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Since the MLB doth refuses to address their salary discrepancies among teams in the league, how about we take another radical approach?
How about eliminate the 6 Divisions – and come back with 4 new divisions!
We can also go back to 14 teams in the AL and 16 in the NL.
I have long since agreed with this websites philosophy on re-aligning the Divisions for payroll and geography reasons.
If you watched the youtube clip up top, you have to ask yourselves the question of how many teams in that collage (since 1994) have won the World Series with a lower half payroll in the MLB? How about a mere few. The Marlins in 2003, and the 2010 Giants were teams that come to mind with payrolls that you could say were not upper tier limits.
In my adjusted Divisions, for the AL that now has 14 teams (2 Division X 6 opponents, you would play your division foes 14 times, and your other division in the league 6 times). This takes you to 126 total contests.
From there, you would play one of the 2 8 team NL Divisions 4 games each to equal 30 games, taking you up to 158 games overall. The remaining 4 games you would play your natural rivalries.
In the National League, both Divisions would play their own divisional foes 12 times for 84 total games. From there, they would the other Division in the NL 6 times each to equal 48 games and reach 132 games.
They would play either of the AL Division a total of 28 games (7 teams and 4 games), this would make each teams total 160. The NL would then round out the 162 game schedule with an additional 2 games versus their own league natural rivalry.
This would be a fairer schedule then what we have now.
Yes there would be 28 games for each team for Interleague play, but this would make sure that a fanbase never went without seeing all 30 MLB clubs for more than 2 years.
As you can see, more of the powerhouse teams also reside in the AL, where you have to allocate more spending in order to secure a Designated Hitter.
With the American League only possessing 14 clubs, they will have a better chance to make the playoffs, however the sheer dollars teams are spending will make the competition fierce.
So there are 4 division winners in this format, I would give these teams an automatic bye into the second round of the playoffs (kind of like the NFL for the two top seeds in either conference).
I would then make 4 wild card teams in each league play each other 1 vs 4, and 2 vs 3 in each of the NL and AL leagues in a best of 3 series.
The team with the lower record will start off the Wild Card Series at home, before heading for games 2 and 3 on the road.
For a change, the Division Pennant Winners will have a clear cut advantage again. In round 2, the highest seeds would play the lowest seeds until a winner for the league pennant is decided.
Having 12 teams out of 30 still ties the MLB for the least amount of teams qualifying for the Post Season in the 4 Major Sports (NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL). NFL also has 12 (but with 32 teams), the NHL and NBA both have 16 out of the 30 clubs making the playoffs.
Of course the MLB will never undergo such a change like this so relax people. This is just me speedbagging more thoughts.
MLB will have teams that will feature $250 MIL payrolls, and also have clubs with $40 – $70 MIL payrolls.. Just ridiculous!
| AMERICAN League | ||
| Division | ||
| 2014 | ||
| Natural rivalry in bracket | payroll | payroll |
| AL North | $ Budget | maximum |
| NY Yankees (NYM) | 189 | 225 |
| NY Mets (NYY) | 84 | 120 |
| Boston (PHI) | 165 | 189 |
| Philadelphia (BOS) | 160 | 160 |
| Detroit (STL) | 160 | 160 |
| Chicago White Sox (CWS) | 85 | 120 |
| Chicago Cubs (CHC) | 77 | 120 |
| 7 Team Totals (in MIL) | 920 | 1094 |
| Division average | 131.4286 | 156.2857 |
| Natural rivalry in bracket | 2014 | |
| AL Southwest | payroll | payroll |
| $ Budget | maximum | |
| LA Angels (LAD) | 225 | 225 |
| LA Dodgers (LAA) | 150 | 190 |
| St. Louis (DET) | 110 | 120 |
| Seattle (SF) | 85 | 110 |
| San Francisco (SEA) | 155 | 155 |
| Houston (TEX) | 60 | 100 |
| Texas (HOU) | 130 | 130 |
| 7 Team Totals | 915 | 1030 |
| Division average | 130.7143 | 147.1429 |
| Natural rivalry in bracket | ||
| National League | ||
| 2014 | ||
| NL East | payroll | payroll |
| $ Budget | maximum | |
| Toronto (ATL) | 125 | 110 |
| Washington (BAL) | 131 | 140 |
| Baltimore (WSH) | 100 | 110 |
| Miami (TB) | 40 | 75 |
| Tampa Bay (MIA) | 73 | 75 |
| Atlanta (TOR) | 91 | 100 |
| Pittsburgh (CLE) | 70 | 85 |
| Cleveland (PIT) | 83 | 85 |
| 713 | 780 | |
| Division average | 89.125 | 97.5 |
| Natural rivalry in bracket | ||
| 2014 | ||
| payroll | payroll | |
| $ Budget | maximum | |
| NL West | ||
| Cincinnati (KC) | 106 | 105 |
| Minnesota (MIL) | 82 | 95 |
| Milwaukee (MIN) | 96 | 100 |
| Kansas City (CIN) | 90 | 90 |
| San Diego (ARI) | 82 | 90 |
| Oakland (COL) | 75 | 75 |
| Arizona (SD) | 100 | 100 |
| Colorado (OAK) | 91 | 100 |
| 722 | 755 | |
| Division average 8 teams | 90.25 | 94.375 |
It would be nice if the MLB would make the divisions more competitive as currently constructed, but it simply wont happen in this current CBA. The bigger salary teams are about to break apart from the lower payroll teams in the next few seasons. It would behoove the powers to be, that they place Divisions of similar teams of economics and geography. Maybe I am wrong, so lets all check back in a decade.
It would be nice if the MLB would make the divisions more competitive as currently constructed, but it simply wont happen in this current CBA. The bigger salary teams are about to break apart from the lower payroll teams in the next few seasons. It would behoove the powers to be, that they place Divisions of similar teams of economics and geography. If you don’t believe me on this front, I welcome your views and lets check back in a decade.
*** The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of mlbreports.com ***
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A big thank-you goes out to Our ‘Chief Writer‘ Hunter Stokes for preparing today’s featured article. Hunter is a Baseball Writer for MLB reports.
Hunter grew up in Lynchburg, Virginia and played baseball with Sheldon Bream (Sid Bream‘s son) at Liberty University in the NCAA.
His favorite player is Brian Wilson (how could you guess?), and he hates when people can’t think outside the box!
His favorite expression – is ‘ this At Bat is about ten seconds away from a Toe – Tag!
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