It's time to expand

[Derwood]

If they had 32 teams, get rid of the wild card and have 2 leagues with 4 divisions of 4 teams each. You have to win your division to go to the playoffs.

 

there's no way that certain teams (yankees/red sox) would agree to that. and frankly it would be unfair to them.

 

they didn't have a wildcard pre-1993. It's not unprecedented to have both teams not make the playoffs every year.

 

I'm pretty sure that the D-Backs wanted to be an AL team since the time they were created, so they would seem like the natural team to move in an expansion scenario

[SouthSideRyan]

If they had 32 teams, get rid of the wild card and have 2 leagues with 4 divisions of 4 teams each. You have to win your division to go to the playoffs.

 

there's no way that certain teams (yankees/red sox) would agree to that. and frankly it would be unfair to them.

 

they didn't have a wildcard pre-1993. It's not unprecedented to have both teams not make the playoffs every year.

 

I'm pretty sure that the D-Backs wanted to be an AL team since the time they were created, so they would seem like the natural team to move in an expansion scenario

 

I beleive it was the other way around that Tampa always wanted to be an NL team. There was some sort of cockamamie idea for the 2 to switch leagues after a few years, but Arizona balked at the idea.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

If they had 32 teams, get rid of the wild card and have 2 leagues with 4 divisions of 4 teams each. You have to win your division to go to the playoffs.

 

there's no way that certain teams (yankees/red sox) would agree to that. and frankly it would be unfair to them.

 

they didn't have a wildcard pre-1993. It's not unprecedented to have both teams not make the playoffs every year.

 

I'm pretty sure that the D-Backs wanted to be an AL team since the time they were created, so they would seem like the natural team to move in an expansion scenario

 

I beleive it was the other way around that Tampa always wanted to be an NL team. There was some sort of cockamamie idea for the 2 to switch leagues after a few years, but Arizona balked at the idea.

 

That's correct. The Dbacks have never wanted to switch. I know the Rangers have lobbied to get the Dbacks into the AL West because they complain that they are a Central time zone team that plays in a division with all Western time zone teams and it hurts their ratings. The think it would be mitigated some by Arizona in their division.

[Guest]

If they had 32 teams, get rid of the wild card and have 2 leagues with 4 divisions of 4 teams each. You have to win your division to go to the playoffs.

 

there's no way that certain teams (yankees/red sox) would agree to that. and frankly it would be unfair to them.

 

they didn't have a wildcard pre-1993. It's not unprecedented to have both teams not make the playoffs every year.

 

I'm pretty sure that the D-Backs wanted to be an AL team since the time they were created, so they would seem like the natural team to move in an expansion scenario

 

It's not that the Yankees and Red Sox have to make the playoffs, but that generally they are two of the best teams in the AL so having them in the same division wouldn't be fair to them if only one of them was going to make the playoffs every year. It doesn't just go for those two teams but for the divisions in general. The year the Mariners won 116 games, the A's won 100+ and had the second best record in the AL. Under the four divisions, four teams per division, one playoff spot per division format, that team would have missed the playoffs.

[Derwood]

If they had 32 teams, get rid of the wild card and have 2 leagues with 4 divisions of 4 teams each. You have to win your division to go to the playoffs.

 

there's no way that certain teams (yankees/red sox) would agree to that. and frankly it would be unfair to them.

 

they didn't have a wildcard pre-1993. It's not unprecedented to have both teams not make the playoffs every year.

 

I'm pretty sure that the D-Backs wanted to be an AL team since the time they were created, so they would seem like the natural team to move in an expansion scenario

 

It's not that the Yankees and Red Sox have to make the playoffs, but that generally they are two of the best teams in the AL so having them in the same division wouldn't be fair to them if only one of them was going to make the playoffs every year. It doesn't just go for those two teams but for the divisions in general. The year the Mariners won 116 games, the A's won 100+ and had the second best record in the AL. Under the four divisions, four teams per division, one playoff spot per division format, that team would have missed the playoffs.

 

well you can't expand the playoffs anymore unless you cut some regular season games

[Guest]

If they had 32 teams, get rid of the wild card and have 2 leagues with 4 divisions of 4 teams each. You have to win your division to go to the playoffs.

 

there's no way that certain teams (yankees/red sox) would agree to that. and frankly it would be unfair to them.

 

they didn't have a wildcard pre-1993. It's not unprecedented to have both teams not make the playoffs every year.

