pf9 Posted September 23, 2020 Share Posted September 23, 2020 Right now, the schedule format and divisional alignment isn't very ideal. Each league has 15 teams, from coast to coast, and because there is an odd number of teams in each league, interleague play has to be year-round, which takes the fun out of it. Under the current schedule format, not used this year for obvious reasons, teams on the East coast have to play at least three series west of the Central Time Zone each year - one against each team west of that time zone. It isn't as bad in the AL where there are only three teams in the league west of the CTZ, but in the NL there's five such teams. For their part, west coast teams have to play a series in each East coast ballpark that is in their league every year, and every park in their league east of Denver. In the most extreme case, the AL West has three teams on the West coast, and 2 in Texas. The Texas teams have a lot of 9 PM CT starts as a result. Expansion of course is on the horizon, and from what I read, the two most likely candidates are Montreal and Nashville - which would increase the amount of teams collectively in the Eastern and Central Time Zones to 24. Now I've proposed an alignment that divides the 32 teams into 4 8-team leagues based on the history of MLB. The 8 teams west of the Central Time Zone should form the new Pacific Coast League, which would in turn force the AAA league by that name to adopt a new name. In determining the lineups of the AL and NL, I turned to the history books. 15 of the 24 major league teams in the Eastern and Central Time Zones are located in markets in the Northeast and Midwest that had at least one MLB team at some point between 1901, the first year of the modern era, and 1957, the last year MLB was confined to these regions. Obviously, the 2-team markets (New York and Chicago) would keep their teams in their current leagues. In determining the league assignments for the other 13 teams in these cities, I used what league these cities were in during the 1957 season to make these determinations. Thus, Baltimore, Boston, Cleveland, Detroit, and Kansas City would remain in the AL, while Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and St. Louis would all remain in the NL. Washington, because its 20th century teams were in the AL, would see the Nationals switch from the NL to the AL. 9 MLB teams in the Eastern and Central Time Zones (including the prospective expansion teams) are located in markets that didn't gain their MLB teams until after the first West Coast moves. Of the 7 such teams that currently exist, 5 (Houston, Minnesota, Tampa Bay, Texas, and Toronto) are in the AL while the other two (Atlanta and Miami) are in the NL. I decided that all five AL teams in these markets should become part of another new league, the Continental League, named after a league proposed in the mid-20th century. Montreal and Nashville would also become part of this new league. Between Atlanta and Miami, one franchise had to stay in the NL because all leagues needed to have 8 teams. As Atlanta was a prospective city for the original Continental League but Miami was not, I decided that Miami should stay in the NL, also because there are a lot of transplants from the Northeast and Midwest in the metro area. Atlanta would be assigned to the Continental League. I then came up with a schedule format that limits the amount of games between PCL teams and the ET/CT teams. The AL, NL, and CL teams would each play 126 games within their league - exactly 18 against every opponent. Each of those teams would play 36 interleague games, 30 against other ET/CT teams (a 6-game home-and-home against 5 different teams), and a 6-game home-and-home against a team in the PCL. Some interleague rivalries in the Eastern and Central Time Zones would occur on an annual basis. The PCL teams would play 144 intraleague games - 20 or 21 against each opponent, and one rotating interleague opponent from each ET/CT league for 6 games (home-and-home) each. Thus, PCL teams would only have to play 9 games east of the Mountain Time Zone, and the ET/CT teams would only play 3 games west of the Central Time Zone. This helps a lot for local TV and radio scheduling. The top 4 teams in each league qualify for a Shaugnessy playoff, LDS is best of 3, LCS best of 5. The four league winners are seeded 1-4 in 2 national semifinals, which are best-of-7 as is the World Series, which pits the semifinal winners. If you have any expansion and realignment proposals, share them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beekay414 Posted September 23, 2020 Share Posted September 23, 2020 You need to find a hobby lol 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramssuperbowl99 Posted September 23, 2020 Share Posted September 23, 2020 Lets go a few weeks without teams firing people first before we talk about expansion huh. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malibuspeedrace Posted September 23, 2020 Share Posted September 23, 2020 Oh lord.