2010 MLB Realignment

[dgthree]

I'm always up for a good realignment, I think you did pretty well with your 8 divisions.

However, if it were up to me, MLB would go fully interleague. I would also lose the outdated concept of divisions/leagues and feature a fully balanced schedule. Your addition of two teams would screw this up a bit, but as the MLB stands today, I would have each team play each of the other 29 teams 6 times per year, one home series and one away. That would add 12 games to the schedule, bringing the total to 174. I would add more double-headers, or perhaps extend the season a week or two earlier to accommodate the extra games. Now the traditionalists would never have it, and the rivalry fiends would have a fit, but I honestly don't care. I'd keep the postseason as it is, just the top 8 teams overall get in and are seeded accordingly.

Okay that's the end of my fantasy MLB rant lol.

Can not go even conferences/divisions unless MLB goes full interleague. I do not care for full interleague, I like how baseball is separate. I also do not have a major issue with the divisions.

[ryanlion13]

Why is Toronto contracted? There is absolutely no reasoning for that to happen. You need to look at teams in financial and fan support problems. Usually the Marlins, Twins and/or Rays would be the most likely candidates, but they either have new stadiums under contruction, planned and basically approved, or are winning and have elevated fan support.

I had few other choices. When I think about it I don't contract original teams, teams with new stadiums or teams that have been fairly successful recently. The Royals fit that mold to a t. I usually take the Rays. Well, I decided to be nice in light of this year. As you said, the Twins win and are building a new stadium. The Marlins occasionally win and are hashing out a new stadium. Who else should I go with? I've never been hot on the Jays. They never interested me. I know its not old but Rogers Centre is 20, older than a number of parks around. Personally I also think its hideous. Since they last won a title, they've been mediocre. Yes they would be better in a different division but even the Rays found a way to win. The Jays are always in the middle. Plus, they have had a few crisis of identities. The tatted up Jay holding the ball? The current graphite set? It's like they are trying to find themselves. It doesn't make financial sense, but I'd feel better if they weren't around. And it allowed me to keep the Rays for a rivalry with the Marlins.

I need two teams for my contraction idea, and it is just for fun. Give me another team to go with the Royals.

There is always the Cubs. It's not like they win anything.

[Seadragon76]

Since the NL already has 16 teams, why not do this:

NL East:

-Phillies

-Mets

-Pirates

-Nationals

NL North:

-Brewers

-Cubs

-Cardinals

-Reds

NL South:

-Astros

-Braves

-Marlins

-Rockies

NL West:

-Dodgers

-Giants

-Diamondbacks

-Padres

The AL gets two expansion franchises to equal the NL.

AL East:

-Red Sox

-Yankees

-Blue Jays

-Orioles

AL North:

-Twins

-Tigers

-Indians

-White Sox

AL South:

-Rangers

-Rays

-Royals

-Memphis MLB

AL West:

-A's

-Mariners

-Angels

-Portland MLB

Why Memphis and Portland? Well, these are two very well known areas that don't have a team and they also provide in the way of the plan. Memphis is close to the area so Texas, Tampa and Kansas City won't have to travel far. Same with Portland.

[ryanlion13]

Since the NL already has 16 teams, why not do this:

NL East:

-Phillies

-Mets

-Pirates

-Nationals

NL North:

-Brewers

-Cubs

-Cardinals

-Reds

NL South:

-Astros

-Braves

-Marlins

-Rockies

NL West:

-Dodgers

-Giants

-Diamondbacks

-Padres

The AL gets two expansion franchises to equal the NL.

AL East:

-Red Sox

-Yankees

-Blue Jays

-Orioles

AL North:

-Twins

-Tigers

-Indians

-White Sox

AL South:

-Rangers

-Rays

-Royals

-Memphis MLB

AL West:

-A's

-Mariners

-Angels

-Portland MLB

Why Memphis and Portland? Well, these are two very well known areas that don't have a team and they also provide in the way of the plan. Memphis is close to the area so Texas, Tampa and Kansas City won't have to travel far. Same with Portland.