 

I'm pretty sure that the D-Backs wanted to be an AL team since the time they were created, so they would seem like the natural team to move in an expansion scenario

 

It's not that the Yankees and Red Sox have to make the playoffs, but that generally they are two of the best teams in the AL so having them in the same division wouldn't be fair to them if only one of them was going to make the playoffs every year. It doesn't just go for those two teams but for the divisions in general. The year the Mariners won 116 games, the A's won 100+ and had the second best record in the AL. Under the four divisions, four teams per division, one playoff spot per division format, that team would have missed the playoffs.

 

well you can't expand the playoffs anymore unless you cut some regular season games

 

I never said the playoffs had to be expanded.

[Derwood]

If they had 32 teams, get rid of the wild card and have 2 leagues with 4 divisions of 4 teams each. You have to win your division to go to the playoffs.

 

there's no way that certain teams (yankees/red sox) would agree to that. and frankly it would be unfair to them.

 

they didn't have a wildcard pre-1993. It's not unprecedented to have both teams not make the playoffs every year.

 

I'm pretty sure that the D-Backs wanted to be an AL team since the time they were created, so they would seem like the natural team to move in an expansion scenario

 

It's not that the Yankees and Red Sox have to make the playoffs, but that generally they are two of the best teams in the AL so having them in the same division wouldn't be fair to them if only one of them was going to make the playoffs every year. It doesn't just go for those two teams but for the divisions in general. The year the Mariners won 116 games, the A's won 100+ and had the second best record in the AL. Under the four divisions, four teams per division, one playoff spot per division format, that team would have missed the playoffs.

 

well you can't expand the playoffs anymore unless you cut some regular season games

 

I never said the playoffs had to be expanded.

 

so you're arguing against a 4 division per league format then.

[evv98]

If they had 32 teams, get rid of the wild card and have 2 leagues with 4 divisions of 4 teams each. You have to win your division to go to the playoffs.

 

there's no way that certain teams (yankees/red sox) would agree to that. and frankly it would be unfair to them.

 

What would ESPN say if they had no chance of a Yankees/Red Sox playoff series? They would also balk at having them in different divisions since that would mean they couldn't have 18 series a year between them.

[NCCubFan]

If they had 32 teams, get rid of the wild card and have 2 leagues with 4 divisions of 4 teams each. You have to win your division to go to the playoffs.

 

there's no way that certain teams (yankees/red sox) would agree to that. and frankly it would be unfair to them.

 

they didn't have a wildcard pre-1993. It's not unprecedented to have both teams not make the playoffs every year.

 

I'm pretty sure that the D-Backs wanted to be an AL team since the time they were created, so they would seem like the natural team to move in an expansion scenario

 

It's not that the Yankees and Red Sox have to make the playoffs, but that generally they are two of the best teams in the AL so having them in the same division wouldn't be fair to them if only one of them was going to make the playoffs every year. It doesn't just go for those two teams but for the divisions in general. The year the Mariners won 116 games, the A's won 100+ and had the second best record in the AL. Under the four divisions, four teams per division, one playoff spot per division format, that team would have missed the playoffs.

 

well you can't expand the playoffs anymore unless you cut some regular season games

 

I never said the playoffs had to be expanded.

 

so you're arguing against a 4 division per league format then.

No, he's arguing against having a wild card. Four division winners per league with no wild card isn't expanding the playoffs.

[Derwood]

so he's anti-wild card, but also doesn't want a scenario in which the Yankees and Red Sox can't both make the playoffs?

[Guest]

so he's anti-wild card, but also doesn't want a scenario in which the Yankees and Red Sox can't both make the playoffs?

 

I'm pro-wild card and, I guess, anti-4 divisions per league.

 

And I don't know why you're hung up on the Yankees and Red Sox. They're just the two teams who would be most affected if there was no wild card. As somebody else said, I want the best teams making the playoffs and allowing only division winners to make it doesn't do that. The four divisions with four teams format works in the NFL because there are two wild cards. If you're going to expand to 32 teams, I wouldn't mind seeing the 2 8-team divisions that somebody else suggested earlier with the division winners going and then the next two best teams.

[BigbadB]

That's correct. The Dbacks have never wanted to switch. I know the Rangers have lobbied to get the Dbacks into the AL West because they complain that they are a Central time zone team that plays in a division with all Western time zone teams and it hurts their ratings. The think it would be mitigated some by Arizona in their division.

 

The Rangers are really getting hosed from that aspect.

