Piggybacking off the thread in the NFL forum, I figured I'd make one for baseball. With the DH likely to be universal soon enough, there exists a possibility for realignment. Given the grind of the travel over 162 games, I would be in favor of abolishing leagues and just going to four divisions. Not only would this pack all the Northeast teams together, but it would massively improve travel for teams like Oakland and Seattle that play 19 games a year in Texas which is insanity. It would look like this:
East: BOS, NYY, NYM, PHI, BAL, WAS, ATL
North: TOR, DET, PIT, CLE, CIN, TB, MIA
Central: MIN, MIL, CHC, CWS, STL, KC, TEX, HOU
West: COL, ARI, SD, LAA, LAD, OAK, SF, SEA
Yes, nothing says north like Florida. Unfortunately, the best alternative I see is making a South division (moving TOR to the East and DET/PIT/CLE/CIN to the Central) with ATL/TB/MIA/HOU/TEX/KC/STL but then you'd be breaking up Cubs/Cardinals which isn't feasible. On the positive side, every division has all the teams in the same time zone (counting MT with PT). Fans of the six Northeast teams would be a short trip away from almost every divisional road site. Toronto fans would be able to travel a lot more and nothing between DET/PIT/CLE/CIN is terribly far. Every team in the Central would have a natural geographic rival and I think the West would benefit the most from consolidating as their current travel is brutal. I also think fans want to see the intracity/area rivalries much more than 4-6 times a year.
I would propose playing one three-game series against every interdivisional team (East and North would have to play four games against one team from the other division to create an even number) so everybody plays each other and fans get to see every team in their park at least every two years, leaving 13-14 games for every divisional opponent. Playoffs would be the four division winners and then however many Wild Cards there are.
Is putting the six Northeast teams together economically feasible for the rest of baseball? Is this something you'd be in favor of?
East: BOS, NYY, NYM, PHI, BAL, WAS, ATL
North: TOR, DET, PIT, CLE, CIN, TB, MIA
Central: MIN, MIL, CHC, CWS, STL, KC, TEX, HOU
West: COL, ARI, SD, LAA, LAD, OAK, SF, SEA
Yes, nothing says north like Florida. Unfortunately, the best alternative I see is making a South division (moving TOR to the East and DET/PIT/CLE/CIN to the Central) with ATL/TB/MIA/HOU/TEX/KC/STL but then you'd be breaking up Cubs/Cardinals which isn't feasible. On the positive side, every division has all the teams in the same time zone (counting MT with PT). Fans of the six Northeast teams would be a short trip away from almost every divisional road site. Toronto fans would be able to travel a lot more and nothing between DET/PIT/CLE/CIN is terribly far. Every team in the Central would have a natural geographic rival and I think the West would benefit the most from consolidating as their current travel is brutal. I also think fans want to see the intracity/area rivalries much more than 4-6 times a year.
I would propose playing one three-game series against every interdivisional team (East and North would have to play four games against one team from the other division to create an even number) so everybody plays each other and fans get to see every team in their park at least every two years, leaving 13-14 games for every divisional opponent. Playoffs would be the four division winners and then however many Wild Cards there are.
Is putting the six Northeast teams together economically feasible for the rest of baseball? Is this something you'd be in favor of?
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