I'm not crazy with the Rox division. Why not flip the Rays and Rox. The Rox would be closer to KC and Dallas than Miami and Atlanta.

[RoughRiders9]

When I was looking at the scheduling method I mentioned in the first post, I got to thinking....

What if I made every team against their respective division rival a four-game series instead of three-game series.

When a team play a non-division team, they simply play a three-game series.

What do you think?

If you're confused, I'll use the Cubs as an example.

The Cubs play four games against the Cardinals, then play three games against the Mets and the Braves, then play four games against the Brewers.

[wdm1219inpenna]

Here is my idea of a proposal, adding 2 expansion teams (1 for the AL, 1 for the NL) and moving a current NL team to the AL.

I would keep a 162 game schedule. Each league would be made up of 2 conferences (EASTERN & WESTERN). Each conference would contain 8 teams. Each conference would be divided into 2 divisions of 4. I will illustrate this later in the post.

One of my goals was to try to create a geographic interleague rival for each of the 16 teams in both leagues.

The American League would add 1 expansion team. I call them the Carolina Strikers. They would be based out of Charlotte North Carolina. The team colors would be white, black, silver & Tarheel blue, not unlike the Carolina Panthers NFL team. I chose the nickname strikers for several reasons. The Carolinas have been known to have been struck by hurricanes. The NFL team, named the Panthers, is a cat that can, and often does strike. Furthermore, hitters will be doing all they can to strike at the baseball.

The National League would have the Colorado Rockies move from the NL into the American League.

The National League would add a 16th expansion team, back in Montreal. They would either be called the Expos, or perhaps a new name altogether, the Mounties. I read once where some team in Canada wanted to call themselves the Mounties, but the Royal Canadian Mounted Police prohibited them from doing so. I cannot remember what team it was or for what sport however. For the sake of this post, we'll stick with Expos.

Now to the realignment. The American League & National League as I mentioned before would be divided into two conferences, Eastern & Western.

American League Eastern Conference would be divided into the Atlantic Division & the Central Division.

American League Western Conference would be divided into the Midwest Division & the Pacific Division.

The National League would have the same setup as the AL.

A.L. EASTERN CONFERENCE:

Atlantic Division: New York Yankees, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays

Central Division: Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians, Tampa Bay Rays, Carolina Strikers

A.L. WESTERN CONFERENCE:

Midwest Division: Kansas City Royals, Chicago White Sox, Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers

Pacific Division: Los Angeles Angels, Oakland Athletics, Seattle Mariners, Colorado Rockies (from NL)

N.L. EASTERN CONFERENCE:

Atlantic Division: New York Mets, Washington Nationals, Philadelphia Phillies, Montreal Expos

Central Division: Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds, Florida/Miami Marlins, Atlanta Braves

N.L. WESTERN CONFERENCE:

Midwest Division: St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Brewers, Houston Astros

Pacific Division: Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres, Arizona Diamondbacks

In most cases, each AL team has a geographic interleague rival:

NY Yankees - NY Mets

Bos Red Sox - Phila Phillies

Tor Blue Jays - Montreal Expos

Balt Orioles - Wash Nationals

While geographically, one could argue that Toronto and/or Montreal could be Central & Florida & Tampa could be Atlantic, I placed the 2 Canadian teams in the Atlantic Division anyway. It would be interesting to me to have the old Expos (Wash Nats) take on the new Expos. All 8 teams are tucked away nicely in the northeastern quadrant pretty well too.

TB Rays - Fla/Miami Marlins

Det Tigers - Pitt Pirates

Clev Indians - Cin Reds

Car Strikers - Atl Braves

The Braves to me should not be in the East in the first place. Couple that with the fact that TB, Carolina, Miami & Atlanta are all in the south area makes for good natural interleague rivals & intra-league rivals too. Also, the Braves/Marlins rivalry from the former NL East would remain in tact, and the Reds/Pirates rivalry too, also the Tigers/Indians would stay in tact, while the Rays/Strikers would become hopefully the newest rivalry in baseball.

