MLB Realignment Talk

[Goober]

Eliminate two teams (Oakland and Tampa Bay). Every team plays two three game series (one home, one away) against each of the other 27 teams.

27x3x2=162 games. Parity.

 

[FirstTimer]

Love the idea. Really interested. Take the top 6 from each league for the playoffs?

Either way they need to even out the leagues so each are 15. Having one at 14 and one at 16 is retarded.

I can't really see a down side to the 15/15 and 2 league plan.

 

[deathdealer]

Make it happen Goblin for commish!

 

[dave]

Houston in the AL in the same division as Texas makes a lot of sense.

 

[NAHSTE]

Love the idea. Really interested. Take the top 6 from each league for the playoffs?

Either way they need to even out the leagues so each are 15. Having one at 14 and one at 16 is retarded.

I can't really see a down side to the 15/15 and 2 league plan.

More interleague games and/or more off days. Neither of which I am a fan of.

If two franchises got contracted though ... then yeah 14/14 with no divisions would be ideal.

 

[FUSE]

Eliminate two teams (Oakland and Tampa Bay). Every team plays two three game series (one home, one away) against each of the other 27 teams.

27x3x2=162 games. Parity.

That's retarded if you are gonna elimatinate team get rid of the nationals and the padres. A's are third all time in world series

 

[EmpireWF]

They're not contracting so it's not worth typing...:smug:

Taking away divisions would definitely be more fun than having 3 in each league.

Hopefully, if they're considering 5 playoff teams from each league...they're planning on doing the top 3 get automatic births while teams 4 & 5 have a single game play in.

Overall though, doubt anything drastic changes anytime soon.

 

[RyanLeaf16]

No need to contract. I would like to see the switch to two 15 team leagues with the elimination of interleague play.

 

[G-men]

Eliminate two teams (Oakland and Tampa Bay). Every team plays two three game series (one home, one away) against each of the other 27 teams.

27x3x2=162 games. Parity.

this wouldnt even make sense since it would make 16 teams in the NL and 12 in the AL. if they were going to get rid of teams, it would be from the NL.

i really hope this happens though, even though it would probably mean less Yankees vs Red Sox games.

 

[nflman2033]

More interleague games and/or more off days. Neither of which I am a fan of.

If two franchises got contracted though ... then yeah 14/14 with no divisions would be ideal.

QFT.. or as the kids say This.

anyway.. I am against inter-league play and this would increase inter-league play, or we see more days specifically teams off on weekends, again that isn't good either.

I hate the current system and agree contraction is the way to go, however that's not going to happen. so i guess sort of like our healthcare system i am just happy they are going to change it.

 

[killgod]

Is expanding to 32 not an option?

 

[Ravin]

Is expanding to 32 not an option?

Don't say that too load. Montreal Expo's talk will start in Canada.

 

[FirstTimer]

QFT.. or as the kids say This.

anyway.. I am against inter-league play and this would increase inter-league play, or we see more days specifically teams off on weekends, again that isn't good either.

I hate the current system and agree contraction is the way to go, however that's not going to happen. so i guess sort of like our healthcare system i am just happy they are going to change it.

More interleague games and/or more off days. Neither of which I am a fan of.

If two franchises got contracted though ... then yeah 14/14 with no divisions would be ideal.

Why would it mean more off days? If you are starting and ending the season at the same time and playing the same amount of games I don't see how that requires more off days, and you'd have more weekend baseball to capitalize on revenue from both ticket sales and TV. There wuld be no reason to make the days off on the weekend when those are the days when most of the fans are off and more available see the product. If anything they'd load the off days on to the weekdays. More interleague play doesn't really bother me in any way.

 

[Goober]

More interleague games and/or more off days. Neither of which I am a fan of.

If two franchises got contracted though ... then yeah 14/14 with no divisions would be ideal.

I don't understand what the problem with interleague is. I'd be fine with eliminating the two leagues and divisions completely, and just having the top eight seeds make the playoffs. Having two fifteen team leagues obviously requires interleague from start to finish in the regular season, which I'm fine with. The alternative is teams taking weekend series off, which no one wants because that's where a lot of team revenue comes from. However with a 28 team league this problem is eliminated.

That's retarded if you are gonna elimatinate team get rid of the nationals and the padres. A's are third all time in world series

No it's not. Pete bitched and moaned about this yesterday in the chatbox. The A's and Rays both draw shit for attendance and play in the worst stadiums in MLB. Here's a nice article, I suggest everyone reads on the topic: http://www.athleticsnation.com/2010/12/29/1897208/contraction

No need to contract. I would like to see the switch to two 15 team leagues with the elimination of interleague play.

