Re: MLB considering radical floating realignment

[Banedon]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/tom_verducci/03/09/floating-realignment/

 

The committee already has made good on Selig's promise by discussing a radical form of "floating" realignment in which teams would not be fixed to a division, but free to change divisions from year-to-year based on geography, payroll and their plans to contend or not.

[Sammys Boombox]

Anything that could possibly make the DH a universal rule is something I would be opposed to.

[Old Style]

Anything that could possibly make the DH a universal rule is something I would be opposed to.

If anything, I would think this would force MLB to go with a DH for every game.

 

And if a team can opt out of their division, will the AL East be made up entirely of the Red Sox & Yankees? Can Baltimore say they want to move the NL Central? Would an NL Central team then have to move somewhere else? This proposal brings up so many questions. It sounds ridiculous at the moment. I want to hear more.

[TruffleShuffle]

their plans to contend??? good luck selling that one to the fans. "you know, we're going to join the AL east this year because we know we're going to stink, so we may as well stink it up in a division where we'll get crushed but earn a little more money."

[NeifiIsMyHomeBoy]

Nothing to see here, just baseball continuing on in its quest to ruin itself

[jersey cubs fan]

their plans to contend??? good luck selling that one to the fans. "you know, we're going to join the AL east this year because we know we're going to stink, so we may as well stink it up in a division where we'll get crushed but earn a little more money."

 

There has to be a question about whether or not a handful of games against the Yankees will offset the cost of telling your fans you aren't trying. At least in the AL Central, even a weak team has a chance of winning in any given year.

 

They would be much better off making more opportunities for teams to contend than forcing teams to admit if they are trying. Add a wild card team and more teams will have hope.

[Sammys Boombox]

Anything that could possibly make the DH a universal rule is something I would be opposed to.

If anything, I would think this would force MLB to go with a DH for every game.

 

And if a team can opt out of their division, will the AL East be made up entirely of the Red Sox & Yankees? Can Baltimore say they want to move the NL Central? Would an NL Central team then have to move somewhere else? This proposal brings up so many questions. It sounds ridiculous at the moment. I want to hear more.

 

I know. That's a reason for me not to like the proposal.

[TruffleShuffle]

Anything that could possibly make the DH a universal rule is something I would be opposed to.

If anything, I would think this would force MLB to go with a DH for every game.

 

And if a team can opt out of their division, will the AL East be made up entirely of the Red Sox & Yankees? Can Baltimore say they want to move the NL Central? Would an NL Central team then have to move somewhere else? This proposal brings up so many questions. It sounds ridiculous at the moment. I want to hear more.

 

it seems to me that it would be the red sox, yankees and then a dumping ground for teams that are either perpetually terrible (pirates, royals) or have some talent but are rebuilding mode (indians, orioles). granted, it's unfair to the other teams in that division that they're stuck trying to beat two teams with mega payrolls, but wouldn't it be ridiculous to have the yankees and red sox contending with a bunch of turds every year? basically this would give the other three teams in that division a better chance when they're good enough to compete, but would probably ensure that the yankees and red sox would go to the playoffs every year since they would have 54 games a year against awful teams.

[UMFan83]

This is literally the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my entire life. When I say literally I mean literally. I just read Milton Bradley's comments and they almost seem rational in comparison. If someone tried to argue with me that Neifi Perez is a first ballot HOFer, that would be less stupid than this.

[Old Style]

Anything that could possibly make the DH a universal rule is something I would be opposed to.

If anything, I would think this would force MLB to go with a DH for every game.

 

I know. That's a reason for me not to like the proposal.

Oops. I misread your post. I thought you were saying this could force the elimination of the DH. My bad.

[Sammys Boombox]

their plans to contend??? good luck selling that one to the fans. "you know, we're going to join the AL east this year because we know we're going to stink, so we may as well stink it up in a division where we'll get crushed but earn a little more money."

 

What happens when a division is horrible and in one offseason 5 teams petition to join that division because they can't win in their division but they can win in the crappy division? Also, it seems to me that it will become only easier for the Yankees and Red Sox to get to the postseason. It seems the third-best AL East team would always switch with a non-contending AL Central team. To prove the point, if the Rays were in the Central in 2008 then the Yankees would have made the playoffs as the wild card. It seems to me that MLB politics would be a large deciding factor in what teams move to which divisions. Also, it makes the wild card a joke if you have admittedly good and bad divisions. The wild card could easily come from an inferior team just because they get to play three crappy teams for 54 games or so (1/3 of the season).

[Electron Blue]

While we're at it, why not dispatch with leagues and division (antiquated by mergers and modern transportation) and have every team play all of the other teams equal numbers of times, and then, after 162 games, the eight best teams get seeded and play in a tournament.

 

 

Okay, I don't really want that -- but it's an equally crazy idea

[Sammys Boombox]

This will never fly.

[Sammys Boombox]

While we're at it, why not dispatch with leagues and division (antiquated by mergers and modern transportation) and have every team play all of the other teams equal numbers of times, and then, after 162 games, the eight best teams get seeded and play in a tournament.

