Tell me what you think of my idea that will even out MLB.?

Question

American League

East
New York Yankees
Boston Red Sox
Baltimore Orioles
Tampa Bay Devil Rays

Central
Toronto Blue Jays
Detroit Tigers
Cleveland Indians
Louisville Sluggers (Expansion Team)

Midwest
Chicago White Sox
Minnesota Twins
Kansas City Royals
Texas Rangers

West
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Oakland Athletics
Seattle Mariners
Portland Blue Sox (Expansion Team)

National League

East
New York Mets
Atlanta Braves
Washington Nationals
Florida Marlins

Central
Philadelphia Phillies
Pittsburgh Pirates
Cincinnati Reds
Milwaukee Brewers

Midwest
Chicago Cubs
Colorado Rockies
St. Louis Cardinals
Houston Astros

West
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Francisco Giants
San Diego Padres
Arizona Diamondbacks

Each team will play their division rivals 24 times each, every other league rival 6 times each, and 18 interleague games.

Playoffs Example:

AL East) New York Yankees
AL Central) Toronto Blue Jays
AL Midwest) Chicago White Sox
AL West) Los Angeles Angels
AL Wild-Card) Boston Red Sox
AL Wild-Card) Minnesota Twins

NL East) New York Mets
NL Central) Philadelphia Phillies
NL Midwest) Chicago Cubs
NL West) Los Angeles Dodgers
NL Wild-Card) Atlanta Braves
NL Wild-Card) San Francisco Giants

Wild Card (Best of 3)
CHW vs. BOS (BOS)
LAA vs. MIN (LAA)
CHC vs. SF (CHC)
LAD vs. ATL (ATL)

Division Series (Best of 5)
NYY vs. LAA (NYY)
TOR vs. BOS (BOS)
NYM vs. CHC (NYM)
PHI vs. ATL (PHI)

Championship Series (Best of 7)
NYY vs. BOS (NYY)
NYM vs. PHI (NYM

World Series (Best of 7)
NYY vs. NYM (NYY)

So the talent isn't watered down too much, MLB should hire more scouts for each US region and international scouts. That way, they could find the really great ballplayers.

To brettj666:

My idea would actually even out the schedule. They should give each team bigger salary caps than they have now so they could afford the 50 extra players (2 teams) that will be added to the league.

To Swingman258:

No, MLB didn't expand in 2005. The Montreal Expos relocated to Washington, D.C. to become the Washington Nationals. The last 2 expansion teams were the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Arizona Diamondbacks in 1998.

And to add another thing: The NL Central is not weak. Just look at the success that the Brewers are having now.

This will only push the world series into the first week of November. Remember that the 2001 World Series went into November because of the time off due to the 9/11 attacks?

Answer 1

The idea sounds cool in theory, and I am not really worried about any "watering down" of talent as far as players goes. They can find more good players, I imagine.

However, with more divisions, there's more of a chance you'll get a division winner who's not that great. Like in 2005 when the Padres won the NL West and were 2 games over .500 (and actually below .500 for the season if you count the playoffs). That happened with three divisions... with two extra divisions (one AL and one NL) there would be much more of a chance of that happening.

With the Wild Card, even though it can be odd that a second place team can win the World Series, the Wild Card team can never be worse than the 4th best team in the league (and as four teams go to the playoffs, that's not bad). However, while the Wild Card team is ALWAYS either the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th best team in the league, the actual division winners can be much lower. For example, those 2005 Padres had the 7th best record in the league. (Nothing against the Padres, just an example - it could be any team). With four divisions, it seems like it could be more likely that the top four teams don't advance to the playoffs. In theory, if the best teams are in the same division (not likely, though), one the best team is guaranteed a playoff spot. In the current situation, the two best teams are guaranteed a playoff spot (and, although there are exceptions, the top four best teams can make it in, it seems).

But I do like the idea of an MLB team in Louisville, since I from Kentucky! Of course, it does seem like way too small of a market for the MLB. The AAA team is called the Louisville Bats, although they play on Slugger Field. Although I'm not always crazy about product placement, I think they should just go ahead and be called the Sluggers anyhow. Portland might be a good idea, but I think a new team should go to Latin America so the MLB can maybe collect three countries instead of two.

Answer 2

Not a bad idea, I have always felt that it did not make sense that some teams were in divisions that did not make sense. I don't like the idea of 2 wild card teams. I like the idea of 1 wild card team and the best team in each league gets time off. Whether that is an advantage or disadvantage I do not know.

