MLB Realignment

[BBTV]

I'd say Raleigh and Charlotte are more akin to Milwaukee and Green Bay, especially when supporting each others' sports teams. Phily and Pittsburgh don't even do that. Phily is definitely an east coast city where Pittsburgh is a Midwestern city that just happens to be a little further east than most of its contemporaries.

You could say that, but for the most part you'd be wrong. While Raleigh allegedly is Panthers country there's a generational divide: if you're over 30, odds are you're still a Redskins fan here (if you're native to the area), with the Panthers as a "second team." The Bobcats? They might as well not exist to Raleigh. The Hurricanes? They might as well not exist to Charlotte.

There is, however, no true dislike among them in that regard, unlike Eagles/Steelers or Flyers/Penguins. Those fans just flat out don't like one another. If Raleigh and Charlotte did have teams in the same major league, I think they'd have a similar type of rivalry; there's just no overlap for there to be one.

The Eagles/Steelers / Flyers/Penguins thing really only exists in Western PA, where as you know, there's always been a "hate the big brother" kind of thing. If not for all the transplanted pittsburgers who had to move east to get a job, the Pittsburgh teams wouldn't even be noticed here (other than the Pens, just because they are a division rival, not because of where they're from.). Philly's big brother rivalry is New York. Pittsburgh is a total afterthought.

[McCall]

I'm surprised that with all this talk about realignment no one has made the suggestion of splitting the 30 teams up into 3 regional conferences and eliminating the "leagues" altogether, and removing interleague play to make way for a balanced schedule.

MLB Alternate Realignment

Western League

Arizona Diamondbacks

Colorado Rockies

Houston Astros

Los Angeles Angels

Los Angeles Dodgers

Oakland Athletics

San Diego Padres

San Francisco Giants

Seattle Mariners

Texas Rangers

Central League

Chicago Cubs

Chicago White Sox

Cincinnati Reds

Cleveland Indians

Detroit Tigers

Kansas City Royals

Milwaukee Brewers

Minnesota Twins

Pittsburgh Pirates

St. Louis Cardinals

Eastern League

Atlanta Braves

Baltimore Orioles

Boston Red Sox

Miami Marlins

New York Mets

New York Yankees

Philadelphia Phillies

Tampa Bay Rays

Toronto Blue Jays

Washington Nationals

The regular season breakdown is as follows: 108 games against league opponents (2 home and away, three-game series) and 54 games against interleague opponents (1 three-game series, with the 9 interleague series for each league being split between home away, i.e. @ATL/@BAL/@BOS/@MIA/@NYM and NYY/PHI/TAM/TOR). Also it should be noted that to allow for a balanced schedule, you will not be able to face the team that is ranked the same as you in their respective leagues the year before, providing for more balance and unique matchups (i.e. NYY ranked 2nd in the East, wouldn't face SF or STL, ranked 2nd in the West or Central respectively).

The Top 3 "League Champions" are seeded 1 through 3 based off of record, while the Top 5 "Wild-Cards" are seeded 4 through 8 based off of record. All series are best-of-seven series, with a bracket that doesn't re-seed after every round. And the main tiebreakers to seed teams, who happen to have identical records, are as follows: League Record, Interleague Record, and finally Run Differential Rate.

Keep in mind I'm simply throwing this out there as an idea, something to digest, not to say it's the only or best plan for realignment.

I actually thought of one similar only it involved taking the Texas and Western teams out to form the "western" league while keeping the remainder of the NL and AL intact. Almost a throwback to when the Missouri, Minnesota and Milwaukee teams were the westernmost teams in baseball before the Dodgers and Giants headed to Cali.

[illwauk]

The Twins weren't around until a few years after the Giants and Dodgers moved, but regardless, I rather like the idea of a retconned "classic" PCL.

[McCall]

The Twins weren't around until a few years after the Giants and Dodgers moved, but regardless, I rather like the idea of a retconned "classic" PCL.

