Much has been made of the possibility of realignment for baseball. We’ve been talking about this for a long time and lets face the reality: The current system makes no sense. One league has 16 teams, the other 14. The Blue Jays, Rays, and Orioles are not exactly fairly treated. The divisions are unfair and as long as baseball stays in the current system, will breed the same results. But how to realign? I’m going to go through some possibilities and give a grade to each (kinda like an elementary school teacher- it doesn’t have to be justified or make sense, just whatever I feel like handing out).
Option 1: A team switches to the AL and we then have 6 five team divisions with two 15 team leagues. It makes sense because there’s then some sense of equity. Every team has the same probability of getting into the playoffs. It doesn’t make sense because it doesn’t solve any of the real issues of inter-divisional equity, or adjust the current playoff scenario. Option 1A) The Houston Astros move to the AL West. Grade: C- Option 1B) The Arizona Diamondbacks move to the AL West and the Astros slide over to become part of the NL West Grade D+ Option 1C) The Marlins move to the AL East, the Pirates move to the NL East, the Orioles move to the AL Central and the Twins move to the AL West Grade C
Option 2: A National League team makes the move to the American League and we eliminate divisions. It makes sense because the best four or five teams are now a part of the playoffs regardless of arbitrary regional divisions. It doesn’t make sense because of scheduling and travel; while it may be in the interest of competitive equity, the travel to either coast would cost the owners big bucks (that’s why we have divisions in the first place). Grade B
Option 3: No team switches Leagues and we eliminate the divisions. This makes sense because it would not make the imbalanced schedule of 15 teams in either League or have continual Interleague play. It doesn’t make sense because it makes too much sense and if politicians have taught us anything it’s that that which makes the most sense will inevitably be vetoed. Grade B+
Option 4: We keep the same arbitrary divisions that have been in place for the last 13 years and create balanced schedules. Why it makes sense: Nobody has to move Leagues, divisions or anything! Legitimately, it levels te playing field for all teams as they would play everyone an equal number of times… the way sports should be. Why it doesn’t: the problem has been the imbalance of divisions and this does little to fix anything as the Yankees and Red Sox could still trump the other teams in their division. Grade F
Option 5: We give the Pirates two more years to have a winning season before we eliminate their franchise. 22 years of consecutive losing seasons means you should no longer exist. Additionally, since Philly fans are complete jerks, they will lose their franchise. Now we have two 14 team Leagues where we can either eliminate divisions (yes please) or keep them but with some realignment within the National League. Grade B-
Option 6: We eliminate the DH in the American League. Baseball is meant to be played by 9 players, with all 9 playing the field, and all 9 batting. If you’re too fat or slow to play the field, maybe you shouldn’t play. With this scenario, we wouldn’t have the issues of interleague play as it would basically become a non-issue. Grade C-
Option 7: We develop a formula where the divisions are changed year by year based on the previous years’ results. Sounds fun but, would create very little continuity from year to year. Grade B-
As you can tell, I’m not particularly in love with any of these ideas. The thought of realignment is fun and baseball is in need of some shift in the name of competitive equity but, I hope they truly fix the problem rather than change for change’s sake.
Stat of the Day: In a game on May 4, 1963, the Milwaukee Braves committed 6 balks in a game against the Chicago Cubs. Something that would make Justin Verlander happy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PiC-RvZoJA
-Sean Morash
