It always annoys me that the NL central has 6 teams and AL West only has 4. How would you fix it, or do you not want to fix it?

I think moving Houston to the AL west makes sense, but then you have both Texas teams in the AL and the same division. Edit: This is the fix the MLB chose. What would you choose?

My best solution is putting the Pirates in the AL central, and moving the Royals to the AL west. No one cares about the Pirates.

Does it annoy the Reds fans on here?

I think they should just get rid of divisions period. They're pretty idiotic when you think about it.

Agreed. Get rid of divisions, especially with this new playoff format.

Commander of Awesome;1140225 wrote:I think they should just get rid of divisions period. They're pretty idiotic when you think about it.

The only purpose of divisions is in making the schedule isn't it? Like 18 games against the teams in your division and 6-9-whatever against the teams in the other two? Kind of dumb...especially when you have mismatched divisions.

I'm down with MLB's plan more than the OP's though, if we have divisions. I'd rather my Pirates be in the DIVISION THAT LOST PRINCE FIELDER rather than the DIVISION THAT GAINED PRINCE FIELDER. And not having Pujois just sweetens things, since he batted something like .996 against the Pirates over his career with St. Louis.

Heretic;1140340 wrote:The only purpose of divisions is in making the schedule isn't it? Like 18 games against the teams in your division and 6-9-whatever against the teams in the other two? Kind of dumb...especially when you have mismatched divisions.

I'm down with MLB's plan more than the OP's though, if we have divisions. I'd rather my Pirates be in the DIVISION THAT LOST PRINCE FIELDER rather than the DIVISION THAT GAINED PRINCE FIELDER. And not having Pujois just sweetens things, since he batted something like .996 against the Pirates over his career with St. Louis.

This is why no division makes the most sense. I still think its ridiculous two teams (maybe 3) can have the best records in the league, yet one team (or 2) would have to play in a 1 game playoff and burn their #1 pitcher even before they potentially get to the ALDS/NLDS.

It's about as dumb as the Cardinals hosting game 7 of last year's world series, because the NL won the all star game.

European soccer style is what they need. Top 5 can make the playoffs. You play your designated rival in the NL when your rotation of the 15 is up. Play everyone 10 times. 2 three game series and 1 four gamer. 150 games total. No uneven scheduling and you get the actual 4/5 teams playing the playoff game.

PRetty much what laley saaid....


I believe the master plan has been discussed before in what they plan on doing, and I kinda like it.


They do away with the divisions so it is just AMerican League and National League.

Then they take the top XX amount of teams to the postseason.
They also go with a balanced scheduling. Each NL team plays each NL team the same amount of times. Same in the AL.

I think that is a fair way to do it. I imagine there may still be griping and such, but it is the most balanced way to go through a season. That takes away the argument that you had a play a certain team, which is stacked, 16 times whereas a team in another division only had to play them in two series and 6 total games.



Then ya could do the interleague as you still play your natural rival, and then maybe matchup against a team from the other league who finished the same as you the season before. For instance, if the REds finish 5th in the NL this year, then next year they play the Indians in a home and home, and then whomever finished 5th in the AL the year before. I forget how many IL games are played now.


Then as we said ya play each NL team the same amount of times.

SUre....it would mean playing the Cubs/Cards a little less....good rivals for the reds, but it would also mean playing some old rivals like the dodgers more often. To be honest...I get tired of watching the reds play against some teams so often..like the Pirates

What do you mean by leveling? If you want leveling on the playing field MLB should follow the NBA and NFL. Incorporate a salary cap.

THink he means leveling the scheduling. PLay everyone in the league the same amount of times instead of guys in your division more than others.

THink he means leveling the scheduling.PLay everyone in the league the same amount of times instead of guys in your division more than others.

I have worked out the numbers on another site.


MLB has had more DIFF champions, and more DIFF teams in the final four teams left than in the other sports with salary cap over the last 10 years.

Check it out. Go back to those sports and see what teams made it to the last 4 left, and who won the championship. MLB has had more DIFF teams in the FF and won it than the salary cap sports.


Believe you me..I am a salary cap guy and I am always surprised when I check out the actual facts of it. The salary cap does make it more fair, no doubt about it, and even bigger it gives fans the impression it is more fair, but the actual numbers do not support it.

"MLB has had more DIFF champions, and more DIFF teams in the final four teams left than in the other sports with salary cap over the last 10 years. "

I'm sure of that, I'm also sure that the Pirates, Royals, etc. have no chance at all. In the NBA a good nucleus can make the playoffs and ideally make the semis nearly every year (Mavs, Lakers, Spurs, Heat although they haven't won the big one yet), NFL is a little more iffy due to the injuries. But at least in the NBA and NFL teams can hope for the future. A big draft pick can pay off immediately. In MLB by the time a top draft pick is ready they can be (and sometimes are) traded away.

Back to the topic, I don't mind an unbalanced schedule. It is for the fans. I thought MLB was far more interesting before inter-league play when the Reds played the Dodgers and Braves (and to a lesser extent, the Astros back in the rainbow uniform years). often. It made the rivalries much better.

Manhattan Buckeye;1140884 wrote:"MLB has had more DIFF champions, and more DIFF teams in the final four teams left than in the other sports with salary cap over the last 10 years. "

I'm sure of that, I'm also sure that the Pirates, Royals, etc. have no chance at all. In the NBA a good nucleus can make the playoffs and ideally make the semis nearly every year (Mavs, Lakers, Spurs, Heat although they haven't won the big one yet), NFL is a little more iffy due to the injuries. But at least in the NBA and NFL teams can hope for the future. A big draft pick can pay off immediately. In MLB by the time a top draft pick is ready they can be (and sometimes are) traded away.

Back to the topic, I don't mind an unbalanced schedule. It is for the fans. I thought MLB was far more interesting before inter-league play when the Reds played the Dodgers and Braves (and to a
lesser extent, the Astros back in the rainbow uniform years). often. It made the rivalries much better.

I agree with you.


I guess I shoulda have said that the reason why Selig wont ever go to it is because of that. I have read before where he touted that as a reason why they dont need a cap.

I would love to see a cap, but it will be much harder to come by than the other sports. Each MLB team has more regionalized and local revenues than the typical NFL team. MLB teams are almost like 32 separate entities and have more individual negotiating power than individual NFL teams. It will be a very hard sell for a number of owners to agree to it. To a point it was hard in the NFL for teams like NY, Dallas and such for the revenue sharing, but more deal in the NFL are leaguewide than in MLB