Do you think baseball would be more interesting if they mixed up the divisions every 10 or 20 years?

Question

Don't get me wrong I love baseball in general but I think it would fun to see a change of teams in the divisions every "X" amount of years.

This way teams like Tampa Bay, Kansas City, Washington, and Florida could possiby have a better chance and post better records.

I should have included keeping certain long time rivalries of course.

Can you imagine being a D-Rays fan knowing that New York or Boston is pretty much going to win the division every year? Same for Nat's fans in the AL east?

I love baseball but looking at the same divisions year after year is getting really dull.

I'm saying just for 10 years at a time just to keep the game fresh and alive.

You can't tell me you are not board of seeing the same teams over and over again?

This is why they broke the leagues up into divisions and created a wild card team to keep the interest of fans.

People got tired of just of just two pennant winners playing from both sides. From a total of 4 divisions.

Most said this would not work but it did.

Answer 1

I agree. It would be a lot more fun to see the divisions mixed up every 10 years. I think that it would cause the game of baseball to attract a bigger following. More people would be excited and rooting for their teams. Many more fans would come back to the teams like Tampa Bay and Kansas City as they realize that they are starting with a clean slate.

Answer 2

I'm not a big fan of changing things around too much. But being from Boston, I've always hated that the Red Sox have had to share the same division with the Yankees. Not because of jealousy or anything else, but because I've gotten so tired of the Red Sox - Yankee rivalry. The constant bickering and trash talking between the 2 cities. Boston's inferiority complex with the Yankees and New York's obnoxious, arrogant and rude fans. I've often fantasized of how much more I would enjoy the baseball season if we were in another division or league so I would no longer have to deal with this continuous and over the top rivalry day after day. But although changing the divisions every so often would be interesting, I don't think it would be good for the game. Why give a team like the Devil Rays, Royals, or Pirates a better chance to win by putting them in a weaker division? As a major league team, you have to earn your success regardless of what division you play in.

Answer 3

It's up to the teams to get better. Ya, being the Royals in the AL Central kinda blows, but they were good once. Good baseball markets generally do well. Personally, I don't see the big fuss over a salary cap in baseball. It is outrageous the money that these players make, but it's their cut. MLB grosses so much annually that they can afford to give players huge salaries, and if they impact the game, then more power to them. Teams like the Yankees and Red Sox take it way too far, but most teams in the middle manage to compete as often as teams in the NFL do. The only truly futile franchises right now are the Royals, Nationals, D-Rays, Pirates, Brewers (not so much this year), and maybe the Reds. The majority of those teams mentioned do not have a huge fan base. They face competition from local football teams who usually do much better in the regular season. Perhaps if the fans actually showed up for games and expressed their anger over the continued futility of the team, there wouldn't need to be division swapping so a team like the D-Rays wouldn't need a shot in the NL "Comedy" Central just to compete. And if that isn't convincing enough, just look at the Florida Marlins. Two World series titles in less than 10 years? And even with firesale teams, they still compete every year? Oh yes, it is possible. The divisions are fine the way they are right now. But the only way for the teams to improve is if fans get behind them and display some emotion other than apathy.

Answer 4

Yes & No.

By mixing divisions you are weakening some of the greatest rivalries in sports (cubbies-cards, sox-yanks, etc.) Those rivalries took years and years to build up and would never be the same after a scramble.

It would be more interesting to change it however because the power of the leagues would consistently change. The American League has absolutely dominated the National League over the last decade. It would be nice to see tampa get a shot at the playoffs by getting away from the sox and yanks. Or to see the rockies actually win 80 games by escaping a consistent NL West.

It's a creative idea, but the leagues are pretty fair as they are.

Answer 5

No, One of the biggest assets baseball has going are the revelries each of the teams have. For example, why would you want to put the Rex Sox and Yankees in different divisions. Attendance in MLB is growing every year so they must have a very good product doing the things they are doing now. I say, Don't make this kind of change.

Answer 6

this unfortunately wouldn't work.
they cut it down to the divisions they are now to keep travel costs down, both for the fan and the teams.
the best thing that baseball can do now at this point in time is to instate a Salary cap at a "Smallish" figure. you figure the NFL is now at $110.9M as the salary cap... imagine trying to fit the Yankees team in to that... you'll get A-Rod, Jeter, Clemens... well s@#$ there goes $75M already... it would bring the teams such as the yankees n red sox back to the field and ultimately lessen the cost of baseball, while they'd be able to charge the same prices to get in to the stadiums, and therefore the owners would make a better bottom line.
and i agree that it's tiring to see the D-Rays, Royals, and Nats getting punished... but they have got how much to spend on the team... i think the D-Rays are about $30-35M, Royals about $35-40M and the Nats are about $45M... oh and remember last years Marlins... $24M in salaries they paid last year!

Answer 7

I think that was the idea behind inter-league play. I like playing the same teams. You get to know the players and you get the rivalry between cities. In my case I'm at Minnesota and we hate the Sox. Even if both teams are having a bad year, its still fun to play Chicago.

Answer 8

The divisions are there for rivalry and cutting down on travel (which the fans ultimately pay for anyway).

Plus, even if you could change divisions, you couldn't change leagues because players are geared to the league they are in.

Imagine if the Indians, Red Sox, Blue Jays had to go to the NL and lose their DH (which are amongst those team's best hitters)

I'd still like to see a 75 million dollar salary cap. Then see who the best team is.

Answer 9

I think it would be a good idea as long as you do not mix up the leagues because of the DH spot and the hitting pitchers. But then it could be a bad idea because you and me are yankee fans and love watching the yankees and boston fight down to the last week and we would probably lose the rivalry.

Answer 10

that would be a good idea it would be nice to see the cubs play bigger teams like boston or the yankees once in a while other than every 5-10 years. plus like u said some teams like washington and cincinnati might be able to win there division