Division Formation?

[lcbj68c]

Can anybody tell me how it came to be that the Rays were put into the AL East?

[1992casey]

For television, aligning teams according to time zone is a priority. I'd guess that was the reason.

[lcbj68c]

Unfortunately I live in Tampa and have a bunch of idiot Rays fans on my facebook. One was whining about they are a small market, yadda yadda and made the claim that "besides that vince namoli was a horrible owner, he just wanted the money generated from the NY and boston fans- which is why he opted to put us in the AL East." Naomli was an idiot, but I'd like to prove him wrong that it was Namoli's decision to put them in the east.

[patrickgpe]

it makes sense to have the 5 eastern most teams in there. i know the al east is loaded but thats how it works out.

[DHonks]

The AL and NL each had 14 teams. That meant two divisions of 5 and one of 4. Since Colangelo refused to have the Dbacks added to the AL, the Tigers went from the AL East to the Central, opening the way for the Rays in the AL East. With the Dbacks joining the West, that brought about the potential for 15 teams in each league, necessitating an interleague game each day. So the Brewers left the AL Central and went to the NL Central, giving us our current system. The next logical step would be to add two more divisions and two more teams creating an 8-division 2 league system with 4 teams per division.

 

edit: originally said NL for Dbacks, not AL

[Ennder]

Unfortunately the expansion teams were added after we made the mistake of moving to the NL. Given the structure at the time it was obvious to add the East coast team to the AL East, bit confused by that part.

[DHonks]

Ender, are you sure? We went to the NL when the two expansion teams were added. MLB knew for several years that teams would be added, but it wasn't til after the '97 season that we found out the Brewers were going national.

[lcbj68c]

People always say the Brewers have the worst local tv contract in baseball? Where are they getting that data? Does anybody have a composite list of mlb teams in regards to tv contract revenue or know where I can find it online. A google/yahoo search was fruitless.

[Warning Track Power]

The next logical step would be to add two more divisions and two more teams creating an 8-division 2 league system with 4 teams per division.

I know we have discussed this before but I actually think the next logical step is to:

 

*Ditch the hated unbalanced schedule. Play all teams in you league, AL or NL, equally.

*Go back to east and west divisions to create equal opportunity for all teams. The fact one division has 6 teams and one division has 4 teams is dumb. The powers that be in baseball really screwed up in my opinion when they realigned the divisions and then created an odd number of teams per league. This creates a parity for the divisions

*Take the 2 division winners and the next 3 teams with the best records for the playoffs. Theoretically, 4 teams in the east and 1 in the west could make the playoffs.

*Implementing the second WC is unaffected.

 

NL WEST

LA, SD, SF, COL, ARI, STL, CHC, MIL

NL EAST

ATL, PHI, NYM, FLA, WAS, PIT, CIN, HOU

 

AL WEST

LA, SEA, OAK, TEX, KC, MINN, CWS

AL EAST

NY, BOS, TOR, TB, BAL, CLE, DET

 

I don't see expansion on the horizon and I believe this to be the most equitable solution to all problems relating to the AL East TB conundrum (with only 2 teams making the playoffs in the event of 3 90-win teams) and the unbalance within divisions. This must be too simple of a solution for MLB to understand.

[endaround]

The unbalanced schedule is beloved, it isn't going anywhere. And they won't go back to 2 division for that reason as well.

[Ennder]

Ender, are you sure? We went to the NL when the two expansion teams were added. MLB knew for several years that teams would be added, but it wasn't til after the '97 season that we found out the Brewers were going national.

We moved in 97 to make room for them in 98 so yeah that is correct. I was thinking we moved to the NL in the 94 realignment for some reason.

[Warning Track Power]

The unbalanced schedule is beloved, it isn't going anywhere. And they won't go back to 2 division for that reason as well.

That is the exact opposite of what I have heard. And even if your statement is true, the unbalanced schedule can stay in a 2 division format and is not a reason for the lack of implementation. So divisional teams play each other 12x instead of 18x or whatever it is now.

 

There is unbalanced schedule with a 6 team division, why couldn't there be one with an 8 team division?

 

 

[Dragonbait]

Best thing to do is interleague series every day... I know the rules are different in each league... but it really is the best way of doing it...

 

(I pray the Brewers are never in a West division with an unbalanced schedule... Late games start far too late.)

[patrickgpe]

warning track power i completely agree with your realignment plan, makes alot of sense.

[trwi7]

NL WEST

LA, SD, SF, COL, ARI, STL, CHC, MIL

NL EAST

ATL, PHI, NYM, FLA, WAS, PIT, CIN, HOU

 

AL WEST

LA, SEA, OAK, TEX, KC, MINN, CWS

AL EAST

NY, BOS, TOR, TB, BAL, CLE, DET

 

 

I don't see how it's fair that teams like the Brewers, Cubs, Cardinals, Rangers, Royals, Twins and White Sox have to travel two time zones for division games.

 

 

 

[Warning Track Power]

trwi7 wrote:

 

I don't see how it's fair that teams like the Brewers, Cubs, Cardinals, Rangers, Royals, Twins and White Sox have to travel two time zones for division games.

Well you're leaving out the fact that all the west coast teams would have to travel two time zones as well for division games as well.

 

Please don't interpret as smarmy or nasty but is it fair Seattle is 1,000 miles from the nearest team? Or that the east coast has so many teams within such close proximity? Is it more fair that the divisions aren't equally balanced? I think its just the way things go based off locations of the teams. I'd rather have equal balance in divisions and have some time zone issues, rather than the current setup with a 6 and 4 team division.

 

 

[Baldkin]

I'd rather that I can be in bed before midnight for the majority of Brewers road games. Wouldn't be the case in your scenario. Also, Houston is much further West than Milwaukee or Chicago.

[RightFieldCoder]

But you need to keep StL and ChC together, and Mil would like to stay with them.

[craigharmann]

No one has gotten it so far....because there are so many retired Yankee fans in Tampa, so it made perfect sense!!

[monty57]

Starting a large number of your games at 9:00 local time would kill the TV ratings, and that's what pays for the MLB.

 

Without that, it would make sense to simply move the Astros to the West, so both divisions would have 5 teams, but then every Astros road game would go basically unwatched in Houston.

[Baldkin]

Starting a large number of your games at 9:00 local time would kill the TV ratings, and that's what pays for the MLB.

 

Without that, it would make sense to simply move the Astros to the West, so both divisions would have 5 teams, but then every Astros road game would go basically unwatched in Houston.

They'd have to switch leagues as well, which comes back to the "interleague every day" thing.

[lcbj68c]

What was the negative to adding two teams again?

[monty57]

What was the negative to adding two teams again?

I'd say the biggest negative would be talent dilution.

 

[endaround]

Which really isn't that big of a deal. The talent pool MLB draws from is growing much faster than the number of jobs in MLB. It more finding cities that can handle MLB teams.

[trwi7]

Still think Portland or Vancouver and Raleigh would be good locations.