Jeff Passan's Realignment idea

[BrewCrewRising]

Jeff Passan has a very simple idea for realignment: go back to having just the leagues and eliminate the divisions.

 

I don't like the idea of the Brewers going back to the AL though for a few different reasons. I don't think they could afford the big bat that you'd have to spend on the DH, and I don't like that it would make the Brewers seem like they just can't decide where to be.

 

I do like the idea of the simplicity of it, though I think then you'd also have to combine it with scheduling based on previous seasons win/loss.

 

Thoughts?

[Invader3K]

I like it. I've long thought having weighted division schedules is dumb. How many times do the Brewers have to play the Reds or Pirates in one season, for example?

 

I don't know if I'd be in favor of moving the Brewers back to the AL or not. On one hand, I enjoy the strategy in the NL. On the other, I hate seeing most pitchers try to hit.

 

The idea of the Yankees regularly coming to Miller Park and hopefully getting their rear ends kicked is certainly appealing.

[Weeks4MVP]

I wouldn't mind going to just leagues. I hate the divisions as I think it is unfair that one team gets in the postseason just because they finished the best in their division. I think a couple years ago the Dodgers made it when they had the 7th or 8th best record in the National League.

[paul253]

I continually laugh at all these measures at "competitive balance" when the real problems continue to be ignored. There was a report I just read about how the Yankees brought in over $400 million in revenue last year, and the next closest team, the Mets, were something like $100 million less than that. They Yankees can outbid any team they want for any free agent, any international free agent, and can afford to sign any draft pick they want. Until they fix the draft by having some sort of rookie salary cap and making every amateur player in the world subject to the draft, I will not believe MLB is doing anything to fix the competitive balance problem.

[joepepsi]

This is a terrible idea. Typical East Coast writing that attempts to solve the "Tampa Bay Problem", but will in fact create multiple Tampa Bay issues for all the small and medium market teams in the Midwest that will have little hope of competing against the high revenue coastal teams for one of the top 4 spots in the league.

 

I still like my idea best (surprise!) It took me 10 minutes to think up last winter.

 

Move Houston to the AL West to feed a natural rivalry with the Rangers and help minimize the number of West Coast road trips Texas must take.

Every team plays one 3 game series against all 15 teams in the other league: 45 games

Every team plays each team in their own division 15 times: 60 games

Every team plays the other 10 teams in their league 6 times: 60 games

Total games, 165.

 

As an add on, I'd take 2 wild card teams and not give division winners any home field advantage. Instead give home field in order of teams with best to worst records. The two teams with the worst records among the 5 playoff teams play a 3 game series over 4 days. Sort of a play-in to the playoffs. Whoever wins that goes to next round, similar to LDS, followed by LCS.

 

If that's too many games, then reduce the number of regular interdivision games from 60 to 48, for a 152 game schedule.

[Legacy25GT]

Does anyone know if MLB is talking about eventually adding 2 more expansion teams to the AL? That would seem to me to be the best way to fix the uneven divisions, but its a bit drastic on its own if that's the only reason.

[MessiahRp]

I'm of the belief that Milwaukee would make more money if they were in the AL. Red Sox and Yankees fans travel and those games sell out pretty fast. Same goes for Twins fans. The White Sox would give a Chicago team for Milwaukee to feud with and you'd most certainly get the Cubs in Interleague.

 

Boston, NY, Detroit, CWS, Minnesota (not to mention Cleveland) would easily outdraw CHC, Houston, Pittsburgh, Cincy, St. Louis IMO...

 

And I still think we'd get the Cubs and Cards in most interleague scenarios.

 

So by that theory we should be able to afford another bat with the extra revenue we'd draw.

 

Rp

[thebruce44]

I continually laugh at all these measures at "competitive balance" when the real problems continue to be ignored. There was a report I just read about how the Yankees brought in over $400 million in revenue last year, and the next closest team, the Mets, were something like $100 million less than that. They Yankees can outbid any team they want for any free agent, any international free agent, and can afford to sign any draft pick they want. Until they fix the draft by having some sort of rookie salary cap and making every amateur player in the world subject to the draft, I will not believe MLB is doing anything to fix the competitive balance problem.