[Derwood]

so he's anti-wild card, but also doesn't want a scenario in which the Yankees and Red Sox can't both make the playoffs?

 

I'm pro-wild card and, I guess, anti-4 divisions per league.

 

And I don't know why you're hung up on the Yankees and Red Sox.

 

i'm not. I don't care if one of them is left out every year. Look at the year when the Braves and Giants each won over 100 games and one didn't make it to the playoffs.

[erik316wttn]

so he's anti-wild card, but also doesn't want a scenario in which the Yankees and Red Sox can't both make the playoffs?

 

I'm pro-wild card and, I guess, anti-4 divisions per league.

 

And I don't know why you're hung up on the Yankees and Red Sox.

 

i'm not. I don't care if one of them is left out every year. Look at the year when the Braves and Giants each won over 100 games and one didn't make it to the playoffs.

 

That was the main reason we have the wild card today, because of the uproar of a 100+ win team sitting home in October.

[jersey cubs fan]

so he's anti-wild card, but also doesn't want a scenario in which the Yankees and Red Sox can't both make the playoffs?

 

I'm pro-wild card and, I guess, anti-4 divisions per league.

 

And I don't know why you're hung up on the Yankees and Red Sox.

 

i'm not. I don't care if one of them is left out every year. Look at the year when the Braves and Giants each won over 100 games and one didn't make it to the playoffs.

 

That was the main reason we have the wild card today, because of the uproar of a 100+ win team sitting home in October.

 

I think it has a lot more to do with keeping fan interest in more cities. The wild card keeps a lot more teams "in the hunt" and that means a lot more fans willing to pay to watch more games deeper into the year.

[Derwood]

so he's anti-wild card, but also doesn't want a scenario in which the Yankees and Red Sox can't both make the playoffs?

 

I'm pro-wild card and, I guess, anti-4 divisions per league.

 

And I don't know why you're hung up on the Yankees and Red Sox.

 

i'm not. I don't care if one of them is left out every year. Look at the year when the Braves and Giants each won over 100 games and one didn't make it to the playoffs.

 

That was the main reason we have the wild card today, because of the uproar of a 100+ win team sitting home in October.

 

I think it has a lot more to do with keeping fan interest in more cities. The wild card keeps a lot more teams "in the hunt" and that means a lot more fans willing to pay to watch more games deeper into the year.

 

sure, but expanding to 4 divisions per league keeps the same # of playoff spots to be won.

 

I think a perennial AL East battle where one of the "big two" won't make the playoffs is more interesting than seeing them both in the playoffs every year

[SouthSideRyan]

I think a battle of 4 mediocre-bad teams doesn't sound fun at all.

[Derwood]

I think a battle of 4 mediocre-bad teams doesn't sound fun at all.

 

wut? why would the 4 division winners all be mediocre or bad?

[bukie]

I'd be in favor of moving to two leagues of four divisions of four teams each. The only thing that would be particularly important to preserve would be the truly classic "storied" rivalries of the Red Sox/Yankees, Cubs/Cards, A's/Angels, Indians/Tigers and Dodgers/Giants. Heck, bring back the Phillies/Pirates rivalry that was diminished when they split them into different divisions.

 

AL East: Red Sox, Yankees, Orioles, Blue Jays

AL West: A's, Angels, Mariners, Expansion Portland/Vegas

AL North: Indians, Tigers, White Sox, Twins

AL South: Rangers, Royals, Rays, Expansion Indy/Charlotte

 

NL East: Phillies, Pirates, Mets, Nats

NL North: Cubs, Cardinals, Reds, Brewers

NL West: Dodgers, Giants, Rockies, Padres

NL South: Braves, Marlins, Astros, D-Backs

 

As long as we're aligning mostly according to geography instead of how good teams are right now, that would probably work just fine. If they feel the need to expand one team in each league (which they really shouldn't care, since prior to the last expansion, teams were added to the same league i.e. Marlins/Rockies), move a willing NL team to the AL, like the Astros to the AL South to fuel a rivalry with the Rangers or something.

[UMFan83]

If they had 32 teams, get rid of the wild card and have 2 leagues with 4 divisions of 4 teams each. You have to win your division to go to the playoffs.

 

there's no way that certain teams (yankees/red sox) would agree to that. and frankly it would be unfair to them.

 

they didn't have a wildcard pre-1993. It's not unprecedented to have both teams not make the playoffs every year.