That was my intention and my working title for the league name. However with the PCL being used in Triple A, I was thinking something like United League or whatnot. Something that goes with National and American. I don't like regional names for leagues in baseball. Divisions are fine, but not leagues.

And it wasn't a "true" throwback to the previous league formations.

[RyanMcD29]

I'd say Raleigh and Charlotte are more akin to Milwaukee and Green Bay, especially when supporting each others' sports teams. Phily and Pittsburgh don't even do that. Phily is definitely an east coast city where Pittsburgh is a Midwestern city that just happens to be a little further east than most of its contemporaries.

You could say that, but for the most part you'd be wrong. While Raleigh allegedly is Panthers country there's a generational divide: if you're over 30, odds are you're still a Redskins fan here (if you're native to the area), with the Panthers as a "second team." The Bobcats? They might as well not exist to Raleigh. The Hurricanes? They might as well not exist to Charlotte.

There is, however, no true dislike among them in that regard, unlike Eagles/Steelers or Flyers/Penguins. Those fans just flat out don't like one another. If Raleigh and Charlotte did have teams in the same major league, I think they'd have a similar type of rivalry; there's just no overlap for there to be one.

The Eagles/Steelers / Flyers/Penguins thing really only exists in Western PA, where as you know, there's always been a "hate the big brother" kind of thing. If not for all the transplanted pittsburgers who had to move east to get a job, the Pittsburgh teams wouldn't even be noticed here (other than the Pens, just because they are a division rival, not because of where they're from.). Philly's big brother rivalry is New York. Pittsburgh is a total afterthought.

While on the topic of Philly/Pitt, does the Pitt-Nova basketball rivalry contribute much to anything?

[BBTV]

I'd say Raleigh and Charlotte are more akin to Milwaukee and Green Bay, especially when supporting each others' sports teams. Phily and Pittsburgh don't even do that. Phily is definitely an east coast city where Pittsburgh is a Midwestern city that just happens to be a little further east than most of its contemporaries.

You could say that, but for the most part you'd be wrong. While Raleigh allegedly is Panthers country there's a generational divide: if you're over 30, odds are you're still a Redskins fan here (if you're native to the area), with the Panthers as a "second team." The Bobcats? They might as well not exist to Raleigh. The Hurricanes? They might as well not exist to Charlotte.

There is, however, no true dislike among them in that regard, unlike Eagles/Steelers or Flyers/Penguins. Those fans just flat out don't like one another. If Raleigh and Charlotte did have teams in the same major league, I think they'd have a similar type of rivalry; there's just no overlap for there to be one.

The Eagles/Steelers / Flyers/Penguins thing really only exists in Western PA, where as you know, there's always been a "hate the big brother" kind of thing. If not for all the transplanted pittsburgers who had to move east to get a job, the Pittsburgh teams wouldn't even be noticed here (other than the Pens, just because they are a division rival, not because of where they're from.). Philly's big brother rivalry is New York. Pittsburgh is a total afterthought.

While on the topic of Philly/Pitt, does the Pitt-Nova basketball rivalry contribute much to anything?

At least in the Phila region, only with Nova students / alumns. Nova isn't really considered a Philly team that the area gets behind. In the "Big 5" (or "City 6" if you count Drexel), there's 4 (or 5) Phila. teams, and Nova.