Contraction would lead to several positives for MLB.
*Improved quality of play. With 50 less major league players, the league would eliminate players like Yuniesky Betancourt, and other below replacement players who don't belong on a major league roster.
*Increased revenue sharing for the remaining 28 teams. The Rays and A's both draw shit for attendance, so they both require a lot of revenue sharing to stay a float. About thirty million a year each. If the two teams were eliminated then that sixty million could be split by the remaining teams.

this wouldnt even make sense since it would make 16 teams in the NL and 12 in the AL. if they were going to get rid of teams, it would be from the NL.

i really hope this happens though, even though it would probably mean less Yankees vs Red Sox games.

Obviously two teams would move from the NL to the AL, unless the leagues were eliminated completely. The divisions would probably also be reshuffled to group teams that are closer together, leading to lower travel costs.

As for less Yankees/Red Sox games, who gives a shit? No one cares about that shit outside of Boston and New York. Both teams would likely stay competitive, which would add significance and drama to their playoff matchups.

Is expanding to 32 not an option?

I'd say no. Already with thirty teams there aren't enough quality players to go around. Plus the owners are absolute nazis when it comes to tv contracts. No one will be willing to give up revenue in order to allow an expansion team into their market.

 

[EmpireWF]

If this format (15 teams per league, Houston in the AL) were used last year:

1. Tampa 96-66
2. New York 95-67
3. Minnesota 94-68
4. Texas 90-72
5. Boston 89-73
---------
6. Chicago 88-74
7. Toronto 85-77
8. Oakland 81-81
9. Detroit 81-81
9. Los Angeles 80-82
10. Houston 76-86
Followed by Cleveland, Kansas City, Baltimore and Seattle


1. Philly 97-65
2. San Francisco 92-70
3. Cincinnati 91-71
4. Atlanta 91-71
5. San Diego 90-72
----------
6. St. Louis 86-76
7. Colorado 83-79
8. Florida 80-82
9. Los Angeles 80-82
10. New York 79-83
11. Milwaukee 77-85
12. Chicago 75-87
followed by Arizona, Washington & Pittsburgh

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Lots of nonsense and fantasyland in this thread.

The reason baseball went to divisions to begin with, and the reason the divisions expanded from 4 to 6, was to keep more teams involved in the playoff chase deeper into the season. They aren't going to move backwards on this. Nobody here is old enough to remember the Washington Senators finishing 50 games behind the Yankees every year, and elimnated by Memorial Day.

If you even out the leagues 15 each, that means interleague every day. Pass.

Adding/subtracting teams would not increase/decrease quality of play. That's always largely been a myth. You will always have "replacement level" players whether you have 16 teams or 50 teams, because the curve changes. There are enough good players around the globe to support double the teams we have now, if not more. The issue of expansion is never quality of play, its economics. Qualit of play would not drop on noticable levels if you added 2, 4, 10 teams. You'd have to add significantly more than that for anyone to notice a drop in quality.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Look at it from this perspective.

Let's say you add two teams. This means you are adding 50 major league players. But you are not adding two 25 man rosters of below replacement level players. You are largely moving 50 players from existing teams. That's not even two players per existing team. Where you are adding the below replacement guys, is on the back end of the existing rosters. Every team has one or two (or more) "AAAA"/MLB fringe guys on the back end of the roster. You would be adding or replacing one or two on each team. Very few would be starters or major contributors. Its essentially the same bottom 2 or 3 roster spots that are in flux on teams today, as they cycle fringe major leagurss on and off the roster during the course of the season.

You get the point. It would take very large expansion to get to tghe point of modern day below replacement level guys starting, which is the point you would notice play quality issues. Even then it wouldn't be obvious.

 

[Leftwich]

I'm a big advocate of expansion and honestly think two major cities could support teams. hell Charlotte could definitely harbor a major league club and possibly Portland or Indianapolis. But that's a different discussion. As for the people that are not fans of Inter-league play everyday, why? Is there something I don't get about why you guys hate inter-league so much? Honestly this could be the best thing for baseball. Look what it did for the NFL.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

I'm a big advocate of expansion and honestly think two major cities could support teams. hell Charlotte could definitely harbor a major league club and possibly Portland or Indianapolis. But that's a different discussion. As for the people that are not fans of Inter-league play everyday, why? Is there something I don't get about why you guys hate inter-league so much? Honestly this could be the best thing for baseball. Look what it did for the NFL.

I don't hate interleague play, I happen to like it. But I like it in small doses. I think there is waaaaaaay too much of it now, let alone having it every day.

In fact, if I had my way, i'd only have interleague for teams who have a natural rival. Nobody needs to see Seattle vs. Pittsburgh. But there are people obsessed with the overrated concept of schedule balance who will puke in their mouths at that idea.

 

[G-men]

why is everyone so against interleague play?