Minn Twins - Milw Brewers

Tex Rangers - Hou Astros

KC Royals - St. L Cardinals

Chi White Sox - Chi Cubs

By having this Midwest Division matchup, you'd keep the fabled Cards/Cubs rivalry in tact. It always bothers me how the Texas Rangers are in the WEST and the Houston Astros are in the CENTRAL right now. Keeping the Cubs/Brewers rivalry in tact adds a bit to the geography, given the Bears/Packers rivalry in the NFL especially.

LA Angels - LA Dodgers

Oak Athletics - SF Giants

Col Rockies - Ariz Diamondbacks

Sea Mariners - SD Padres

Another awesome rivalry w/the Dodgers & Giants is kept in tact, not to mention the rivalry between the A's, Angels & Mariners. Having Arizona & Colorado as interleague rivals would make sense too, since both are in, or are near the Mountain Time Zone. As for Seattle & San Diego, they are interleague rivals simply by process of elimination. I'd put Colorado in the AL since that thin air already lends itself to high scores, which is part and parcel of the AL it seems, what with the D.H. This would also work out for the interleague play idea that I have. I will elaborate a bit later...

162 game schedule as follows:

54 divisional games (18 games x 3 division rivals)

48 conference games games, (12 games vs each of the other 4 teams in your own conference)

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

12 interleague games (3 games x 4 teams from one of the other league's divisions, done on a 4 year rotation, just like the NFL)

The novelty of the Yankees/Mets, White Sox/Cubs, Angels/Dodgers, etc. has wore off big time for me, since they face off during interleague play EVERY SINGLE SOLITARY YEAR..... By rotating it to every 4 years, it would bring back some of the novelty. Every 4 years the Yankees would play 3 games at the Mets park, and once every 4 years the Mets would play at the Yankees park.

For the post-season, I'd still have the Division Series, but.....

The champions of the Pacific & Midwest Division would play the best 3/5 series to be crowned the champions of the WEST, ditto for the Atlantic & Central Division winners for the EAST Championship. Then the East & West champs would play the best 4 out of 7 in the League Championship Series. This kind of marries the old w/the new, as from 1969 - 1993, you had AL East & West and NL East & West champions fight it out for each league's pennant. Home field advantage in each series would be based on regular season record, then head to head record. If both of those are tied, then another tie-breaker would have to be figured out. This advantage would apply all the way through the World Series. If both AL & NL champs had the same regular season record, and didn't face one another head to head during interleague play in the regular season, then each team's interleague record would determine home field for the World Series. If that was tie, then another tie-breaker would be used.

That's my realignment plan in a large nutshell. Thanks for taking the time to read it over, and for all of your other posts to inspire me to do this again.

Kindest regards,

Bill McD.

[DomTheAthlete29]

True rivials aren't just created by leagues, they are created by a history of bad blood and good, close games.

[RoughRiders9]

When I was looking at the scheduling method I mentioned in the first post, I got to thinking....

What if I made every team against their respective division rival a four-game series instead of three-game series.

When a team play a non-division team, they simply play a three-game series.

What do you think?

If you're confused, I'll use the Cubs as an example.

The Cubs play four games against the Cardinals, then play three games against the Mets and the Braves, then play four games against the Brewers.

I guess nobody want to answer my question....

