Mlb Realignment

[Falconsfan567]

Chip and Joe were talking about realignment right now and I agree with a lot of what they're saying about how it's time for MLB to do a complete realignment. I agree that it's time.

Here's my thoughts on what I think needs to be done. Get rid of the American and National leagues. I know that sounds really ******** to begin with but hear me out on it. Joe was making a really good point on how MLB divisions need to be more aligned by regions to help grow rivalries. Put the A's and Giants in the same division. O's, Nationals. Yankees, Mets. Reds, Indians. White Sox, Cubs. Just to name a few.

Here's how you would do that, you would have a Eastern and Western conference like we see in the NBA. The NHL a couple years ago realigned to 4 divisions, down from 6 to allow teams to be better placed by time zone. Time zone would just be an added benefit here. So here's how the divisions would work.

Eastern Conference - North Division

1. Baltimore Orioles

2. Boston Red Sox

3. New York Mets

4. New York Yankees

5. Toronto Blue Jays

6. Philadelphia Phillies

7. Pittsburgh Pirates

8. Washington Nationals

Eastern Conference - South Division

1. Atlanta Braves

2. Cincinnati Reds

3. Cleveland Indians

4. Miami Marlins

5. Houston Astros

6. Tampa Bay Rays

7. Texas Rangers

Western Conference - Midwest Division

1. Chicago Cubs

2. Chicago White Sox

3. Detroit Tigers

4. Kansas City Royals

5. Milwaukee Brewers

6. Minnesota Twins

7. St. Louis Cardinals

Western Conference - West Division

1. Arizona Diamondbacks

2. Colorado Rockies

3. Los Angeles Angels

4. Los Angeles Dodgers

5. Oakland Athletics

6. San Diego Padres

7. San Francisco Giants

8. Seattle Mariners

That still leaves us with 15 teams in each conference with 1 division of 7 teams and another of 8 teams in each conference. Every team with play a 3 game series at home or away series every other team in the other conference. That equals 45 games. Those series would rotate home and away on a yearly basis.

Every team would play two separate 3-game home and away series with each team in their own division. That equals 96 or 84 games depending on if you've got 7 or 8 teams in your division. So that accounts for 141 or 129 games depending on the division.

Ok, I've got to do some more math work on this because I'm having a brain freeze right now on how the schedule would work. But you get the point I'm trying to make here.

[Dawggone]

I would be done with it. To me, baseball gets to stuck on itself and its history. What was entertaining and exciting in 1922 might not be to grandiose in 2015.

[Falconsfan567]

I would be done with it. To me, baseball gets to stuck on itself and its history. What was entertaining and exciting in 1922 might not be to grandiose in 2015.

Exactly. I would love to get the chance to go watch guys like Mike Trout play more. Chipper never played a regular season game in KC. Paul Konerko played one regular season series in Atlanta. Just things like that.

[Unknøwn]

Manfred is definitely open to these kind of things. He's all about making the game more exciting. Selig was all about keeping it as traditional as possible. Theres been some talk in the media about it so maybe Manfred will be asked about it. Back in July media in Chicago was reporting how the Cubs/White Sox rivalry has become just another day and they threw around the idea of realignment.

[Falconsfan567]

Manfred is definitely open to these kind of things. He's all about making the game more exciting. Selig was all about keeping it as traditional as possible. Theres been some talk in the media about it so maybe Manfred will be asked about it. Back in July media in Chicago was reporting how the Cubs/White Sox rivalry has become just another day and they threw around the idea of realignment.

So far I'm a major fan of Rob Manfred. He seems very intune to what the fans want. I honestly think if someone was to present a major plan like this to him it would have a very strong chance of gaining steam and eventually going to a vote by the owners.

[AEFalcon]

I generally side with "traditionalist" as Joe Simpson calls it, because I think the history is what makes baseball special. However that being said, I like the realignment idea. To me, the rivalries that would come out of this would make watching baseball more interesting.

[Positive Thinker]

I like it too. Way too many divisions waters down the product.

I also believe the wild card should be more than a one game playoff. It should be best of 3, and that way the division winners get a little rest and can set up their pitching staff for the playoffs

[Psychic Gibbon]

Regional divisions made sense once upon a time when travel was much more difficult and teams started expanding throughout the country instead of being bunched up in the northeast and midwest, but at this point it is a remnant of a bygone era. They should just get rid of them and go back to having the NL and AL being the only division. Top three teams get a first round bye, fourth and fifth seeds do the wild card game.