[McCall]

Here is my 3-league alignment:

National League

East: Atlanta, Miami, NY Mets, Philadelphia, Washington

West: St. Louis, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh

American League

East: Baltimore, Boston, NY Yankees, Tampa Bay, Toronto

West: Chicago Sox, Cleveland, Detroit, Kansas City, Minnesota

"Pacific Coast League" (would probably change name)

East?: Arizona, Colorado, Houston, Seattle/San Diego, Texas

West?: LA Angels, LA Angels, Oakland, San Diego/Seattle, San Francisco

(A little tougher to split this league divisionally, so these are just of working alignments)

[Drakonius26]

Here is my 3-league alignment:

National League

East: Atlanta, Miami, NY Mets, Philadelphia, Washington

West: St. Louis, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh

American League

East: Baltimore, Boston, NY Yankees, Tampa Bay, Toronto

West: Chicago Sox, Cleveland, Detroit, Kansas City, Minnesota

"Pacific Coast League" (would probably change name)

East?: Arizona, Colorado, Houston, Seattle/San Diego, Texas

West?: LA Angels, LA Angels, Oakland, San Diego/Seattle, San Francisco

(A little tougher to split this league divisionally, so these are just of working alignments)

What about the schedule and playoffs, or is it fairly similar to my idea?

[McCall]

Here is my 3-league alignment:

National League

East: Atlanta, Miami, NY Mets, Philadelphia, Washington

West: St. Louis, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh

American League

East: Baltimore, Boston, NY Yankees, Tampa Bay, Toronto

West: Chicago Sox, Cleveland, Detroit, Kansas City, Minnesota

"Pacific Coast League" (would probably change name)

East?: Arizona, Colorado, Houston, Seattle/San Diego, Texas

West?: LA Angels, LA Angels, Oakland, San Diego/Seattle, San Francisco

(A little tougher to split this league divisionally, so these are just of working alignments)

What about the schedule and playoffs, or is it fairly similar to my idea?

No. Probably won't be anything like yours. I have to "review the numbers" and then I'll post them. I won't have nearly that many Interleague games, nor that many playoff teams. I'm rather a traditionalist. I'll come up with a happy medium.

[illwauk]

Here is my 3-league alignment:

National League

East: Atlanta, Miami, NY Mets, Philadelphia, Washington

West: St. Louis, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh

American League

East: Baltimore, Boston, NY Yankees, Tampa Bay, Toronto

West: Chicago Sox, Cleveland, Detroit, Kansas City, Minnesota

"Pacific Coast League" (would probably change name)

East?: Arizona, Colorado, Houston, Seattle/San Diego, Texas

West?: LA Angels, LA Angels, Oakland, San Diego/Seattle, San Francisco

(A little tougher to split this league divisionally, so these are just of working alignments)

It's probably easier to go north/south with PCL2.0.. Seattle, the Bay teams and the LA teams in the north, everyone else in the south.

[illwauk]

I'd say Raleigh and Charlotte are more akin to Milwaukee and Green Bay, especially when supporting each others' sports teams. Phily and Pittsburgh don't even do that. Phily is definitely an east coast city where Pittsburgh is a Midwestern city that just happens to be a little further east than most of its contemporaries.

You could say that, but for the most part you'd be wrong. While Raleigh allegedly is Panthers country there's a generational divide: if you're over 30, odds are you're still a Redskins fan here (if you're native to the area), with the Panthers as a "second team." The Bobcats? They might as well not exist to Raleigh. The Hurricanes? They might as well not exist to Charlotte.

There is, however, no true dislike among them in that regard, unlike Eagles/Steelers or Flyers/Penguins. Those fans just flat out don't like one another. If Raleigh and Charlotte did have teams in the same major league, I think they'd have a similar type of rivalry; there's just no overlap for there to be one.

I guess its hard to say for sure when two of the teams in your control group are an embarassingly poorly run basketball team and the other plays a sport that few below the Mason Dixon line care anything about.

[HedleyLamarr]

Here is my 3-league alignment:

National League

East: Atlanta, Miami, NY Mets, Philadelphia, Washington

West: St. Louis, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh

American League

East: Baltimore, Boston, NY Yankees, Tampa Bay, Toronto

West: Chicago Sox, Cleveland, Detroit, Kansas City, Minnesota

"Pacific Coast League" (would probably change name)

East?: Arizona, Colorado, Houston, Seattle/San Diego, Texas

West?: LA Angels, LA Angels, Oakland, San Diego/Seattle, San Francisco

(A little tougher to split this league divisionally, so these are just of working alignments)

What about the schedule and playoffs, or is it fairly similar to my idea?