 

I'm pretty sure that the D-Backs wanted to be an AL team since the time they were created, so they would seem like the natural team to move in an expansion scenario

 

It's not that the Yankees and Red Sox have to make the playoffs, but that generally they are two of the best teams in the AL so having them in the same division wouldn't be fair to them if only one of them was going to make the playoffs every year. It doesn't just go for those two teams but for the divisions in general. The year the Mariners won 116 games, the A's won 100+ and had the second best record in the AL. Under the four divisions, four teams per division, one playoff spot per division format, that team would have missed the playoffs.

 

I like this though. Call me a traditionalist, but I like the division races to mean something. If you can't beat out the other 3 teams in your division, you don't make the playoffs.

[SouthSideRyan]

I think a battle of 4 mediocre-bad teams doesn't sound fun at all.

 

wut? why would the 4 division winners all be mediocre or bad?

 

I'm saying within a certain division.

[TruffleShuffle]

I think a battle of 4 mediocre-bad teams doesn't sound fun at all.

 

wut? why would the 4 division winners all be mediocre or bad?

 

he's talking about certain division races, not all the teams being mediocre-bad. chances are that one of the divisions would be pretty bad. in the scenario bukie posted, you'd have the royals, rays, rangers and expansion team in the same division. before this year, you'd need about 72 wins to take that division.

 

in the nfl, this format can work - though let's remember that they still have 2 wild card positions - because all the teams are on a level playing field when it comes to payroll. in mlb, the yankees and red sox have higher payroll capabilities than any other teams in the game, and since payroll has a positive correlation with games won, they're also likely to win the most games. putting the two teams most likely to win the most games in the same division is inherently unfair.

 

i'd only support going to 4 divisions if they expanded the playoffs to 6 teams - which isn't something i'd like to see. personally i like the current format.

[UMFan83]

I think a battle of 4 mediocre-bad teams doesn't sound fun at all.

 

wut? why would the 4 division winners all be mediocre or bad?

 

he's talking about certain division races, not all the teams being mediocre-bad. chances are that one of the divisions would be pretty bad. in the scenario bukie posted, you'd have the royals, rays, rangers and expansion team in the same division. before this year, you'd need about 72 wins to take that division.

 

in the nfl, this format can work - though let's remember that they still have 2 wild card positions - because all the teams are on a level playing field when it comes to payroll. in mlb, the yankees and red sox have higher payroll capabilities than any other teams in the game, and since payroll has a positive correlation with games won, they're also likely to win the most games. putting the two teams most likely to win the most games in the same division is inherently unfair.

 

i'd only support going to 4 divisions if they expanded the playoffs to 6 teams - which isn't something i'd like to see. personally i like the current format.

 

Who cares though. With the way the scheduling is now, being biased towards divisional matchups, this seems more logical than the current setup anyways.

 

I always thought it was stupid to have a Wild Card when teams are playing unbalanced schedules.

[nilodnayr]

I think the Wild Card is really good for baseball. It keeps more teams in contention deeper into the season which leads to more ticket sales. Expanding to 4 divisions per league would end teams season earlier than the current system. Additionally, it allows for better teams to get into the playoffs. The Brewers are much better than whoever will represent the West this year.

 

I would expand, creating an AL central team and an AL west team. Most likely Indianapolis and Portland or Las Vegas. None of those areas are really important to any current teams so it would be much easier to get them passed. Areas like metro NJ or any city in Texas would hurt current teams. That would make each league with 16 teams, 5 in each of the East and West and 6 in the Central for both leagues. Scheduling would be VERY VERY easy. Another alternative could be moving the Rangers to the AL central and putting AL West teams in Portland AND Vegas.

[Guest]

so he's anti-wild card, but also doesn't want a scenario in which the Yankees and Red Sox can't both make the playoffs?

 

I'm pro-wild card and, I guess, anti-4 divisions per league.

 

And I don't know why you're hung up on the Yankees and Red Sox.

 

i'm not. I don't care if one of them is left out every year. Look at the year when the Braves and Giants each won over 100 games and one didn't make it to the playoffs.

 

And those are the specific instances I'm talking about.

 

You're making it seem like I specifically want the Yankees and Red Sox to make the playoffs every year which isn't the case. If those two teams are two of the best four teams in the AL, then yes they both should make the playoffs. And that goes for any two teams in the same division, not just the Yankees and the Red Sox.

 

Take this year, for example. The Brewers and Cubs seem to be two of the best four teams in the NL. If there was a 4 division format with four teams per division, one of the two would miss the playoffs. And that's not right.