I have also felt that the All-Star game is meant to be fun and that interleague play could be more interesting if you had the interleague combined AL record and combined NL record with the most wins leading to homefield advantage in the World Series. In the event there is a tie in interleague say for example NL wins 9 and AL wins 9 than the All-Star Game becomes the deciding factor. This way the NL wins 9 and the AL wins 10, home field AL.

Answer 3

This would never really work. You're also really not evening out anything. Taking Toronto out of the east means more games against TB for the Yanks and Boston, meaning even more wins. Having the Cubs, Cards, and Stros' all in the same division means that they will beat the snot out of each other and never be able to compete. You'd have to change the playoff format, which is a bad idea because you would really have to consider doubling the amount of teams that go in ruining tradition and turning baseball into a 10 month sport. Your NL central is pathetic, the phillies would only spend just enough to beat perennial losers and you'd be taking away a big rivalry in NY and Philly. And the idea that two expansion teams that are strategically geographically placed in the AL in bad cities will expand on the problem that the AL already has. They won't spend money because they don't have to spend to make more money. I think that a realignment in baseball is not a bad idea, but it would need to be mush more well thought out. Maybe think about moving the stros' to the AL and an expansion team in San Antonio. Think of the 3 team rivalry in Texas.

Answer 4

how many times is someone going to bring this up ... you're going to get the same answers as the last time it was brought up... only good thing is that there are less teams per division so the teams will battle more for a playoff spot. 24 times is way too many for Sox vs Yanks. Also, in a year like this, a team like Minnesota would play ChiSox (39-47), KC (38-50), and Texas (38-50) for 72 games total. It gives them a very big advantage over the East teams when the Sox and Yanks play 24 times and then the D-Rays (34-53) have to play powerhouses like Boston (53-34) and NY(struggling this season but still far better than TB) 48 times? not going to work.

Answer 5

Gee where should i start? Ok the world series will start in Nov.? Gee how is the weather in Detroit that month , or Boston ,New York? Not that good! So what happens if you get snowed out? The last thing anyone whats is two new teams, where are you going to find about 24 major league quality pitching out there? Pitching is deluted bad enough right now. Do you have two new owners to own these new teams in areas that don't know if the local population will support them. Then you have them playing more games, so guess what? every current player would demand a raise! Who is going to pay for that?

Answer 6

I don't think that it is necessary to change baseball's division format. The league is as popular as ever. Adding two AL expansion teams will really water the league down. Changing the division so that the Tigers White Sox and Twins are no longer division rivals doesn't make sense.

You mentioned raising the salary cap, but baseball has no salary cap, only a luxury tax on the very highest payrolls. I think you have good intentions but I think MLB's current structure is excellent.

Answer 7

may i break this down

1st problem: the mets/phillies and braves/phillies is a big rivalry which you cannot break up.

2nd problem: the NL Central is weak

3rd problem: the NFL type playoff system. there isnt enough time in the MLB postseason to have 6 teams per division. thats way too many games in cold weather. youd have the World Series in mid-November. can you imagine the Northeast in mid-November???!?!?

4th problem: not enough talent to put in 2 expansion teams. the MLB is having a tough enough time advancing players through the minors. all you would be doing is saturating talent, making the average MLB salary lower, and hurting the MLB economy. the MLB expanded 2 years ago. and NO. more scouting is not the problem.

Answer 8

There is a flaw with your idea. You would have the World Series starting in November, around All Saints Day. This poses a problem, especially with a team from the northern United States, who has a home game at night. I do like the expansion and realignment idea. It does make for a somewhat balanced schedule, even with interleague.

Answer 9

To even out the mlb, you need two solutions:

#1 100% of revenue sharing funds MUST be used on player salaries.

That way teams with owners that traditionally pocket the money (Kansas City, Tampa Bay, Florida,& Colorado) will be forced to actually buy talent or keep it when it becomes big as opposed to having a fire sale every year.

#2 media revenue needs to be fully included and not diverted. Boston, NYY, LAD, and Atlanta all have millions more to use than reported.

Answer 10

I'd rather see a return to 2 divisions per league. I do like expanding to 16 teams in each league though. I'd have each team play 14 against division opponents, 8 against the other division, and ZERO inter-league games. I know that MLB wants two rounds of division play-offs, so the wild card will never die.