A new suggestion to help MLB…
Every year I come up with some warped plan to fix the game that I love watching so much. Right now much biggest beef with MLB is the playoff system which I think is in dire need of an overhaul. Ratings are at an all time low, and I really think it’s time to give the wildcard the heave ho. Yeah, I said it. I think it’s time to go back to the old if you don’t win your division then you don’t get into the playoffs format. I don’t want any of this two teams from the same division meeting in the league finals crap. To resolved this, baseball needs to do the following: completely realign the divisions. Not move one team here, or one team there… completely reshuffle them so that they make more sense. Teams like Atlanta should be rivaling teams closer to them, not in the same division as New York. Houston should rivals with someone in the south, not Chicago.
If you look at the current divisions, the geography of it is on crack. Right now Tampa Bat is in the same division as New York and Boston, where as teams like Toronto and Detroit who are less than a 3 hour drive apart are not. This needs to chage. Right now, this is what the current divisions look like:
One thing right off the bat I don’t like about these divisions is the fact that they are not even. Some have as many as six teams, where others have as little as four teams. In order to make it an even playing field for every team in the league, every division must have the exact same number of teams, no more… no less. Having to fend off only three teams is a lot easier than trying to fend off five… and that smacks in the face of fair play. Right now there are 16 teams in the National League and only 14 in the Americal League. In order to make an allignment that would create a perfect even split, the American League has to add two more teams. This way there would be thirty-two teams… sixteen in each League, which can be broken down into four divisions of four teams a piece. For the sake of this debate, I am going to award two hypothetical expansion franchises to San Antonio and Las Vegas and drop them into the American League. Other cities that I had considered were Indianapolis, Buffalo, Charlotte and Nashville. This gives us the teams we need to do eight divisions with four teams each. Given 32 teams, this is how I would love to see MLB re-align their league:
Four divisions means four winners and the elimination of the wildcard. No more here’s a playoff spot for trying award… if you don’t win your division, your season is over. It’s that simple. A return to the older system with a newer twist being more divisions instead of less. This would make for a more intense drive to the playoff season. With four teams in each division, each team would think they have a better chance since there are not as many teams to jump past to get to first place. This would give every team a chance, and allignment also gives you a chance to put teams closer, as the Texas Rangers for example are a much better fit in the new AL South than they were in the old AL West. Putting in the two new divisions to replace the wildcard is a much better idea than trying to expand or decrease the number of teams that partake in the playoffs. This idea changes the game without having to change a single thing about the current playoff format. 8 teams still make the postseason and the current system would stay in place. The only difference is all teams would have to win to get in, which is the way it always should have been.
This is a change that I think would be enough to help Baseball get things back on track. This kind of shuffle would excite fans, generate new rivalries and in some cases like Detroit/Toronto and Pittsburgh/Philly rekindle an old rivalry that was killed by the last realignment. This is the best solution that at the same time has as little effect on the actual game itself. The season doesn’t shorten, the rules are not changes, we’re simple changing geography for the better. This would work and spark new interest in the game and really help. Not only that, the money MLB will generate from the two new teams will actually make them a profit as well! That’s my idea… but then again I doubt anyone up there will likly think of something this out of the box to solve their solution.
Peter
If I were going to do it this way i’d switch Colorado and St. Louis. Honestly, if I were going to revamp the divisions i’d go back to east and west in each league, and reduce the playoffs to four teams. This would put more emphasis on the regular season which to me has lost a bit of it’s weight with the current system.
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I know this will never happen, the lost revenue from the extra playoff round being foremost amongst the reasons. (Though if it got Charlotte a team, i’d totally be on board with your expansion plan)
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i don’t care enough about baseball to really have much of an opinion, but in fear of sounding argumentative, i don’t see how expanding the league by two teams would make things easier. all of the major north american playoff systems are kind of inherently damned, mostly because there are so many teams. but whether it be baseball, football, hockey, or basketball, i disagree that division champs should automatically make the playoffs. under your system, a team could come in second overall in either the AL or NL and still miss the playoffs because they didn’t win their division (ie: say the D’backs finish first overall, and the Dodgers finish second overall; the Dodgers could finish with three, four, five more wins than the other NL division champs, but they wouldn’t make the cutoff). of course this is also possible under the current structure. something similar occasionally happens in the NHL, where a team that wins its division will slide into third place in the conference, pushing out a better team from a different division.