No. Probably won't be anything like yours. I have to "review the numbers" and then I'll post them. I won't have nearly that many Interleague games, nor that many playoff teams. I'm rather a traditionalist. I'll come up with a happy medium.

What kind of traditionalist takes the Dodgers and Giants out of the National League?

[Luigi74]

I'd say Raleigh and Charlotte are more akin to Milwaukee and Green Bay, especially when supporting each others' sports teams. Phily and Pittsburgh don't even do that. Phily is definitely an east coast city where Pittsburgh is a Midwestern city that just happens to be a little further east than most of its contemporaries.

You could say that, but for the most part you'd be wrong. While Raleigh allegedly is Panthers country there's a generational divide: if you're over 30, odds are you're still a Redskins fan here (if you're native to the area), with the Panthers as a "second team." The Bobcats? They might as well not exist to Raleigh. The Hurricanes? They might as well not exist to Charlotte.

There is, however, no true dislike among them in that regard, unlike Eagles/Steelers or Flyers/Penguins. Those fans just flat out don't like one another. If Raleigh and Charlotte did have teams in the same major league, I think they'd have a similar type of rivalry; there's just no overlap for there to be one.

The Eagles/Steelers / Flyers/Penguins thing really only exists in Western PA, where as you know, there's always been a "hate the big brother" kind of thing. If not for all the transplanted pittsburgers who had to move east to get a job, the Pittsburgh teams wouldn't even be noticed here (other than the Pens, just because they are a division rival, not because of where they're from.). Philly's big brother rivalry is New York. Pittsburgh is a total afterthought.

You're way way off, first no one in Pittsburgh sees the Eagles as a rival, they aren't even on the radar, it goes Baltimore, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, with teams like New England, Dallas and Oakland in the next category.

The Pirates and Phillies had a great rivalry from the mid-70's to the mid-80's when both teams battled for the NL East title, it carried on a bit into the 90's and was killed off when Bud stuck the Bucco's in the NL Central.

I think you're the first Flyer fan, I've seen that doesn't consider the Pens a big time rival, I have been to Philly for Pens/Flyers games and the hate is crazy.

[McCall]

Here is my 3-league alignment:

National League

East: Atlanta, Miami, NY Mets, Philadelphia, Washington

West: St. Louis, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh

American League

East: Baltimore, Boston, NY Yankees, Tampa Bay, Toronto

West: Chicago Sox, Cleveland, Detroit, Kansas City, Minnesota

"Pacific Coast League" (would probably change name)

East?: Arizona, Colorado, Houston, Seattle/San Diego, Texas

West?: LA Angels, LA Angels, Oakland, San Diego/Seattle, San Francisco

(A little tougher to split this league divisionally, so these are just of working alignments)

It's probably easier to go north/south with PCL2.0.. Seattle, the Bay teams and the LA teams in the north, everyone else in the south.

That's one the scenarios above. I just kept it called east/west. The west teams are situated oddly.

[YessSir32]

Here is my 3-league alignment:

National League

East: Atlanta, Miami, NY Mets, Philadelphia, Washington

West: St. Louis, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh

American League

East: Baltimore, Boston, NY Yankees, Tampa Bay, Toronto

West: Chicago Sox, Cleveland, Detroit, Kansas City, Minnesota

"Pacific Coast League" (would probably change name)

East?: Arizona, Colorado, Houston, Seattle/San Diego, Texas

West?: LA Angels, LA Angels, Oakland, San Diego/Seattle, San Francisco

(A little tougher to split this league divisionally, so these are just of working alignments)

It's probably easier to go north/south with PCL2.0.. Seattle, the Bay teams and the LA teams in the north, everyone else in the south.

