Pulitzer-Worthy Investigative Reporting
Earlier today I was looking at the standings in major league baseball. There are some surprises so far this year, most notably the fact that favorites like the Yankees and Tigers aren’t playing well and teams from Florida are. Other surprises include the fact that the experts now say last year’s NL champs are dead, Baltimore is 4 games over .500, Seattle’s several games back of Texas, San Diego is the worst team in baseball, and oh yeah, there are only 4 teams in the AL West.
Ok, I know the AL West has only had 4 teams since ’94 and no one seems that broken up about it. But on the other hand, just what the ham sandwich is going on there? Of baseball’s six divisions, four of them have 5 teams, with the AL West only having 4 and the NL Central with 6. It would stand to reason that if you take one team out of the NL Central and send it to the AL West, you would have the type of uniformity that would make Mr. Monk happy. So this begs the question, who should go?
Obviously the team the furthest west is the Astros, so I say give them the boot. Or, put them in the NL West and then move a team with less history to the AL West, like the D-Backs or Colorado. Or if you’d prefer, put the Brewers back in the AL West, I think we all had about enough of them last season anyway. The point is, if you have 30 teams and 6 divisions, anyone who went to third grade can tell you the magic number is 5 per division. Or am I missing something?*
*I am, check out the comments. I am not smarter than a 3rd grader.
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11 Responses
Sean M May 21st at 2:12 pm
I’ve also been thinking about the AL west recently, and I agree that it and the NL central need balanced out. I don’t think it will happen though because it would mean that both leagues would have an odd number of teams (15), so every day 1 team from each league would have to be inactive or in interleague play.
Ryan May 21st at 2:14 pm
If there were five teams in each division, then there would be fifteen per league. That would mean that only fourteen teams in each league could play each other at a time since there is no inter league play on a daily basis. One team in each league would have to sit out for three days while the other fourteen play each other. With sixteen in the NL and fourteen in the AL, no teams have to sit out for such a long period of time.
Sheps May 21st at 2:17 pm
Oh. Well, obviously I hadn’t thought of that…
Jody May 21st at 2:20 pm
Eliminate the DH, have everyone play everyone, and have 15 teams in each league, 5 per division.
Lou May 21st at 2:52 pm
It’s tough to know what to do. Forcing the AL to get rid of the DH is certainly the way to go.
How about…add a team in Vegas (for the AL West) and make the Brewers the AAA affiliate for the Twins?
CrankyShoulder May 21st at 3:34 pm
I live in Anaheim and it kills me to have coworkers brag that “The Angels are in 1st”. There are 4 teams so shut up already.
But more importantly, 4 teams in a division means that you play 3 teams a LOT more than everyone else. But with Texas and Seattle being so bad for so long then you’ve essentially got 30 free wins a year. How is that fair?
stewed May 21st at 4:29 pm
Selig’s original plan was to have Houston move to the AL with the last realignment. The folks in Houston caused a big enough stink about it that somehow it got shot down.
My father in law told me all about once but my eyes normally gloss over when he starts talking Astros baseball
Justin H. May 23rd at 9:36 am
Short Soap Box: To beg the question is to use a circular argument. In recent years, however, it seems that to “beg the question” has replaced something accurate phrases such as “raises the question.”
*End Short Soap Box*
Russell May 28th at 10:57 am
How about this: add two more teams, both in the NL.
Then create an extra division in each league called “South.”
Then we’d have four divisions of four teams each for both the AL and NL.
Russell May 28th at 11:24 am
EDIT I mean two in the AL, of course. Say, Carolina and Portland.
Here’s how they’d look:
AL WEST
Oakland
Portland
L.A. Angels
Seattle
AL CENTRAL
Chicago White Sox
Cleveland
Detroit
Minnesota
AL EAST
New York Yankees
Boston
Toronto
Baltimore
AL SOUTH
Texas
Tampa Bay
Carolina
Kansas City
NL WEST
San Diego
San Francisco
Los Angeles Dodgers
Colorado
NL CENTRAL
Chicago Cubs
St. Louis
Milwaukee
Cincinnati
NL EAST
Philadelphia
New York Mets
Washington
Pittsburgh
NL SOUTH
Atlanta
Florida
Houston
Arizona
• The ALDS and NLDS would be played between the top four teams in each division, eliminating the wild card.
• All the big rivalries will be maintained: Yanks-Red Sox, Cubs-Cards, Dodgers-Giants, plus we may see new intra-division rivalries get off the ground (I’m thinking Philly-Pittsburgh).
I know Vegas was mentioned as a possible new city for a big-league team, but that won’t happen ’til the city outlaws gambling on major league games.
Tom June 4th at 3:47 pm
The reason there for the 4 teams and 6 teams is to give both leagues an even number of teams, so that we don’t have an inter league series every week because its either that or have 1 NL team and 1 AL be inactive for 3 days waiting for all the other teams in their league to finish the series that they are currently in