How Major League Baseball Can Become Fair: A Realignment Manifesto
By Joe Brower
Major League Baseball simply isn’t fair. Imagine being a fan in Baltimore? How about Toronto? Pittsburgh? The divisional set-up with unbalanced schedules combined with no salary cap does not make sense. Certain teams and markets will not have the means to compete with the big boys year after year. Baltimore and Toronto are decent sized markets that are not afraid to spend some money, but they are not able to compete with New York and Boston on a consistent basis anymore. Not only must they finish above both of those teams to make the playoffs, they have to play against them 18 or 19 times, too! The beauty of being a Tigers fan is that we play in a division of smaller market teams. If baseball wants to keep out a salary cap then they need to do away with divisions. If baseball wants to keep divisions and unbalanced schedules then there needs to be a salary cap. I prefer the former. Here is the rest of my plan:
- Setup: Two, fifteen team leagues (following Houston’s move to the AL) with no divisions
- Regular Season Games: Teams will still play 162 games in the following format:
- 12 games against eight different league teams. 6 home games and 6 away played verses each team.
- 9 games against 6 different league teams. A team will play 6 games at home and 3 games away against three teams. 6 games away and 3 games at home against the other three teams.
- 12 interleague games (4 three game series)
- Playoffs: Top five teams in each league will make the playoffs. 1, 2, and 3 seeds get a 1st round bye. The 5 seed and 4 seed play a best of 3 game series with all games played at the 4 seed’s park (just like a regular season series). Round two will be best of five, and the rest will continue as it does now.
- Interleague Play: I am in favor of scaling back interleague play. Establish rival teams that are played every year, plus 3 more series. Rival teams:
- Yankees vs. Mets
- Red Sox vs. Phillies
- Orioles vs. Nationals
- Rays vs. Marlins
- Blue Jays vs. Braves
- Tigers vs. Pirates
- Indians vs. Reds
- White Sox vs. Cubs
- Twins vs. Brewers
- Royals vs. Cardinals
- Angels vs. Dodgers
- A’s vs. Giants
- Mariners vs. Rockies
- Rangers vs. Diamondbacks
- Astros vs. Padres
- Sample Tigers Schedule
- Yankees: 6 home, 6 away
- Red Sox: 6 home, 6 away
- Blue Jays: 6 home, 6 away
- Orioles: 6 home, 6 away
- Rays: 6 home, 6 away
- Indians: 6 home, 6 away
- White Sox: 6 home, 6 away
- Twins: 6 home, 6 away
- Royals: 6 home, 3 away
- Mariners: 6 home, 3 away
- Astros: 6 home, 3 away
- Rangers: 3 home, 6 away
- A’s: 3 home, 6 away
- Angels: 3 home, 6 away
- Pirates: 3 home
- Nationals: 3 home
- Cardinals: 3 away
- Rockies: 3 away
- How would this have looked with last year’s standings?
American League National League
1. Yankees 97-65 1. Phillies 102-60
2. Rangers 96-66 2. Brewers 96-66
3. Tigers 95-67 3. Diamondbacks 94-68
4. Rays 91-71 4. Cardinals 90-72
5. Red Sox 90-72 5. Braves 89-73
6. Angels 86-76 6. Giants 86-76
7. Blue Jays 81-81 7. Dodgers 82-79
8. Indians 80-82 8. Nationals 80-81
9. White Sox 79-83 9. Reds 79-83
10. A’s 74-88 10. Mets 77-85
11. Royals 71-91 11. Rockies 73-89
12. Orioles 69-93 12. Marlins 72-90
13. Mariners 67-95 13. Pirates 72-90
14. Twins 63-99 14. Cubs 71-91
15. Astros 56-106 15. Padres 71-91
Playoffs
Round 1 (best of 3): Red Sox at Rays, Braves at Cardinals
Round 2 (best of 5): Red Sox/Rays vs. Yankees, Tigers vs. Rangers
Braves/Cardinals vs. Phillies, Diamondbacks vs. Brewers
Obviously, there would be problems with this system. It may cause travel problems and inequities for example. But, in the end, I believe it is an improvement on the current system.
Now if I could just get Bud Selig on the phone . . .