[Unknøwn]

Id be ok keeping the divisions as is but lets mix up the schedule more. Playing a team 18 times a year is too much. Lets see more teams outside the division. I just think its crazy you see your divisonal foes 3 times a year on the road and 3 at home but everyone else is just once.

[K26dp]

I generally side with "traditionalist" as Joe Simpson calls it, because I think the history is what makes baseball special. However that being said, I like the realignment idea. To me, the rivalries that would come out of this would make watching baseball more interesting.

Well said. Besides, to me the American and National Leagues died when the offices of the league presidents were rolled into the commissioner's office anyway and Milwaukee was allowed to switch leagues.

[Falconsfan567]

Regional divisions made sense once upon a time when travel was much more difficult and teams started expanding throughout the country instead of being bunched up in the northeast and midwest, but at this point it is a remnant of a bygone era. They should just get rid of them and go back to having the NL and AL being the only division. Top three teams get a first round bye, fourth and fifth seeds do the wild card game.

Regional divisions still makes sense because it would really expand certain geographic rivalries that we don't get to see much off. The Braves and Rays only play a few times a year every few years. But in this realignment they would play each other more and every single year and it would really build the rivalry. It would be fun.

The NFL went to more regional based divisions in 2002 and it has seen tremendous growth of certain rivalries that we didn't see before like the Falcons against the Buccaneers. Yeah they could do an even better job of having regional divisions if they were to go to a more East vs. West format like the NBA has.

I understand your point of getting rid of divisions all together and just having an NL and AL and I'm not totally against it. But like k26dp said, NL and AL pretty died years ago, the Brewers have switched sides and now we've seen the Astros switch sides. Might as well just blow the whole thing up and go to a East vs. West format.

[Falconsfan567]

I generally side with "traditionalist" as Joe Simpson calls it, because I think the history is what makes baseball special. However that being said, I like the realignment idea. To me, the rivalries that would come out of this would make watching baseball more interesting.

Well Joe Simpson is one of those so called "traditionalist" and for him to be on board with something like this when he has admitted to absolutely hating any changes that takes place tells you where we're at in baseball in this day and age. That something major is really needed to spice things up. But I think it would also make things more fair and we would get better playoffs out of it and a truer champion.

The playoffs this year is a perfect example of why the current system is broken. The 3 best teams in the NL are the Cardinals, Pirates and Cubs. Only 1 of those teams will get to play in the NLCS because the other two will get knocked out (more than likely by the Cardinals). That leaves an easy straight path to the NLCS for the Mets or Dodgers (my guess is Dodgers) and for the 19999000000th time we'll have the Cardinals or Dodgers representing the NL in the World Series when I know the majority of the nation would love to see the Pirates or Cubs make it to the World Series like last year when everyone was thrilled to see the Royals make it.

When the playoffs comes the divisions shouldn't matter. Teams should be seeded based on record. The divisions are only needed to enhance those geographic rivalries. But the teams with the 3 best records are the top 3 seeds. 4 and 5 play a best of 3-game series to determine who plays #1. That would result in better matchups and a better champion.

[Falconsfan567]

Id be ok keeping the divisions as is but lets mix up the schedule more. Playing a team 18 times a year is too much. Lets see more teams outside the division. I just think its crazy you see your divisonal foes 3 times a year on the road and 3 at home but everyone else is just once.

The schedule definitely needs fixing. Like I pointed out the other day. The Braves are set to go to Chicago to play the White Sox next year. It's going to be the Braves 4th time playing the White Sox in Chicago. The White Sox have only come to Atlanta once. The Braves have only gone to KC once. The Twins have only come to Atlanta once. That's ludicrous considering that "interleague play" has been around since 1997 and 2016 marks the 20th year of it.

[Psychic Gibbon]

Regional divisions still makes sense because it would really expand certain geographic rivalries that we don't get to see much off. The Braves and Rays only play a few times a year every few years. But in this realignment they would play each other more and every single year and it would really build the rivalry. It would be fun.

The NFL went to more regional based divisions in 2002 and it has seen tremendous growth of certain rivalries that we didn't see before like the Falcons against the Buccaneers. Yeah they could do an even better job of having regional divisions if they were to go to a more East vs. West format like the NBA has.

I understand your point of getting rid of divisions all together and just having an NL and AL and I'm not totally against it. But like k26dp said, NL and AL pretty died years ago, the Brewers have switched sides and now we've seen the Astros switch sides. Might as well just blow the whole thing up and go to a East vs. West format.