 

 

Okay, I don't really want that -- but it's a less crazy idea

Fixed. Although I hate that idea.

[UMFan83]

I think they should decide the World Series champ by having all teams pick a number between 1-100 and the closest number wins the WS.

[TruffleShuffle]

their plans to contend??? good luck selling that one to the fans. "you know, we're going to join the AL east this year because we know we're going to stink, so we may as well stink it up in a division where we'll get crushed but earn a little more money."

 

There has to be a question about whether or not a handful of games against the Yankees will offset the cost of telling your fans you aren't trying. At least in the AL Central, even a weak team has a chance of winning in any given year.

 

They would be much better off making more opportunities for teams to contend than forcing teams to admit if they are trying. Add a wild card team and more teams will have hope.

 

with the strength of the mlbpa, a salary cap is never going to happen, so this is the most reasonable idea. it's pretty much a given that teams like florida, baltimore, toronto and tampa are going to have a very tough time making the playoffs against multiple huge-market teams in their divisions, so allow another 1-2 wild card teams and give the best or best two teams in each league a first round bye. that way if baltimore/tampa/toronto build a team that's good enough to win 90 games, they have a great chance to make the playoffs even if the yankees and red sox are better.

[AlwaysaCub]

If we're being radical, why not just abolish the divisions, give everyone a set & equal amount of games against every other team in the league, say 108 (2/3 of the games), and make the last 1/3 of a team's games discretionary. The league or the scheduling office would pick the remaining 1/3 of the schedule for each team, adding games to maintain rivalries and promote competitive balance (both of these things would lead to the Yanks playing the Sawx more). The top 4 teams in each league would make the playoffs in a seeded format.

[Sammys Boombox]

Anything that could possibly make the DH a universal rule is something I would be opposed to.

If anything, I would think this would force MLB to go with a DH for every game.

 

I know. That's a reason for me not to like the proposal.

Oops. I misread your post. I thought you were saying this could force the elimination of the DH. My bad.

 

No problem. I just would hate to see the DH become a mainstay in both leagues (or the only league).

[Dr. Cub]

This will never fly.

 

Is that supposed to be a caption for your picture of Ronnie?

[Electron Blue]

While we're at it, why not dispatch with leagues and division (antiquated by mergers and modern transportation) and have every team play all of the other teams equal numbers of times, and then, after 162 games, the eight best teams get seeded and play in a tournament.

 

 

Okay, I don't really want that -- but it's a less crazy idea

Fixed. Although I hate that idea.

 

Good point.

 

And I should say again, I too really don't like the idea. Even for a young baseball fan like myself, it's strangely unsettling to think there was a time (only, what, 15-20 years ago?) that there were only two divisions per league -- hell, given when I became a fan, the D'Backs and Rays are almost as established to me as most teams.

 

To vastly re-align the league or, even worse, to create a rotating alignment, would destroy what divisions mean for rivalries, history, and more.

[FergieJ31]

This is literally the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my entire life. When I say literally I mean literally. I just read Milton Bradley's comments and they almost seem rational in comparison. If someone tried to argue with me that Neifi Perez is a first ballot HOFer, that would be less stupid than this.

 

This.

 

If Selig & Co want to be creative, I wish they would figure out a way to get some kind of salary cap past the MLBPA, without a floor. I know I know, when pigs fly :pig:

[Sammys Boombox]

This will never fly.

 

Is that supposed to be a caption for your picture of Ronnie?

 

Haha. No.

[TruffleShuffle]

6 teams from each league make the playoffs, 3 division winners, 3 wild cards. top 2 teams in each league get a first round bye. purists would complain about ruining the divisional races, but you'd still have good races to win bad divisions, races for the final wild card spot(s), and races to get the byes. it would add an extra week or so to the season, but either shorten the regular season to 154 games (unlikely, since this would decrease revenues for at least 60% of the teams) or shorten spring training a little bit.

[Sammys Boombox]

6 teams from each league make the playoffs, 3 division winners, 3 wild cards. top 2 teams in each league get a first round bye. purists would complain about ruining the divisional races, but you'd still have good races to win bad divisions, races for the final wild card spot(s), and races to get the byes. it would add an extra week or so to the season, but either shorten the regular season to 154 games (unlikely, since this would decrease revenues for at least 60% of the teams) or shorten spring training a little bit.

 

Although I don't really like this idea, I don't think the purists would have much of an argument against it on grounds of it destroying late-season races. If you seed the teams 1-3 with division winners (so no wild card teams get a bye) and then 4-6 with wild card winners it could still make the divisional races very important. It may even create a race between the second best and third best divisional winners to get that bye. It also creates a race between the first and second wild card based to see who gets home-field in the first round. Obviously there will most likely be a race between the last wild card and the 7th team which is out of the playoffs. The only divisional race that would be diminished is if the worst divisional winner and the best wild card team were from the same division and they had no chance of catching seed 2 or dropping to seed 5. This is highly unlikely.

[TruffleShuffle]

Although I don't really like this idea

 

is there an idea you like, besides salary cap (which isn't happening) or status quo?