 

Yes, this was covered in Forbes and by several recent AP articles. Still, I don't see what it has to do with this thread at all.

 

As for realignment, I personally like the current format. I understand that sometimes bad teams will get in, but with the Wild Card that usually isn't as big of a problem. I think the current format also fosters more rivalries.

[logan82]

I like the current format. If they are trying to realign for competitive balance they are ignoring the real issue.

[Warning Track Power]

I would say absolutely not to the Brewers moving back to the AL. It has nothing to do with anything other than I love the NL and the way the game is played in the NL. I've learned to hate the AL with the DH but that's for another topic.

I would be comfortable with going back to an East and West in the AL and NL, with the two division winners and two next highest records, regardless of which division a team is in, making the playoffs; meaning you could have 3 East teams and 1 West team or vice versa making the playoffs. Theoretically, you will guarantee 3 of the 4 best records will make the playoffs on a yearly basis. Pennant chases will be kept as 7 teams will be in each division in the AL and 8 in each in the NL, instead of having 14 and 16 in one massive division.

My league breakdown would be:

NL East
Brewers
Mets
Phillies
Braves
Nationals
Marlins
Pirates
Reds

NL West
Dodgers
Giants
Padres
Diamondbacks
Rockies
Astros
Cardinals
Cubs

AL WEST
Angels
Mariners
A's
Rangers
Twins
Royals
White Sox

AL EAST
Yankees
Red Sox
Rays
Orioles
Blue Jays
Indians
Tigers

With this breakdown the teams in 2009 playoffs would have been:
NL: Dodgers, Phillies, Rockies, Cardinals. (All the same teams). 3 teams from the West and 1 from the East.
AL: Yankees, Angels, Red Sox, Rangers. (Rangers replacing the Twins). 2 teams from each division.

2008 Playoffs:
NL: Cubs, Phillies, Brewers, Mets (Mets replacing the Dodgers). 3 teams from the East and 1 from the West
AL: Angels, Rays, Red Sox, White Sox (All the same teams). 2 teams from each division

In my opinion, this works best for realignment, assuming all things remain the same i.e. interleague play, no teams switching leagues, expansion.

[berniebrewer4life]

I'm of the belief that Milwaukee would make more money if they were in the AL. Red Sox and Yankees fans travel and those games sell out pretty fast. Same goes for Twins fans. The White Sox would give a Chicago team for Milwaukee to feud with and you'd most certainly get the Cubs in Interleague.

 

Boston, NY, Detroit, CWS, Minnesota (not to mention Cleveland) would easily outdraw CHC, Houston, Pittsburgh, Cincy, St. Louis IMO...

 

And I still think we'd get the Cubs and Cards in most interleague scenarios.

 

So by that theory we should be able to afford another bat with the extra revenue we'd draw.

 

Rp

We wouldn't get the cubs or the cards, as both have the natural rivals with KC and CWS that trumps that of us.

[Mr QL]

I agree with Paul. I don't want any realignment or any other gimmick to "restore" competitive balance. Either you actually fix the problem or you don't.

[NievesNoNO]

I don't dislike the current format. Like others have said realignment won't solve competitive balance. I definitely would not remove the divisions.

 

That said, if it was up to me these are the changes I'd make:

 

I'd would realign the divisions, but not for competitive balance. I would realign and try to take more advantage of the geographical rivalries.

I would remove the American and National Leagues and get rid of the DH. Each division winner gets a play-off spot + two wild card teams (best 2 remaining non division winners). The best eight teams would then go to a straight tournament format seeded by records.

 

Divisions:

 

California:

LA Dodgers

LA Angels

Oakland

San Francisco

Padres

 

West:

Mariners

Rockies

Diamondbacks

Rangers

Astros

 

Central:

KC

St. Louis

Cincinatti

Cleveland

Pittsburge

 

Great Lakes:

Cubs

White Sox

Twins

Brewers

Detroit

 

North East:

Boston

Toronto

Yankees

Mets

Phillies

 

South East:

Atlanta

Florida

Rays

Nationals

Orioles

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

How about:

 

Bristol Division:

Yankees

Red Sox

 

Alternative Bristol Division for Rainy Days:

Mets

Phillies

Manny

Pujols

 

Fly-Over Division

Everyone Else

[jhart05]

They should have stopped at 28 teams.

