I've said this about the NBA for years and now I'm saying it about Major League Baseball: Ditch the divisional format.
Bud Selig is planning on some sort of realignment in the near future and while I'm on board if it allows the lower revenue teams a boost in the standings. He's even thinking of a "floating realignment" where teams will bounce division to division on a yearly basis.
I'm more in the camp of ESPN.com's Buster Olney. Olney thinks like me that MLB would be best served to eliminate the divisions and go back ol' skool. Go pre-1969 and just have a National League and an American League.
Now, I know that having a system like that back in the day meant that teams like the Yankees, Dodgers, Cardinals and Giants dominated the World Series appearances. The difference now is that the regular season league champion doesn't automatically go to the Series. Keep wildcards and all of that. In fact, Olney and I both agree that six teams from each League should get postseason berths.
Olney goes further with it.
Olney also is down with an unbalanced schedule ... something the NFL does. Right now they have that in a divisional format, but a new idea would be to let the teams who finished high in the standings to face off more ofter, leaving the lower level teams to battle it out. Fair? No, but the NFL does it and no one bats an eye.
So the Reds, Pirates, Padres, Marlins and Nationals will get chances to beat up on each other while the Cardinals, Phillies, Dodgers and Cubs smack each other around. Again, I'll take more Padres-Marlins games on the back burner if it means we get more Cardinals-Phillies contests.
Bud Selig is planning on some sort of realignment in the near future and while I'm on board if it allows the lower revenue teams a boost in the standings. He's even thinking of a "floating realignment" where teams will bounce division to division on a yearly basis.
I'm more in the camp of ESPN.com's Buster Olney. Olney thinks like me that MLB would be best served to eliminate the divisions and go back ol' skool. Go pre-1969 and just have a National League and an American League.
Now, I know that having a system like that back in the day meant that teams like the Yankees, Dodgers, Cardinals and Giants dominated the World Series appearances. The difference now is that the regular season league champion doesn't automatically go to the Series. Keep wildcards and all of that. In fact, Olney and I both agree that six teams from each League should get postseason berths.
Olney goes further with it.
You can't mitigate success over a 162-game season; you need to reward the summerlong success. The two teams that finished with the best records in their respective leagues would have a first-round bye, and then the No. 3 and No. 4 teams would play host to the No. 5 and No. 6 teams in the first round of the playoffs -- in a three-game series. Again, this is retro, going back to the old tiebreakers that led to Bobby Thomson's home run in 1951.I love this idea. It would allow those "mid-majors" a better opportunity to get into a playoff race yet also gives the teams that did well during in the regular season a decided advantage. As any baseball fan knows, half the league is all but eliminated already and the season hasn't begun.
Here's the wrinkle: The No. 3 and No. 4 seeds would have home-field advantage for the entire three-game series.
Olney also is down with an unbalanced schedule ... something the NFL does. Right now they have that in a divisional format, but a new idea would be to let the teams who finished high in the standings to face off more ofter, leaving the lower level teams to battle it out. Fair? No, but the NFL does it and no one bats an eye.
So the Reds, Pirates, Padres, Marlins and Nationals will get chances to beat up on each other while the Cardinals, Phillies, Dodgers and Cubs smack each other around. Again, I'll take more Padres-Marlins games on the back burner if it means we get more Cardinals-Phillies contests.
To me, it would keep the lackadasical teams from benefitting from their enormous resources. The Red Sox and Yankees make it in virtually every year because they can obtain the best level of talent. They can put it on cruise control to make the playoffs. In the unbalanced system, they would have more games against the top teams that they will need to show up. It doesn't go by payroll ... but by talent ... so the Rays would get stuck up there with the big dogs too.
It would also give a lower level team the idea to spend a little extra money for a shot at winning. For example, the Cincinnati Reds would be in the lower half of the National League and playing the other bottom half more than the top half. The Reds could already make a run at possibly getting in the playoff chase this year anyway ... so why wouldn't they just say "look, we'll spend some extra dollars this year and sign a big name or two so we can take advantage of our easier schedule?" Instead of watching their payroll on a team that they know needs a miracle to gain a playoff berth, they can go for it and add some veteran depth.
Just a thought.
It would also give a lower level team the idea to spend a little extra money for a shot at winning. For example, the Cincinnati Reds would be in the lower half of the National League and playing the other bottom half more than the top half. The Reds could already make a run at possibly getting in the playoff chase this year anyway ... so why wouldn't they just say "look, we'll spend some extra dollars this year and sign a big name or two so we can take advantage of our easier schedule?" Instead of watching their payroll on a team that they know needs a miracle to gain a playoff berth, they can go for it and add some veteran depth.
Just a thought.
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