The key difference is that a lot rides on every football game which makes it easy for grudges and rivalries to form. That is very far from the case in baseball and with few exceptions the rivalries of the day revolve around whichever top teams are jockeying for top position which then fade when one or both decline. The restructuring of the divisions and conferences also didn't cause the teams to suddenly have heated rivalries in the NBA and the rivalries seem to still revolve more around individual players with the teams coming along for the ride than anything else. It also doesn't help that baseball player culture is extremely uptight in comparison to those other two sports which makes it difficult for player rivalries to really take root.

To me it comes off as trying to cram a square peg into a round hole.

[Falconsfan567]

The key difference is that a lot rides on every football game which makes it easy for grudges and rivalries to form. That is very far from the case in baseball and with few exceptions the rivalries of the day revolve around whichever top teams are jockeying for top position which then fade when one or both decline. The restructuring of the divisions and conferences also didn't cause the teams to suddenly have heated rivalries in the NBA and the rivalries seem to still revolve more around individual players with the teams coming along for the ride than anything else. It also doesn't help that baseball player culture is extremely uptight in comparison to those other two sports which makes it difficult for player rivalries to really take root.

To me it comes off as trying to cram a square peg into a round hole.

I slightly disagree. Both the Yankees and Mets could both be in last place but when they play it means something the fans of both teams. Same for the White Sox/Cubs, Dodgers/Angels, Indians/Reds, ect.

I see the point you're trying to make but baseball is a far more team oriented sport than the NBA. That is why player rivalries is much more important than team rivalries takes precedence in the NBA. That wouldn't be the case in MLB where it takes entire teams to win.

[Psychic Gibbon]

I slightly disagree. Both the Yankees and Mets could both be in last place but when they play it means something the fans of both teams. Same for the White Sox/Cubs, Dodgers/Angels, Indians/Reds, ect.

I see the point you're trying to make but baseball is a far more team oriented sport than the NBA. That is why player rivalries is much more important than team rivalries takes precedence in the NBA. That wouldn't be the case in MLB where it takes entire teams to win.

The point on the players was mostly tangential since the likelihood both players go directly against each other unless one is a hitter and one is a pitcher is pretty low, I just don't like how uptight baseball culture is. It sucks a good deal of the fun out of it, such as the uproar again Puig flipping his bat after a home run. I mean, who the **** cares? Let them have fun because it's fun for us to watch.

Anyway... My point is that rivalries in the various sports work differently because of the nature of how they're played and trying to force how they work in one sport into another one is not going to work. It's not like the Rangers and Astros 'rivalry' meant anything to anyone, even them, just because they were plopped into the same division and are in the same stae, instead we had to wait until both were battling over a playoff spot in the latter half of the season for that to happen. Even the often lauded Yankees/Red Sox rivalry didn't really flare up until both teams were top dogs last decade... until then it was more of a bitter punching bag type of situation for the most part.

I'd prefer to simply recognize how this works in baseball and eliminate the divisions, sans the AL/NL (which I'd prefer over East/West since that would give an advantage to the much more compact East travel wise), entirely so all of the top teams are gunning for each other until the end of the season for better playoff seeds in any given year with more even/less wonky schedules as opposed to he current situation where division leaders can rest on their laurels if their division is particularly bad, where wild cards get worse seeding even if they have better records than division leaders, and were teams can have wildly different schedules that can favor one team over another in a very obvious way.

[Falconsfan567]

The point on the players was mostly tangential since the likelihood both players go directly against each other unless one is a hitter and one is a pitcher is pretty low, I just don't like how uptight baseball culture is. It sucks a good deal of the fun out of it, such as the uproar again Puig flipping his bat after a home run. I mean, who the **** cares? Let them have fun because it's fun for us to watch.

Anyway... My point is that rivalries in the various sports work differently because of the nature of how they're played and trying to force how they work in one sport into another one is not going to work. It's not like the Rangers and Astros 'rivalry' meant anything to anyone, even them, just because they were plopped into the same division and are in the same stae, instead we had to wait until both were battling over a playoff spot in the latter half of the season for that to happen. Even the often lauded Yankees/Red Sox rivalry didn't really flare up until both teams were top dogs last decade... until then it was more of a bitter punching bag type of situation for the most part.

I'd prefer to simply recognize how this works in baseball and eliminate the divisions, sans the AL/NL (which I'd prefer over East/West since that would give an advantage to the much more compact East travel wise), entirely so all of the top teams are gunning for each other until the end of the season for better playoff seeds in any given year with more even/less wonky schedules as opposed to he current situation where division leaders can rest on their laurels if their division is particularly bad, where wild cards get worse seeding even if they have better records than division leaders, and were teams can have wildly different schedules that can favor one team over another in a very obvious way.