 

Two leagues, two divisons of 7 in each league.

[BrewCrewRising]

How about:

 

Bristol Division:

Yankees

Red Sox

 

Alternative Bristol Division for Rainy Days:

Mets

Phillies

Manny

Pujols

 

Fly-Over Division

Everyone Else

I love this! Mostly because it has me laughing like a fool at my desk right now, but it would also make it easier for ESPN to hide their bias and tick me off all the time.

 

Also, please note that the top two teams from the Bristol division would be automatically entered into the playoffs.

 

 

[Warning Track Power]

How about:

 

Bristol Division:

Yankees

Red Sox

 

Alternative Bristol Division for Rainy Days:

Mets

Phillies

Manny

Pujols

 

Fly-Over Division

Everyone Else

I love this! Mostly because it has me laughing like a fool at my desk right now, but it would also make it easier for ESPN to hide their bias and tick me off all the time.

 

Also, please note that the top two teams from the Bristol division would be automatically entered into the playoffs.

 

Talk about laughing like a fool at your desk! Classic...

 

 

[paul253]

Yes, this was covered

in Forbes and by several recent AP articles. Still, I don't see what it

has to do with this thread at all

 

I just brought it up because the idea of the realignment plan was to restore competitive balance. I'm saying unless you are going to fix the real issues, like the draft, what's the point of changing everything around? Also, if one team brings in over $100 million a year more than the next closest, how can things ever really be "fair"? There are real, genuine ways to fix this issue, but nobody even talks about them. Instead they suggest thing like changing the divisions every single season based on a team's payroll and eliminating divisions altogether. What a joke.

[Invader3K]

Well, as I see it, the draft and revenue issues are unrelated to playoff and division balance. Right now you have one six team division and one four team division. With the current playoff format, that is completely illogical. The proposal in the Passan article would at least even things out so that no team has an advantage based on simple geography. I also like the idea of playing a greater amount of teams more frequently over the course of a season, rather than seeing the same old matchups ad nauseum.

 

The more I think about it, I kind of like the idea of the Brewers moving back to the AL. Let's face it, we don't have any big rivalries right now. Yeah, we kind of have a thing going with the Cubs and Cards, but they are much bigger rivals with each other. Our current inter league rivalry with the Twins is sort of a joke. In the AL days we had big rivalries with teams like the White Sox and Tigers that I wouldn't mind seeing revived. We'd still play the Cubs and Cardinals occasionally, and not have to deal with their fans overrunning Miller Park with regularity.

[endaround]

But the only reason MLB is talking realingment is because of competitive balance due to the Yankees. Yes its ass-backwards but hey what did you expect?

[Invader3K]

I see it as being two separate issues. The unbalanced leagues and divisions should so obviously be fixed, I'm not sure why it's taken so long to address them.

 

The Yankees/Red Sox duopoly in the AL East is due to financial issues that are completely separate. Yeah, things should be fixed with regards to the draft and international free agents (as well as possibly a salary cap, like that will ever happen), but why not do both so things are more fair all around? I like Passan's idea better than the stupid "floating divisions" idea Selig was talking about during spring training.

[joepepsi]

I see it as being two separate issues. The unbalanced leagues and divisions should so obviously be fixed, I'm not sure why it's taken so long to address them.

I agree. That's why moving the Astros to the AL West makes the most sense to me and is the simplest solution.

[Invader3K]

Well, the problem with that is, if I recall correctly, the Astros were offered the chance to switch leagues in the past and declined. Maybe they would reconsider at this point, though.

[RightFieldCoder]

I don't think an NL team was offered to move. It was an AL team that needed to be moved. KC was offered first, Mil second.

[chadomac]

For a moment I thought this said topic said "Jeff Suppan's Realignment Idea" and was very happy to know he may be aligned with another team.