[JH42XCC]

If I were to have a 32-Team MLB, here's how it would look like.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

East

Baltimore Orioles

Boston Red Sox

New York Yankees

Toronto Blue Jays

North

Chicago White Sox

Cleveland Indians

Detroit Tigers

Minnesota Twins

South

Charlotte expansion team

Kansas City Royals

Tampa Bay Rays

Texas Rangers

West

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Oakland Athletics

Portland expansion team

Seattle Mariners

NATIONAL LEAGUE

East

New York Mets

Philadelphia Phillies

Pittsburgh Pirates

Washington Nationals

North

Chicago Cubs

Colorado Rockies

Milwaukee Brewers

St. Louis Cardinals

South

Atlanta Braves

Cincinnati Reds

Florida/Miami Marlins

Houston Astros

West

Arizona Diamondbacks

Los Angeles Dodgers

San Diego Padres

San Francisco Giants

(alternate idea)

AMERICAN LEAGUE

East

Boston Red Sox

Cleveland Indians

New York Yankees

Toronto Blue Jays

North

Chicago White Sox

Detroit Tigers

Kansas City Royals

Minnesota Twins

South

Baltimore Orioles

Charlotte expansion team

Tampa Bay Rays

Texas Rangers

West

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Oakland Athletics

Portland expansion team

Seattle Mariners

NATIONAL LEAGUE

East

New York Mets

Philadelphia Phillies

Pittsburgh Pirates

Washington Nationals

North

Chicago Cubs

Colorado Rockies

Milwaukee Brewers

St. Louis Cardinals

South

Atlanta Braves

Cincinnati Reds

Florida/Miami Marlins

Houston Astros

West

Arizona Diamondbacks

Los Angeles Dodgers

San Diego Padres

San Francisco Giants

[AceHawk447]

The National League would add a 16th expansion team, back in Montreal. They would either be called the Expos, or perhaps a new name altogether, the Mounties. I read once where some team in Canada wanted to call themselves the Mounties, but the Royal Canadian Mounted Police prohibited them from doing so. I cannot remember what team it was or for what sport however. For the sake of this post, we'll stick with Expos.

The Vancouver (now Memphis) Grizzlies were the team you had in mind, regarding the "Mounties." And I agree, a new Montreal Expos team should be added.

As for what I'd do w/ 32 (asterisks denote expansions):

NL East

Montreal Expos*

New York Mets

Philadelphia Phillies

Washington Nationals

NL North

Chicago Cubs

Milwaukee Brewers

Pittsburgh Pirates

St. Louis Cardinals

NL South

Atlanta Braves

Cincinnati Reds

Florida/Miami Marlins

Houston Astros

NL West

Arizona Diamondbacks

Los Angeles Dodgers

San Diego Padres

San Francisco Giants

AL East

Baltimore Orioles

Boston Red Sox

New York Yankees

Toronto Blue Jays

AL North

Chicago White Sox

Cleveland Indians

Detroit Tigers

Minnesota Twins

AL South

[Memphis/New Orleans/Charlotte/Triangle?]*

Kansas City Royals

Tampa Bay Rays

Texas Rangers

AL West

Colorado Rockies

Los Angeles Angels

Oakland Athletics

Seattle Mariners

[447]

[joshhockey]

Now that this thread has been bumped, here's my thoughts.

AL East:

Toronto Blue Jays

Washington Nationals

Pittsburgh Pirates

Kansas City Royals

Then split up the other teams accordingly.

[Cujo]

Hey guys, thanks for digging up this this verrrry important thread! The topic of division realignment never gets old.

[Gary]

Hey guys, thanks for digging up this this verrrry important thread! The topic of division realignment never gets old.

Where is the sign for Stop Reel A Line Mint?

[rams80]

Hey guys, thanks for digging up this this verrrry important thread! The topic of division realignment never gets old.

Where is the sign for Stop Reel A Line Mint?

/Kill the thread necromancer!

[devinforseven]

AL

move the orioles to the east, indians to the north, and the rockies the south

NL

fine

In my little fantasy world, by the time 2010 rolls around, there will two expansion teams, the Portland Beavers and the Iowa Oaks (I did a concept for them a bit while back).

