Sure.

 

Sounds good to me. Evens the competitive playing field, and I do think MLB could stand to expand its playoffs. It would still be tougher to make the playoffs in MLB than any other sport, so the writers wouldn't have much to complain about, too.

 

Bring the Brewers back to the AL!

 

I'm for the proposal, and while they're at it, why don't they decide to either eradicate the DH or have it in both leagues.

 

The 15 team leagues are a bad idea. Just expand to have two more AL teams so you have 2 divisions with 16 teams, get rid of the 3 sub divisions (East, West, Central) and make it 2 sub divisions (East and West like the old days) and take the 2 top teams in each sub division with the best records. That way teams will finally play a balanced schedule and you won't have an uneven number of teams in each sub divisions.

I'm not in favor of 15 team leagues because it means there would be at least 1 interleague game going on at the same time which would hurt the whole point of interleague in the first place. I'm also not in favor of having multiple wild card teams either because it would mean some teams would have to wait around to finally play a playoff game and I don't think it's fair that there would be a 1 game playoff game between the two wild card teams since anything can happen. MLB (along with the NFL) the regular season actually means something, also be adding more playoff teams you can hurt the product and the importance of the regular season like in the NHL and NBA.

 

Because then 1 or 2 seed teams would be sitting around waiting for those WC series to end which hurts them as baseball is a sport that needs to be played everyday or at least every other day to keep with the players timing both hitters and pitchers.

We've seen in past playoffs teams that have had to sit around for awhile to wait for the next series to start tend to struggle and are flat (i.e. 2005 Tigers & 2007 Rockies).

I agree about that but I'm in favor of keeping the DH. I really have no interest in seeing a pitcher bat (aka having a black hole in the line up).

 

No, baseball is a daily game unlike basketball, football or hockey where rest is needed (excluding starting pitchers). Players need to consistently be playing it to keep up with their timing etc. A bye would do more harm than good for the team especially since the players since mid March have been used to playing daily and now all of a sudden 7 months later you want them to change their routine and sit for a week or so and expect them to just continue to play at the same level? The sport just doesn't work that way.

 

It has nothing to do with what team 'should' win, I never even mentioned that in my response. Again baseball is an every day sport, players are used to playing everyday for 7 plus months and all of a sudden you want them to take 5 to 10 days off and expect them to not have any rust? To do that would be like having NFL teams play back to back games on back to back days during the playoffs. And come on in baseball teams with the best records don't always win, the playoffs is a complete crap shoot.

Trust me it will hurt the teams with the best records more than help them, which is the whole point of adding more wild card teams to try and give those WC teams a disadvantage. If the MLB wanted to 'punish' the WC team and reward division winners than just have the WC team get 1 home game in the best of 5 series.

That's why all of the proposed playoff changes have 1 game playoffs so you don't have teams sitting around for too long.

 

Terminate the DH.

 

No why? The NL bottom 1/3 of the lineup is a snooze fest mostly due to the pitcher hitting....

 

I like the proposal for the most part. Divisions are silly, it creates unbalanced schedules especially when 1 division is harder then another. In the AL whats to say Tampa, NYY, and Boston wouldnt all make the playoffs in this format? Just have the 4 (not 5!!!) best teams from each league make the playoffs. While they're at it, put Milwakee back in the AL (Houston? Really?) and dump the DH for good (which will never happen because its extra jobs for the players union).

 

Agreed but I have a feeling the people that want to get rid of the DH are fans of an NL team. I personally think it's boring to watch a pitcher bat and have a black hole in the line up. The only argument anti-DH people make is that there's more strategy involved in the NL with double switches etc. but again I'd rather watch a David Ortiz or Vlad Guerrero bat 4 times instead of a pitcher 2 or 3 times a game followed by a bench player pinch hitting.

The reason why they're talking about moving Houston is because the team is up for sale and the MLB can force the new owner to accept a move to the AL as part of the agreement to buy the team. Right now all of the current owners have veto power in switching leagues and none of them would agree to move to the AL. Also with Houston moving, it's an easy fix with them going to the AL West (making it a total of 5 teams in that division) and making it an even 5 teams in the NL central.

 

Make every field the dimensions of Turner Field, and get rid of that stupid *** hill at Minute-Maide before someone gets killed.

 

Agreed on the hill at Minute Maid Park but no to having every field have the same dimensions. That's part of the charm of baseball how each park is different from one another.

 

Move Houston (makes 5 and 5 divisions), giving Texas an in-state rivalry. And put the DH in both leagues.

 

Well that was an exaggeration, but couldn't they push the walls toward the foul posts a little further out?

You know how easy it is to hit a [ground-rule] double / HR at Fenway when you're a lefty? You could probably bunt out a homerun at Yankee. You really have to work at parks like Turner and Sunlife(?). I remember watching Miggy send blasts out toward the left foul post that hook just left and thinking: Dude, if this guy were lefty at Fenway/Texas/Yankee he'd easily have 50+ bombs.

I'm a fan of outfielding. Give those guys room.

 

Yeah, why exactly does the NL Central have to have so many teams?

Move St. Louis to the AL West.

 

Why the hell would you move St. Louis? It'll ruin one of the best rivalries in the MLB.

 

Well the problem with moving walls etc is that some of the older stadiums like a Fenway or Wrigley just don't have the room to push the walls back. Plus you have some places like Texas, Colorado, White Sox, etc that are just good hitters parks regardingless of the distances of the fences due to the climate/temperature geographically so you can't do anything about that.

 

Exactly right. Same for your above post about the DH.

 

I used to be a proponent of gettign rid of the DH, but it will never happen. First, baseball is unique in that the field dimensions are different, as are the rules for each league. football, basketball and hockey (and even soccer) fields are all the same. Baseball allows for individuality in that regard, which makes the game different. Knowing that a ball hit out in Coors would be a fly out in Oakland is always interesting debate.

As for the DH, the union won't allow it. You are asking them to eliminate a high priced bopper for minimum waged middle relievers (which is exactly what would happen). No way they allow the owners to get away with that. Besides, it is again, what makes baseball unique. Different ballparks, different rules. It really forces opposing teams (and opposing leagues) to make the proper adjustments.

As for realignment, I kind of hate it. It is too drastic, without being drastic enough, I know that sounds odd. But what I mean is, if you are going to switch teams around to balance the leagues and give Texas an instate rivalry, why not regionalize the game further? Make a Western Division of the Dodgers, Giants, A's, Angels, Padres, in one league and say, Mariners, Rockies, Diamondbacks, Texas and Houston in the other. And then follow suit with more local divisions all the way through? You promote local rivalries which helps the sport, and you still maintain the current playoff structure (which is fine) and you still get your leagues with different rules, an unbalanced schedule so the matchups become unique when you have say, the Mariners vs. Yankees.