A method, where the PCL has 16 teams with 4 divisions of 4 teams, and the IL has 14 teams with 2 divisions of 4 and 1 division of 6:

National League

WEST: Arizona - LA Dodgers - San Diego - San Francisco

CENTRAL: St. Louis - CHI Cubs - Cincinnati - Milwaukee

EAST: NY Mets - Philadelphia - Pittsburgh - Washington

SOUTH: Atlanta - Florida - Houston - Tampa Bay

Now the American League

WEST: Colorado - LA Angels - Oakland - Seattle

CENTRAL: CHI Sox - Cleveland - Detroit - Kansas City - Minnesota - Texas

EAST: Baltimore - Boston - NY Yankees - Toronto

If the AL in the 4/6/4 format is too extreme, throw either Detroit or Cleveland into the East and return it to a 4/5/5 layout.

BTW, I swapped Tampa Bay and Colorado. It allows Texas to move into the AL Central where it belongs, and Tampa Bay to be near other teams. Right now the Rays are kind of in AL no man's land down there. Plus, with Colorado being such a home run park, I figured, with the added offense in the AL, due to the DH, it would create more excitement. The AL has been the dominant league, as far as power and scoring, so I think Coors Field would help facilitate this even more (and I'm a die-hard National League fan... go figure). Imagine, David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, A-Rod playing there every season (assuming they don't leave for the NL via free agency or a trade). I would usually put Arizona into the AL because they haven't been around as long, and I don't necessarily think their World Series title is enough to justify them staying, but I thought about Coors Field in the AL and thought it was a good enough reason to suggest the switch for the Rockies.

McCall, this is by far the smartest, most thought out option proposed on here. I could seriously live with something like this if it were ever to work out. The swap of Colorado and Tampa Bay makes complete sense by adding new teams to different leagues, while possibly making them both compete better with their new opponents.

And for my taste, the 4-6-4 divisional alignment in the AL is a bit odd, and could work, but I'd rather see Detroit re-join their former AL East home and have a 5-5-4 alignment.

Playoffs were another thing I though of, but wouldn't really be a big deal. The AL could keep it's 3 division winners plus the wild card and the NL would just nix the wild card and take the 4 division winners. Format and consistency would stay the same, it would just be that the playoff teams would be slightly different.

Question: Explain why one league would have 4 divisions and the other have 3??? <_< Doesn't make sense.

One league has 16 teams, the other has 14 teams... They're seperate leagues. They don't have to have the exact same alignment. MLB actually had a proposal like this back in 1997 for the D'Back and Rays inaugural season (the exact teams weren't lined up like this, but it was the NL with 4 divisions of 4 and the AL with 5-5-4.)

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I hate to hijack the thread in any way, but the only reasonable way you're going toi fix this is by adding two more teams to MLB and go with 4 divisions of 4 in each league. Then you could have even leagues and keep everybody happy. I have done a bunch of mock realignments like this one:

AMERICAN LEAGUE

West: LAA, OAK, SEA, POR (expansion)

Central: KC, CHW, MIN, CLE

East: DET, TOR, BOS, NYY

South: BAL, TB, TEX, NSH (expansion)

NATIONAL LEAGUE:

West: LAD, SF, ARI, SD

Central: CHC, CIN, STL, MIL

East: PHI, PIT, NYM, WAS

South: ATL, FLA, HOU, COL

Obviously, the South divisions in this alignment don't quite work so well, but this is about the closest there is to a good alignment that fits MLB scheduling requirements and keeps the leagues even.

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