This is how the MLB Realignment will be set up:

AL East

Boston Red Sox

Cleveland Indians

New York Yankees

Toronto Blue Jays

AL North

Chicago White Sox

Colorado Rockies

Detroit Tigers

Minnesota Twins

AL West

Los Angeles Angels

Portland Beavers

Oakland Athletics

Seattle Mariners

AL South

Baltimore Orioles

Kansas City Royals

Tampa Bay Rays

Texas Rangers

NL East

Cincinnati Reds

Philadelphia Phillies

Pittsburgh Pirates

New York Mets

NL North

Chicago Cubs

Iowa Oaks

Milwaukee Brewers

St. Louis Cardinals

NL West

Arizona Diamondbacks

Los Angeles Dodgers

San Diego Padres

San Francisco Giants

NL South

Atlanta Braves

Houston Astros

Miami Marlins

Washington Nationals

And this is how the scheduling would work:

-162 Games

-72 Games versus Division teams (12 Home, 12 Away, 24 each)

-72 Games versus League teams (3 Home, 3 Away, 6 each)

-18 Games versus Interleague teams (6 teams each year, against rotating Division [12 games] and 2 against rivals [3 home, 3 away, 6 games], teams with no interleague rivals rotates teams)

Thoughts? Feelings? Ideas?

Please don't say that Iowa shouldn't get a team because there are other larger cities or whatever. It's my own little world. Just tell me what you think of the realignment.

[MiK]

This looks like fun...I want in

Assuming Cedar Rapids or Dubuque are awarded a franchise and all of Iowa faints in surprise (and they get that awesome farm-style stadium someone designed for the Oaks a while back)..and Portland lands another top tier team. Here we go!

American League

East: Baltimore, Boston, NY Yankees, Toronto

North: Chicago Sox, Cleveland, Detroit, Minnesota

South: Colorado, Houston, Kansas City, Texas

West: LA Angels, Oakland, Portland, Seattle

National League

East: NY Mets, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington

North: Chicago Cubs, Iowa, Milwaukee, St Louis

South: Atlanta, Cincinnati, Miami, Tampa

West: Arizona, LA Dodgers, San Diego, San Francisco

Major Moves:

Colorado and Houston to AL South. Makes more sense geographically for Colorado to play KC and Texas Teams than Florida/California teams. Same for Houston. And as far as I know, there are no major major rivalries I'm talking (Mets-Yankees stuff here) for either team within their current divisions so why not build some?

Pittsburgh into the East and Atlanta/Cincinnati into the south: Again it just makes way more sense for Atlanta to play teams in florida and (basically) Kentucky than in the Northeast. I realize the breaking up of the longstanding division foes in Atlanta vs NY Mets/Philly but oh well.

I get the "why we want to keep Houston/Texas, Miami/Tampa, and Philly/Pitt apart" argument like with the Chicago, NY and LA teams but those teams are in the same city and have to fight for the same fan-base/markets already, at least these divisions are far enough apart where they can financially (and socially) fend for themselves (assuming Florida starts liking baseball when the Rays or Marlins aren't in the world series). Also the potential for intense rivalries is way higher. What is better than defeating an in-state rival?

-162 Games

-72 Games versus Division teams (12 Home, 12 Away, 24 each)

-72 Games versus League teams (3 Home, 3 Away, 6 each)

-18 Games versus Interleague teams (3 teams each year (Home and Away series). 1 Rival (Regional if no rival), and 2 rotating.)

Rivals: NY teams, LA teams, Chi Teams. MIL/MIN. CLE/CIN. WAS/BAL. that sort of thing.

Rotation: 2 divisions each year, the next the other 2 divisions.

Example, in Year A the NL North plays the AL EAST and WEST. In Year B, the NL North plays the AL North and South. Playing the team that finished in the same position as them the previous year. So if Milwaukee finished first in the NL North then they would play the team that finished 1st in both the AL east and west. (JUST like the NFL.)