That is why I said that playoff seedings should be record based regardless of divisions. Like I explained, this year the NL playoffs will totally suck unless the Cubs or Pirates pull off the upset and beat the Cardinals.

I just think East/West works better because you can balance out the league's better among time zones and geographics. One of the issues that we had to deal with for years was the Braves being in the Western division and having a ton of games that didn't start until 10 PM local time. That made it impossible for most folks to stay up and watch the games. NHL realized this problem and tried to fix it by going to a more timezone based format a couple years back. It seems to have worked out pretty good. There are still a couple of issues with it like with Nashville being in the Western conference and having to play a number of late night games. But it's better than it used to be.

East

1. Atlanta Braves

2. Baltimore Orioles

3. Boston Red Sox

4. Chicago White Sox

5. Chicago Cubs

6. Cincinnati Reds

7. Cleveland Indians

8. Detroit Tigers

9. Miami Marlins

10. New York Mets

11. New York Yankees

12. Philadelphia Phillies

13. Pittsburgh Pirates

14. Tampa Bay Rays

15. Toronto Blue Jays

16. Washington Nationals

West

1. Arizona Diamondbacks

2. Colorado Rockies

3. Houston Astros

4. Kansas City Royals

5. Milwaukee Brewers

6. Minnesota Vikings

7. Los Angeles Angels

8. Los Angeles Dodgers

9. Oakland Athletics

10. San Diego Padres

11. San Francisco Giants

12. Seattle Mariners

13. St. Louis Cardinals

14. Texas Rangers

[jwickha2]

I think the MLB needs to adopt the NFL scheduling system

This is what I think that MLB needs to do:

• So the divisions stay the same

• You play each team in your division a total of 18 games-9 home, 9 away= 4 x 18=72

• You play everyone in your League a total of 6 games-3 home, 3 away= 10 x 6= 60

• Then you play one division of the other League for a total of 6 games- 3 home, 3 away= 5 x 6= 30

o This then rotates each year, so every 3 years you will see every team in the opposite League

72+60+30=162 games.

[Falconsfan567]

I think the MLB needs to adopt the NFL scheduling system

This is what I think that MLB needs to do:

• So the divisions stay the same

• You play each team in your division a total of 18 games-9 home, 9 away= 4 x 18=72

• You play everyone in your League a total of 6 games-3 home, 3 away= 10 x 6= 60

• Then you play one division of the other League for a total of 6 games- 3 home, 3 away= 5 x 6= 30

o This then rotates each year, so every 3 years you will see every team in the opposite League

72+60+30=162 games.

That is almost word for word the current scheduling system they went to a couple years ago when they moved the Astros to the AL.

[Unknøwn]

Initially that was sort of the plan if I remember correctly. They would pick a certain division to put against your division but of course some teams you played at home and some on the road.

[Falconsfan567]

Initially that was sort of the plan if I remember correctly. They would pick a certain division to put against your division but of course some teams you played at home and some on the road.

That is what they have done. Each year you match up against a certain division (not counting your "rival" games) and that division is suppose to rotate every year. In 2013 the NL East played the AL Central. In 2014 the NL East played the AL West. In 2015 the NL East played the AL East. In 2016 the NL East will play the AL Central.

[jwickha2]

That is almost word for word the current scheduling system they went to a couple years ago when they moved the Astros to the AL.

It doesnt seem like it if we arent playing each team from the AL Central next year both home and away but I really havent paid attention to the schedule next year. I have only seen some highlights of it.

[jwickha2]

Personally I don't have a problem with the schedule as much as some it seems. I think MLB needs to do away with the home-and-home "4" game series and the "rivalry" games each team has like White Sox and Cubs, Indians and Reds. I would prefer they wentto something close to what I said so your division would play the exact same schedule.

[Falconsfan567]

It doesnt seem like it if we arent playing each team from the AL Central next year both home and away but I really havent paid attention to the schedule next year. I have only seen some highlights of it.

There's no need though to play each team in your division 19 times. That's ridiculous!! That would allow more games and a better balanced schedule.

[jwickha2]

There's no need though to play each team in your division 19 times. That's ridiculous!! That would allow more games and a better balanced schedule.

Well with what I would want them to change the schedule to, you would play your division opponents 18 times not 19. If you got rid of the rivalry games and went with a strict rotating schedule the schedule would be better balanced because every team would the same schedule. I do think you need to play your division opponents the most though. Just like in the NFL where you play your division 6 times out of a 16 game schedule.