04/25/24
April 23, 2010
Passan: Baseball Should Drop the Divisions: Instead of another realignment, Major League Baseball should go back to a divisionless two-league format, Jeff Passan argues on Yahoo Sports: "Get rid of divisions. Get rid of unbalanced schedules. Get rid of inequality."
If you are considering going with a fully balanced schedule, then simply keep the three divisions, but scramble the teams in each division every year, based on the win totals from the previous year. The three division winners go to the playoffs, plus the team with the most wins after that.
American League
Ruth Division: 1st, 6th, 7th, 12th, 13th
Johnson Division: 2nd, 5th, 8th, 11th, 14th
Doby Division: 3rd, 4th, 9th, 10th
National League
Aaron Division: 1st, 6th, 7th, 12th, 13th
Robinson Division: 2nd, 5th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 16th
Matthewson Division: 3rd, 4th, 9th, 10th, 15th
It means the best teams don't get lumped together (making it easier for them to advance), but still creates 6+ individual races (instead of 2 that the divisionless setup would have).*
*6+ races (1st place for each division + however many teams chasing the wild card) vs 2 races (4th place in each league).
posted by grum@work at 05:38 PM on April 23, 2010
Yup. Balance 'er all out.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 05:38 PM on April 23, 2010
grum, that seems unnecessarily complicated when you could just have two divisions and take the top four teams in each.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 05:50 PM on April 23, 2010
grum, that seems unnecessarily complicated when you could just have two divisions and take the top four teams in each.
But with only two divisions, you're left with only 2 races for 4th place- I don't really count the race for 1-3rd very exciting. I think the potential of the 6+ races should result in a more exciting final month of baseball.
posted by jmd82 at 06:09 PM on April 23, 2010
If I had my druthers: relagation. Cut both the NL and AL in two: Eight teams each in NL1 and AL1, seven teams each in NL2 and AL2. No other divisions. Year-long interleague play in the second divisions. Top team in each second division go up every year. Bottom team in each first division go down.
Either a 2-team or 4-team playoff in the NL-1 and AL-2. Maybe 3 from first division and 1 from second division. Whatever.
But relegation would be cool.
posted by Aardhart at 06:24 PM on April 23, 2010
Scrambled divisions every year would be a bad idea. I'd rather have the Yankees and Red Sox, Phillies and Mets, Cubs and Cards, Giants and Dodgers, etc. than start every year with unknown rivals. What is a Phillies fan supposed to know about the Rangers and Mariners? However, beating the Mets year after year is fun.
posted by Aardhart at 06:30 PM on April 23, 2010
Also, we beat Passan to this by like six months. Or at least I did.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 12:00 PM on April 24, 2010
If I had my druthers, go back to eastern and western divisions. There is no wildcard (god how I hate that stupid consolation prize...have you ever seen anything more lame than a t-shirt declaring a team to be the wildcard "winner"?) -- you win your division outright or you're done for the season. And the pennant is five days. Too many teams? Get rid of the expansion teams that haven't panned out, as well as the teams that just don't seem very interested in playing baseball any more *cough*Pirates*cough*. Problem solved.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 09:02 PM on April 24, 2010
While it may be a good idea, it's chances for success are close to nil unless there is a huge financial benefit for the owners. Not to mention just overcoming the equally huge inertia of baseball as it is now.