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if anything, i think divisions should be used for nothing more than geographical convenience. teams in close proximity should play one another more, but the whole idea of division “champions” should be eliminated— at least in terms of deciding who makes the playoffs.
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Not buying this, sorry. There aren’t SOME divisions with 6 and 4… there is ONE with 6 and ONE with 4. You also have Colorado in a division that is two time zones away from everyone else, and the division has THREE separate time zones. You think that’s a good idea? Toronto is further east than Cleveland. Cleveland is 60 miles closer to Detroit than Toronto. I don’t know where you get your math from, but I have gotten to Toronto from Detroit in just under 4 hours… speeding. Toronto to Detroit takes even longer because of US Customs. My suspicion, though I’ll let you explain yourself, is that (even though the Rays found a way to win the division) you just want the Jays out of a division with the Red Sox and Yanks.
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Pherific: Technically, if you took the results of last season and plugged into the new divisions, the White Sox would have still won the Central last season. Secondly, Cleveland has a longer history in the AL East (over ninety years actually) before it was moved to the Central. Toronto had a long history with Detroit and a good rivalry which has killed because of the last realignment. I’ve actually spoken with Indian fans, who want to get away from the Central. They were never happy with the last realignment to begin with… they never wanted to three divisons to begin with. They were against it. So based on that opinion I got an earful of when I was actually at the Jake… I didn’t think the Tribe would mind a transfer back to the East. As for the Jays, look at that new Central division: the Twins, White Sox and Tigers. Do you think that’s any easier? I don’t. I don’t think any divison would be easy anymore for anyone… which is pretty much the point since they’ll be no wildcards to bail anyone out for ‘almost’ making it.
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RYN: My daughter and I joke all the time about bursting into flame going into a church…
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The Tigers were in the East division all that time, too. They’ve had a “rivalry” with the Indians longer than they have with the Jays. There is a bit of a Michigan-Ohio rivalry in general. Really, all the Tigers and Jays have is the end of the 1987 season. There isn’t a super rivalry with either team, and I can promise you just about no one in Detroit really has any sort of feeling toward Toronto.Hockey, yes, but not baseball. It might not be any easier of a division THIS year, but for the most part, Boston and New York will ALWAYS be pretty good. The White Sox were terrible up until 2005. The Tigers were until 2006. But the Sox and Yanks are always above .500 and that is ALWAYS the toughest division in the AL. So yes… in general, I think your new Central IS an easier division than the new East. This means that a realignment has to make sense geographically… and yours does not. New York, Boston, Baltimore, and Toronto are the furthest northeast teams in the AL. Toronto is 60 or so miles further east than Cleveland. If you want 4 divisions per league, THAT is your east division. The Tigers, Jays, and Tribe were all in the old East Division. Yours is NOT about riva
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I forgot to mention in my opening paragraph that the Tigers and Indians are both original Major League teams. They’ve been in the same division for over 90 YEARS. How is the rivalry with Toronto more significant than the one with Cleveland? Trust me, 1987 is NOT enough. Look to 1940 if you want to see a Tigers/Indians pennant race. Michigan-Ohio is pretty substantial. Also, the Indians havehistorically DOMINATED the Central Division since its creation, with 7 titles. Don’t tell me the fans are THAT unhappy. New York and Boston are the biggest markets in the AL. They have the most money to offer. It really seems like you just don’t want Toronto to be in the same division with them. I remember you arguing with Popeye over this a while ago. I knew by your first paragraph your realignment would have Toronto in a different division. And I don’t blame you for not wanting the Jays in the division with the Yanks and Sox. But there’s no way around it. Sorry.
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Pherific: If you have a better idea that doesn’t involve a hard salary cap that would make the game more fair for all teams involved, I’d be more than happy to hear it. Whether it be going to four divisions or back to two divisons again, eliminating the wild card would be a better solution than putting in a cap. That was my main point more than the actual decision of who goes where.
