My stab at MLB chiropractics
I finally got around to putting pencil to paper in effort to provide a solution to something that I've complained about for quite a while--Major League Baseball Realignment.
They still haven't got it right. There are 30 teams divided into 2 leagues of 3 divisions each. Thirty teams, six division. Hm, let's think back to third grade--five teams per division. But no, the National League Central division has 6 teams and the American League West has 4 teams. This is MLB thinks they need to have an even number of teams in each league, which was not a bad idea prior to the advent of interleague play in 1997. If all games are required to be intraleague, then an odd number of teams in a league requires that there is always a team not playing, a bad thing for a league where you play six or seven games a week in two, three, or four game series--ergo, and odd number is unreasonable.
From 1977 to 1992, there were 14 AL teams and only 12 NL teams. It wasn't two much of a problem because there were only two divisions in each league, and so the divisions in the same league where the same size, unlike today. However, if interleague is allowed and encouraged, why then hold to the even-number league requirement? Because interleague play is reserved for special weekends, when everyone plays interleague. Well, everyone except for those two NL teams left out in intraleague cold. This is the ninth season of interleague play. There are now baseball fans who don't remember the days before the leagues played each other. It's not really "special" anymore. Why not have interleague play every week?
MLB recently missed a golden opportunity to remedy when they decided to send les Expos from Montreal to Washington, DC, instead of out west to either Portland, OR, or Las Vegas, NV, and to the American League West. This coupled with moving the Pittsburgh Pirates from the NL Central to fill the void in the NL East left by the Expos. But they are keeping them in the geographical east, and so something else must be done.
Here's how I propose to fix the system. Send the Houston Astros to the NL West, leaving only five in the NL Central at the cost of having six in the NL West. Then, the loser of season series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies will be relegated to the AL West to give all divisions 5 teams. There is something about further improving the high scoring at Coors Field by adding a DH that sounds somewhat appealing, in that it will make it so absurd that the DH will be stricken league wide.
Now, we have the same number of teams in each division, and so we can standize the number of games that each team plays agains each other team, unlike the present system. I propose that each team play 18 games against each of the other four teams in its own division, 6 teams against each team in the other two divisions of its own league, and then a total of 30 interleague games to get to the total 162 games of the regular season.
For the 30 interleague games, I further propose they be structured like this: 6 games against the main permenant interleague rival, 3 games against each of two secondary permenant interleague rivals, and then the remaining 18 games be 3 games against 6 of the remaining teams in the other league, and then the following season these games would be played against the other teams. This way, during a two year span, each team would play all of the other major league teams, and during a four year span, each team would host a series against every other team.
Here is my proposed main perminant interleague rivalries:
I haven't yet come up with the two secondary interleague rivals yet.
They still haven't got it right. There are 30 teams divided into 2 leagues of 3 divisions each. Thirty teams, six division. Hm, let's think back to third grade--five teams per division. But no, the National League Central division has 6 teams and the American League West has 4 teams. This is MLB thinks they need to have an even number of teams in each league, which was not a bad idea prior to the advent of interleague play in 1997. If all games are required to be intraleague, then an odd number of teams in a league requires that there is always a team not playing, a bad thing for a league where you play six or seven games a week in two, three, or four game series--ergo, and odd number is unreasonable.
From 1977 to 1992, there were 14 AL teams and only 12 NL teams. It wasn't two much of a problem because there were only two divisions in each league, and so the divisions in the same league where the same size, unlike today. However, if interleague is allowed and encouraged, why then hold to the even-number league requirement? Because interleague play is reserved for special weekends, when everyone plays interleague. Well, everyone except for those two NL teams left out in intraleague cold. This is the ninth season of interleague play. There are now baseball fans who don't remember the days before the leagues played each other. It's not really "special" anymore. Why not have interleague play every week?
MLB recently missed a golden opportunity to remedy when they decided to send les Expos from Montreal to Washington, DC, instead of out west to either Portland, OR, or Las Vegas, NV, and to the American League West. This coupled with moving the Pittsburgh Pirates from the NL Central to fill the void in the NL East left by the Expos. But they are keeping them in the geographical east, and so something else must be done.
Here's how I propose to fix the system. Send the Houston Astros to the NL West, leaving only five in the NL Central at the cost of having six in the NL West. Then, the loser of season series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies will be relegated to the AL West to give all divisions 5 teams. There is something about further improving the high scoring at Coors Field by adding a DH that sounds somewhat appealing, in that it will make it so absurd that the DH will be stricken league wide.
Now, we have the same number of teams in each division, and so we can standize the number of games that each team plays agains each other team, unlike the present system. I propose that each team play 18 games against each of the other four teams in its own division, 6 teams against each team in the other two divisions of its own league, and then a total of 30 interleague games to get to the total 162 games of the regular season.
For the 30 interleague games, I further propose they be structured like this: 6 games against the main permenant interleague rival, 3 games against each of two secondary permenant interleague rivals, and then the remaining 18 games be 3 games against 6 of the remaining teams in the other league, and then the following season these games would be played against the other teams. This way, during a two year span, each team would play all of the other major league teams, and during a four year span, each team would host a series against every other team.
Here is my proposed main perminant interleague rivalries:
| East | ||
| New York Yankees | New York Mets | Subway Series |
| Boston Red Sox | Atlanta Braves | The Braves were known as the Redstockings until 1883 when they swiched to the Beaneaters, back before they were crosstown rivals with the Red Sox for 50 years, before the Braves moved to Milwaukee in 1952. |
| Baltimore Orioles | Washington Nationals | All proceeds go to pay tribute to Peter Angelos. |
| Tampa Bay Devil Rays | Florida Marlins | Alligator Alley Series |
| Toronto Blue Jays | Philadelphia Phillies | Remember Joe Carter's walk-off home run to end the 1993 World Series? I'm sure the fans in Philly do. |
| Central | ||
| Chicago White Sox | Chicago Cubs | Crosstown Series |
| Kansas City Royals | St. Louis Cardinals | Put me out of my Missouri? Not with the I-70 Series. |
| Cleveland Indians | Cincinnati Reds | Who do you root for in Columbus? |
| Minnesota Twins | Milwaukee Brewers | The I-94 Series |
| Detroit Tigers | Pittsburgh Pirates | The Rust Belt Series |
| West | ||
| San Francisco Giants | Oakland A's | The Bay Bridge Series |
| Angels of Wherever | Los Angeles Dodgers | Are they truly crosstown rivals? The world may never know. |
| Texas Rangers | Houston Astros | The I-45 Series |
| Colorado Rockies | Arizona Diamondbacks | The Mountain Time Zone Series |
| Seattle Mariners | San Diego Padres | I-5 Series? Each city is the western gateway to a NAFTA country. Perfect match-up. |
I haven't yet come up with the two secondary interleague rivals yet.
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