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Bud Selig, MLB considering radical division adjustment
Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 12:01 am
by Alfred
Huge news coming down the pipe:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/w ... ?eref=sihpArticle wrote:As with most issues of competitive balance, floating realignment involves finding a work-around to the Boston-New York axis of power in the AL East. In the 15 seasons during which the wild-card system has been in use, the Red Sox and Yankees have accounted for 38 percent of all AL postseason berths. The league has never conducted playoffs without the Red Sox or Yankees since that format began -- and in eight of those 15 years both teams made the playoffs. Since 2003 the Sox and Yankees have won at least 95 games 11 times in 14 combined seasons.
One example of floating realignment, according to one insider, would work this way: Cleveland, which is rebuilding with a reduced payroll, could opt to leave the AL Central to play in the AL East. The Indians would benefit from an unbalanced schedule that would give them a total of 18 lucrative home dates against the Yankees and Red Sox instead of their current eight. A small or mid-market contender, such as Tampa Bay or Baltimore, could move to the AL Central to get a better crack at postseason play instead of continually fighting against the mega-payrolls of New York and Boston.
This has absolutely massive implications for the Blue Jays. But I assume because it would be too good to be true, that it will never happen.
Re: Bud Selig, MLB considering radical division adjustment
Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 12:55 am
by FreeAgent
I'd much rather have them expand the playoffs to 6 teams with 3 vs 6 and 4 v 5 best of 3. Winners face the 2 best division winners. Like football.
Re: Bud Selig, MLB considering radical division adjustment
Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 6:54 am
by Attonitus
Interesting but I don't see what it does to take down the current AL power structure. I don't see the Yankees or Red Sox willing to leave their current situations because of the marketing potential of playing eachother more often and swaping the Indians and Orioles hardly does anything to create more parity. Maybe I don't understand the "floating" aspect enough. Would teams take turns being in a different division or would these be permanant switches?
I would love the Jays to find a sucker to swap with, however considering attendance increases 100% when the Yankees or Sox are in town, Jay's brass might not be as for the idea as the fans are.
Re: Bud Selig, MLB considering radical division adjustment
Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 3:02 pm
by raps4life~
They should just remove the divisions and go with top 4 teams. Every team plays every team the same amount of times.
Re: Bud Selig, MLB considering radical division adjustment
Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 6:38 pm
by Raptorsrock
What MLB should do is....
1) Implement a salary cap
2) Shorten the regular season to 145 game or so and expand the playoffs to allow half the teams in each league to make the playoffs
You would see attendance and general overall interest in baseball skyrocket if you did these two things
Re: Bud Selig, MLB considering radical division adjustment
Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 7:15 pm
by raps4life~
Raptorsrock wrote:What MLB should do is....
1) Implement a salary cap
They would NEVER do that. That would mean actually giving a chance for every team to make the playoffs.
Re: Bud Selig, MLB considering radical division adjustment
Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 8:48 pm
by chargerxthirty
lol..
3 teams that probably wouldn't mind swapping with the Jays if they weren't going to be competitive.
1) Florida Marlins... there are real life MLB games that take place at Florida's home stadium where you could hear a pin drop, the attendance is THAT bad. Coming over to the AL East in a non-competitive year gets you instant gate revenue for the 20 or so home games vs the Yankees and Red Sox and also introduces the potential for a subway series... Marlins Vs Rays.
2) New York Mets... again... less likely as they are a very traditional NL market. I don't doubt that even GM's as stupid as Omar Minaya would mind having an asset like Johan Santana not having to go up the plate and bat though. Again, the opportunity for a New York/New York subway series.
3) Washington Nationals... a perennial non-contender! It's not that they can't be, it's just that they aren't. The usual suspects here... gate revenue from the Yankees and Red Sox home games that they can use to pay off Strasburg (lol!) ... not to mention a potential hometown rivalry series with the Baltimore Orioles.
Re: Bud Selig, MLB considering radical division adjustment
Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 8:51 pm
by chargerxthirty
Just to quickly note...