Of course, assuming all of this happens.....in Iowa. bleh, I did all that typing for Iowa?

[calhof2007]

AL South

Baltimore Orioles

Kansas City Royals

Tampa Bay Rays

Texas Rangers

I like this division because now the Orioles have a chance at winning!

[Gary]

[crashcarson15]

No expansion, really simple:

American League East

New York Yankees

Boston Red Sox

Toronto Blue Jays

Tampa Bay Rays

Baltimore Orioles

Cleveland Indians

Detroit Tigers

American League West

Chicago White Sox

Minnesota Twins

Kansas City Royals

Texas Rangers

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Seattle Mariners

Oakland Athletics

National League East

Washington Nationals

Philadelphia Phillies

New York Metropolitians

Florida Marlins

Atlanta Braves

Pittsburgh Pirates

Cincinnati Reds

Houston Astros

National League West

Chicago Cubs

St. Louis Cardinals

Milwaukee Brewers

Colorado Rockies

Arizona Diamondbacks

San Diego Padres

Los Angeles Dodgers

San Francisco Giants

Or we could switch Atlanta and Cincy for the Cubs and Cardinals

Teams in the American League play:

12 games against 6 divisional opponents: 72

6 games against 7 other AL opponents: 42

4 games against 8 NL opponents: 32

4 games against 2 NL "rivals": 8

Teams in the National League play:

10 games against 7 divisional opponents: 70

6 games against other 8 NL opponents: 48

4 games against 7 AL opponents: 28

4 games against 2 AL "rivals" (or 4 games against AL "rival" and 4 games against extra NL "rival"

Rivals

New York Yankees-NYM, StL

Boston Red Sox-NYM, PHI

Toronto Blue Jays-PIT, WSH

Tampa Bay Rays-FLA, ATL

Baltimore Orioles-WSH, PHI

Cleveland Indians-PIT, CIN

Detroit Tigers-CHC, CIN

Chicago White Sox-CHC, MIL

Minnesota Twins- MIL, LAD

Kansas City Royals-StL, COL

Texas Rangers-HOU, HOU

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim-LAD, SD

Seattle Mariners-SD, COL

Oakland Athletics-SF, ARZ

Washington Nationals-BAL, TOR

Philadelphia Phillies-BOS, BAL

New York Metropolitians-NYY, BOS

Florida Marlins-TB*

Atlanta Braves-TB*

Pittsburgh Pirates-CLE, TOR

Cincinnati Reds-CLE, DET

Houston Astros-TEX, TEX

Chicago Cubs-CWS, DET

St. Louis Cardinals-NYY, KC

Milwaukee Brewers-CWS, MIN

Colorado Rockies-KC, SEA

Arizona Diamondbacks-OAK*

San Diego Padres-SEA, LAA

Los Angeles Dodgers-LAA, MIN

San Francisco Giants-OAK*

*Florida Marlins and Atlanta Braves play 4 extra games with each other in lieu of another interleague series. The same thing goes for the San Francisco Giants and the Arizona Diamondbacks. These teams could/would rotate each year in the NL.

The top two teams from each division advance and play a 7 game series, as the new schedule features 154 games. The division champs (hence divisional series) play for the league championship in a 7 game series, then those champions play a 7 game set for the World Series.

[southflasportsfan]

AL East

Boston Red Sox

Baltimore Orioles

New York Yankees

Toronto Blue Jays

AL North

Chicago White Sox

Detroit Tigers

Minnesota Twins

Cleveland Indians

AL West

Los Angeles Angels

Portland Beavers

Oakland Athletics

Seattle Mariners

AL South

Colorado Rockies

Kansas City Royals

Tampa Bay Rays

Texas Rangers

Very simple switch. Move Baltimore back to the east, cause they were in the south. Move the Rockies to the south. And move the Indians to the North. Now at least travel costs make more sense.

Tampa Bay in the same division as Colorado?!?! That is extremely far.