Thursday, July 10, 2008

MLB Divisions

I would like to see MLB go back to 2 divisions (East and West) with 2 Wildcards. Is it not the fair thing to do? Right now you have Zona and LA both under .500 yet if the playoffs started today one of them would make it. Also I am not a fan of interleague play. They really are pointless games. So eliminate those games as well. Not having the AL and NL play adds more mystery to the World Series. So I would like to see a split to:

AL East
Baltimore
Boston
Cleveland
Detroit
New York
Tampa
Toronto

AL West
Anaheim
Chicago
Kansas City
Minnesota
Oakland
Seattle
Texas

NL East
Atlanta
Chicago
Florida
New York
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
St Louis
Washington

NL West
Arizona
Cincinnati
Colorado
Houston
Los Angeles
Milwaukee
San Diego
San Francisco


For the AL you would play each team in division 15 times and the other division teams 10 times. However that leaves you at 160 games so you would have to play 2 more games. So you would get a 16th game against 2 teams in division. For the NL you would play 14 games in and 8 games out. That gets you to 162.

If these were the divisions right now you would have

AL East
Tampa 55-35 -
Boston 55-39 2
New York 49-42 6.5
Detroit 46-44 9

AL West
Anaheim 54-37 -
Chicago 53-37 0.5
Minnesota 50-41 4
Oakland 49-42 5
Texas 48-44 6.5

AL Wildcard
Chicago 53-37 -
Boston 55-39 -
Minnesota 50-41 3.5
New York 49-42 4.5
Oakland 49-42 4.5
Texas 48-44 7
Detroit 46-44 8

So the playoffs would be Tampa vs Chicago and Anaheim vs Boston. Under the current setup it would be the exact same.

In the NL...

NL East
Chicago 55-36 -
St Louis 51-41 4.5
Philadelphia 49-43 6.5
Florida 47-44 8
New York 47-44 8

NL West
Milwaukee 50-41 -
Arizona 45-46 5
Los Angeles 45-46 5

NL Wildcard
St Louis 51-41 +2
Philadelphia 49-43 -
Florida 47-44 1.5
New York 47-44 1.5
Arizona 45-46 3.5
Los Angeles 45-46 3.5

So the playoffs would be Chicago vs Philadelphia and Milwaukee vs St Louis. Under the current setup it would be Chicago vs Arizona and Philadelphia vs St Louis. Now which one makes more sense? Do you really want a team that doesnt deserve it (Zona) having a chance to get hot and make a run? In that case the regular season means nothing.

Looking back the last 4 years

For 2007

AL
Cleveland vs New York and Anaheim vs Boston. The matchups woulda been the same but Anaheim would have home field instead.

NL
Arizona vs San Diego and Philadelphia vs Colorado. The difference here is Chicago made it over San Diego.

For 2006

AL
New York vs Oakland and Minnesota vs Detroit. The teams were the same but NY played Detroit not Oakland.

NL
New York vs Los Angeles and San Diego vs Philadelphia. This is a big difference as Philly makes it over St Louis, who went on to win the World Series. Which is why I want to make this change. Do we want an 83 win team as the Champs?

For 2005

AL
Chicago vs Boston and Anaheim vs New York. This is the exact same mathcups.

NL
St Louis vs Philadelphia and Houston vs Atlanta. This would have a few differences. First Houston would be the 2 seed instead of the 4 seed, which woulda given Houston home field vs Atlanta. Second Philly woulda made it over 82-80 SD.

For 2004

AL
New York vs Minnesota and Anaheim vs Boston, which is the exact matchups that happened.

NL
St Louis vs Houston and Los Angeles vs Atlanta. The teams are the same but St Louis gets Houston instead of LA. Not only that but LA gets home field vs Atl.

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