That's one the scenarios above. I just kept it called east/west. The west teams are situated oddly.

Yeah, any way you have that, one or two teams would be situated not right.

[ZapRowsdower8]

I'd say Raleigh and Charlotte are more akin to Milwaukee and Green Bay, especially when supporting each others' sports teams. Phily and Pittsburgh don't even do that. Phily is definitely an east coast city where Pittsburgh is a Midwestern city that just happens to be a little further east than most of its contemporaries.

You could say that, but for the most part you'd be wrong. While Raleigh allegedly is Panthers country there's a generational divide: if you're over 30, odds are you're still a Redskins fan here (if you're native to the area), with the Panthers as a "second team." The Bobcats? They might as well not exist to Raleigh. The Hurricanes? They might as well not exist to Charlotte.

There is, however, no true dislike among them in that regard, unlike Eagles/Steelers or Flyers/Penguins. Those fans just flat out don't like one another. If Raleigh and Charlotte did have teams in the same major league, I think they'd have a similar type of rivalry; there's just no overlap for there to be one.

The Eagles/Steelers / Flyers/Penguins thing really only exists in Western PA, where as you know, there's always been a "hate the big brother" kind of thing. If not for all the transplanted pittsburgers who had to move east to get a job, the Pittsburgh teams wouldn't even be noticed here (other than the Pens, just because they are a division rival, not because of where they're from.). Philly's big brother rivalry is New York. Pittsburgh is a total afterthought.

You're way way off, first no one in Pittsburgh sees the Eagles as a rival, they aren't even on the radar, it goes Baltimore, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, with teams like New England, Dallas and Oakland in the next category.

The Pirates and Phillies had a great rivalry from the mid-70's to the mid-80's when both teams battled for the NL East title, it carried on a bit into the 90's and was killed off when Bud stuck the Bucco's in the NL Central.

I think you're the first Flyer fan, I've seen that doesn't consider the Pens a big time rival, I have been to Philly for Pens/Flyers games and the hate is crazy.

Yeah, I have to agree. I don't think I have ever known a Steelers fan that even cared about the Eagles one way or another, except for my one friend that is a Steelers season ticket holder but roots for the Eagles also. Aside from the Pirates being placed into the wrong division (The should have been in the East with traditional divison rivals Philly/NY/Montreal) the biggest factor for them not being rivals anymore has been their being a total nonfactor for 18 years.

[raysox]

I kinda want a 15 team, two table league. Take this into account.

The top 4 teams in order in the AL are...

Boston

New York

Tampa Bay

Texas

That might just be a homer thing on my part...

[MC2]

You can't have 15 teams in each division.

[JQK]

You can't have 15 teams in each division.

There would be no divisions, and just two leagues. The way it was.

The more i think about it, a single table for each league makes more and more sense...

[DaytonBlue]

I'd still have divisions but they would only be used for scheduling purposes to make the travel a little easier.

Interleague daily doesn't bother me. It's not a novelty anymore.

Move AZ to AL West and HOU to NL West

play 4 teams in division 12x=48 (3 game series)

play 10 others in league 10x=100 (5 teams 4 at home and 6 on the road and 5 teams 6 at home and 4 on the road)

interleague "rival"=4

other interleague=2 3-game series and 1 4-game series (one team from each division each year, so you play your rival two series once every five years)

Top four make playoffs (I mean "postseason"). Best of 7 all playoff rounds.

Having some four game series makes scheduling easier. Two game series are too quick. It's not perfectly balanced, but a lot closer than what we have now.

If you make the playoffs, you can hang a postseason banner. If you win a league another. World series, another. No banners for winning a playoff round (ahem, Mets)! And no champagne for winning the division round.

And no more home-field advantage from all-star game. I have heard somewhere that they like to know home-field advantage in advance. If that's so important, I'd give it to the league who has the team with the best overall record. Then the best regular season team will be guaranteed home-field if they make the World Series.