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ryn: The problem with expansion is that it would further water down an already really thin pool of pitching talent. As fun as it would be to have more teams, I think it would cause a huge decline in the quality of the on the field product. As for making it “fair”, it already is. Tampa won the division and made it to the WS. If they can, anyone can.
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CODY: I don’t think Tampa’s run to the world series was very ‘fair’. They spent the better part of a decade running their team into the ground on purpose, and for being dead last in the league they got almost every first pick overall in the draft and a nice chunk of profit sharing from the teams that paid the luxary tax. Rather than put that money into competing, the owner just pocketed itevery year. There only so many 1st picks you can get until your team is over filling with talent… and then the team is going to explode onto the scene, which is what happened last year. If you call that being fair, sure… whatever. I’m willing to bet that when these players start asking for the big pay raises, chances are Tampa’s cheap owner is going to dump them and start the process all over again. Draft picks and pocketing the profit sharing. And Tampa will have to put up with another ten years of crap all over again.
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I don’t agree at all that they were horrible on purpose. Do you have any evidence of this? I think it’s important to note that the franchise turned around after they changed upper management. Early in the Rays history they tried to go after big name guys like Vinny Castilla and Greg Vaughn, and it didn’t work. Thus they decided to rebuild. Rebuilding is not losing on purpose.
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They decided to play raw young guys like Kazmir, Crawford, Baldelli, Upton, Young, etc. As anyone who follows baseball knows the instances of rookies being pretty crappy is much more prevalent than the instances of rookies having an Evan Longoria type season. So they were pretty bad. If you honestly think the secret to success in MLB is just piling up high draft picks year after year..
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tell me, when do you expect Pittsburgh to take the World Series? This year? Next?
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There is nothing wrong with competitive balance. The team with the highest payroll hasn’t won the WS in 8 years and missed the playoffs last year. There has been one repeat champion in that same period. Minnesota is competitive every single year because they are a well run franchise. Detroit spent tons of money and everyone was ready to hand them the division and they tanked.
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The Mets are one of the NL’s biggest spenders (possibly the biggest, i’d have to look it up) and have missed the playoffs back to back years. Last year you claimed nobody could make it from the AL east besides NY and BOS because it was so unfair. You’ve been proven wrong. Toronto will be successful when they are less poorly run. It has nothing to do with anything being unfair.
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By the way, if you guys are dumb enough to give AJ Burnette a 5 year deal you’ll deserve every bit of misery that contract will give you. All indications are the yankees have backed off of him because of the 5 year demand, I only hope that’s true. He’s another Carl Pavano for whoever ends up with him.
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CODY: After 2 of his 3 seasons being sub-par… I don’t want AJ Burnett to come back at all. That kind of money is better spent going after a more reliable arm like Lowe or Sheets… and I don’t think any team is going to give AJ five years. He’ll be lucky if he gets three of four. I don’t want to see him back, for the same reasons you posted…
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Good call. While Sheets is injury prone he wants a shorter contract and his upside is better than Burnett. I’m not sold on Lowe, he’s been good in the NL but last time he was in the AL he wasn’t so hot. He supposedly wants 3 or 4 years. I’d rank him above Burnett at any rate.
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I don’t think your idea is a bad one. I’m just not sure it would make that big a difference in interest. I’m struck by the passion of soccer fans. In the top world leagues, there are no playoffs. Everyone plays everyone else an equal and even number of times (usually 2 or 4). 3 points for a win, 1 for a tie. The team with the most points at the end of the season is champion. It’s that simple. This
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means that every game matters. This means you can’t have the 12th best record in a 30 team league and become “champion.” The problem I have with playoffs is that it devalues the regular season and it rewards teams that get streaky at the right time instead of ones that were consistently good over the long haul. I know baseball will never scrap playoffs completely but I think revaluing the regular
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season is the best way to pump up interest in the game. If you want to tinker with divisions, I think the best way is to scrap the AL and NL and re-arrange the divisions in a regional manner, thus pumping up local rivalries. Make like a northeast, midwest, south-central and western division. Put the Sox, Yanks, Mets and Phils in the same division. That would create some great passion.
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