(09-20-2019 04:18 PM)Jjoey52 Wrote: Realignment May hit in 2021 if they can resolve the DH. Personally I would like to junk it, but this is not about that.
MLB should scrap AL and NL and just become MLB. Add 2 teams thru expansion and move the Rays to Montreal. This could create 4 8 team divisions. Each team would play in their division 14 games for 98 and 4 games against 2 of the other divisions (alternate every year) for 64 games, thus keep the 162 game season. Geographic divisions create better rivalries.
8 wild cards, all play 1 game winner moves on, wild cards seeded by record. 4 division winners get byes, then play WC game winners seeded by record, best of 5, final 4 and WS best of 7.
Comments.
Division 1
Toronto
Montreal
Boston
NYY
NYM
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Cleveland
Division 2
Carolina/Tennessee expansion team
DC
Baltimore
Miami
Atlanta
Cincy
Chicago Cubs
Chicago WS
Division 3
Minnesota
Milwaukee
Cincinnati
St Louis
KC
Houston
Texas
Colorado
Division 4
Arizona
San Diego
LAA
LAD
SF
Oakland
Seattle
Portland/Las Vegas expansion team
The biggest obstacle to geographic realignment is the MLB rule that a club must approve being switched to the other league. (Selig blackmailed the Astros, waiting until they had a club sale agreement and telling them that MLB would only approve the sale if the Astros agreed to move to the AL.)
So you either have to get a supermajority to approve abolishing the AL and NL, or you have to move the fewest number of teams possible between leagues, and get them all to approve.
Let's look at the latter option.
All 8 western clubs would approve of being in one division. Would lead to a huge reduction in travel for all of them. So the NL West would be the eight pacific/mountain teams. The Mariners, A's, and Angels would agree to switch leagues.
The problem then becomes this: There are 10 other teams in the NL now. Assume 2 expansion teams go into the AL, for 16 teams in each league. That means 2 NL teams have to agree to switch to the AL.
Marlins could be one team to move to the AL. They'd get lots of home games vs. the Yankees and Red Sox, two teams that south Florida cares about far more than the Marlins. There's no obvious candidate for the second team.
Just because it would be poetic justice, let's say that, in addition to the Marlins moving to the AL, the Brewers moved back to the AL. Then the 32-team MLB could look like this.
AL East: Toronto, Boston, NY Yankees, Baltimore, Detroit, Tampa Bay, Miami, [expansion team]
AL Central: Cleveland, Minnesota, Milwaukee, Chicago White Sox, Kansas City, Houston, Texas, [expansion team]
NL East: NY Mets, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Washington, Atlanta, Chicago Cubs, St. Louis
NL West: Arizona, Colorado, Seattle, San Francisco, Oakland, LA Dodgers, LA Angels, San Diego