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devils1854 Posted September 23, 2020 Share Posted September 23, 2020 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pf9 Posted September 23, 2020 Author Share Posted September 23, 2020 Best I can do is 4 words: realignment based on history Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pf9 Posted September 23, 2020 Author Share Posted September 23, 2020 It is actually a modified version of another realignment proposal I saw on another forum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagles27 Posted September 23, 2020 Share Posted September 23, 2020 Don't take it too hard. The regulars here are only a-holes maybe 70% of the time. 😄 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pf9 Posted September 23, 2020 Author Share Posted September 23, 2020 I should also note that the PCL is based on the dreams the minor league PCL had of being a major league in the 1950s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scar988 Posted October 2, 2020 Share Posted October 2, 2020 Just do expansion of Nashville and Montreal. Re-align geographically: Western League Pacific Seattle Mariners San Francisco Giants Oakland Athletics Los Angeles Dodgers Mountain West Los Angeles Angels Arizona Diamondbacks San Diego Padres Colorado Rockies Central Kansas City Royals St. Louis Cardinals Texas Rangers Houston Astros Midwest Minnesota Twins Chicago Cubs Milwaukee Brewers Detroit Tigers Eastern League South Atlanta Braves Miami Marlins Tampa Bay Rays Nashville MLB Expansion Mid-Atlantic Baltimore Orioles Washington Nationals Philadelphia Phillies Pittsburgh Pirates North Chicago White Sox Cincinnati Reds Cleveland Indians Toronto Blue Jays Northeast New York Yankees Boston Red Sox New York Mets Montreal MLB Expansion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slateman Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 I don't think MLB is in a position to expand. Frankly, I think they should be contracting. Or moving to a shorter schedule that only requires 4 starting pitchers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pf9 Posted October 6, 2020 Author Share Posted October 6, 2020 (edited) 17 hours ago, Slateman said: I don't think MLB is in a position to expand. Frankly, I think they should be contracting. Or moving to a shorter schedule that only requires 4 starting pitchers. They tried contracting nearly 20 years ago, it didn't work. There are still many people upset over the fact that interleague play, something only instituted in 1997, is now year-round rather than restricted to certain days of the schedule. This made MLB unique among the major sports leagues. For years the other major leagues scheduled interconference games throughout the season and still do. Thus, expanding to 32 teams will solve this problem. Under my alignment, interleague play would take place over a 6-week period beginning on the Monday falling between May 15 and May 21 (which would be the third Monday of May) and ending on the Sunday falling between June 25 and July 1. The first three weeks would limit interleague play to the Eastern and Central time zone teams, with PCL teams joining in the last three weeks; 4 PCL teams would be on a road trip at any given time during these last three weeks. Edited October 6, 2020 by pf9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pf9 Posted October 6, 2020 Author Share Posted October 6, 2020 Furthermore, I think the players should demand the reinstatement of those banished from the sport for gambling (many of which are now dead) as part of the labor negotiations. This would be done because of recent developments regarding betting on sports. Thus, players like Shoeless Joe Jackson and Pete Rose would finally get into Cooperstown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slateman Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 3 hours ago, pf9 said: They tried contracting nearly 20 years ago, it didn't work. There are still many people upset over the fact that interleague play, something only instituted in 1997, is now year-round rather than restricted to certain days of the schedule. This made MLB unique among the major sports leagues. For years the other major leagues scheduled interconference games throughout the season and still do. Thus, expanding to 32 teams will solve this problem. Under my alignment, interleague play would take place over a 6-week period beginning on the Monday falling between May 15 and May 21 (which would be the third Monday of May) and ending on the Sunday falling between June 25 and July 1. The first three weeks would limit interleague play to the Eastern and Central time zone teams, with PCL teams joining in the last three weeks; 4 PCL teams would be on a road trip at any given time during these last three weeks. You're missing the point. Baseball won't be as financially successful 10-20 years from now. Television as a whole is going to change, and sports is going to feel it the most. But more over, the minor leagues are contracting. There will be less player development. Which means expanding MLB will simply degrade the talent pool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pf9 Posted October 6, 2020 Author Share Posted October 6, 2020 There could be lawsuits filed still to prevent the minors from contracting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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