Divisional Realignment

It's been a busy week, and I considered just mailing it in until Monday, but I'd like to get my thoughts on Divisional Realignment out there while the subject is still remotely current. Be prepared for jumbled thoughts, poor grammar, and incomplete sentenc...

First, let's state the obvious: MLB current alignment doesn't really work. National League teams have a 1 in 16 chance of winning the pennant, American League teams have a 1 in 14 chance. The Baltimore Orioles play either the Yankees or the Red Sox for 22% of their schedule. Meanwhile, the Rangers can sneak into the playoffs without a single other division opponent above the .500 mark.

The solution seems fairly simple, slide one team from the NL into the AL, and swap some teams from their current divisions. I'd probably flip/flop Detroit and Baltimore (the cities are close enough that coast to coast travel isn't a major issue), and I might even consider a Rays for Marlins swap. Before you call the 2nd move crazy, take the following into consideration: The Marlins build a team that can win every 5-7 years then blow it up due to lack of sustainable income. Well, they are about to move into a new stadium and the traveling fan bases of the Red Sox and Yankees could really breathe some new life into the franchise. The Rays moving to the NL East would provide the closest thing to a regional rivalry (Atlanta, though it's still a 6-7 hr drive) they've ever had and the NL would give the franchise a much better opportunity to make the playoffs. Suddenly, there might actually be interest in baseball in Florida.

The downside to two 15 team leagues would be that interleague play would have to happen every night, or two teams would be sitting out each and every series. But constant interleague play could actually prove to be a great thing for baseball. Think about the rivalries that go on during interleague play that are swept under the rug because ESPN is too busy covering a subway series. If every other team is facing a division opponent over a weekend, suddenly Nationals-Orioles might be a legitimate Sunday night baseball match up. Instead of cramming the LA v LA, NY v NY, and CHI v CHI battles into the same weekend,  split them up so they all get the national coverage they deserve.

One idea I cannot get on board with is eliminating divisions all together. First of all, I get way too much joy out of beating the Mets and the Braves on a regular basis and collecting those pennants the Phillies give out on Opening Day. Secondly, taking the top 4 teams from each league and tossing them into the playoffs is far too similar to the free-for-all that is the NBA. If the idea is to give more teams a shot at making the playoffs, then I would prefer the adding of a 2nd wild card team to the playoffs. Let the two wild card teams square off in a single game elimination series for the rights to move on. That creates a single game playoff, which has historically been a ratings monster for MLB and brings that many more teams into the playoff mix. In recent years, the AL wild card has always been coming from the AL East. But with two wild card positions available, you don't have to be as good as the "worser" of the Yankees-Red Sox to have a shot at the post-season. You just have to go toe to toe with them for 9 innings.

Sure, there are tons of holes and problems with any/all of my suggestions, and the idea itself is in it's infancy. But it's nice to see Major League Baseball is not content with just sticking to the status-quo. If there's a way to stir the competitive pot, I'm all for it. Just don't try to fix what's not broken. The current system has been around since 2001 and I definitely think a few tweaks would be good for baseball.