I wouldn't be opposed to switching with one of these teams permanently if possible. The Marlins if I could. I love National League baseball... It's always exciting when a guy like Zambrano comes to the plate and smacks a dinger to put runs on the board helping to earn himself a W. Also, I know the Jays are by no means a "fast" team, but I think the small ball style in the NL would correspond with more wins for us. It's hard to win a slugging contest when the 2 highest payrolls in the game are in your division.
Re: Bud Selig, MLB considering radical division adjustment
Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2010 12:43 am
by Peteros
Raptorsrock wrote:What MLB should do is....
1) Implement a salary cap
2) Shorten the regular season to 145 game or so and expand the playoffs to allow half the teams in each league to make the playoffs
You would see attendance and general overall interest in baseball skyrocket if you did these two things
Exactly!
Re: Bud Selig, MLB considering radical division adjustment
Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2010 7:59 am
by Randle McMurphy
MLB is trying to create a system where Boston and New York still dominate and play each other 20 times a year, but also give the facade of competitive balance.
Re: Bud Selig, MLB considering radical division adjustment
Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2010 1:00 pm
by CrymeTime
Imagine if one of Boston or New York was moved to the NL.
Re: Bud Selig, MLB considering radical division adjustment
Posted: Sat Mar 13, 2010 6:36 am
by Randle McMurphy
CrymeTime wrote:Imagine if one of Boston or New York was moved to the NL.
Except the point of this proposed divisional adjustment is to keep them together and move everyone else around.
Re: Bud Selig, MLB considering radical division adjustment
Posted: Sat Mar 13, 2010 11:05 am
by kiz5
If they put weaker teams in this division it gives MLB better marketing as the Sox and Yanka would rack up more wins and probably both win 100.
Re: Bud Selig, MLB considering radical division adjustment
Posted: Sat Mar 13, 2010 5:01 pm
by MadFishX
no way would rogers allow the blue jays to not be in the same division as yankees and jays.
there are 2 ways of revenue in toronto for the jays
1.winning
2.yankees/ red sox games
They wouldn't sacrifice yanks/ sox games for winning. Because switching divisions wouldn't guarantee success. However, winning is possible in this division, ie: tampa bay. So I don't expect any radical adjustment anytime soon.
Re: Bud Selig, MLB considering radical division adjustment
Posted: Sun Mar 14, 2010 3:45 pm
by Alfred
MadFishX wrote:no way would rogers allow the blue jays to not be in the same division as yankees and jays.
there are 2 ways of revenue in toronto for the jays
1.winning
2.yankees/ red sox games
They wouldn't sacrifice yanks/ sox games for winning. Because switching divisions wouldn't guarantee success. However, winning is possible in this division, ie: tampa bay. So I don't expect any radical adjustment anytime soon.
It woulde remove that one terrible excuse that Jays management comes back to every season: that we're not making the playoffs because we're in the same division as the Yankees and Red Sox.
Re: Bud Selig, MLB considering radical division adjustment
Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2010 7:07 pm
by kavan
Tampa or Baltimore moving does us no good. We need a 6 team play off. Team with best record in the AL and NL get a by or somthing like the NFL.
We need more teams to make the playoffs this is crazy with the number of teams we have and we have the least number of teams that take part in the playoffs in the MLB.
I think unless WE move to the AL Central we aren't benefiting from this at all.
Expand Play offs and tell NY to stop spending.
Re: Bud Selig, MLB considering radical division adjustment
Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 2:33 pm
by The_Hater
raps4life~ wrote:They should just remove the divisions and go with top 4 teams. Every team plays every team the same amount of times.
Unfortunately they're never going to do that. Divisions create rivalries. Rivalries create interest and interest creates revenue.
And that's why every major sport implements divisions now.
Re: Bud Selig, MLB considering radical division adjustment
Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 5:02 pm
by augustine
The_Hater wrote:raps4life~ wrote:They should just remove the divisions and go with top 4 teams. Every team plays every team the same amount of times.
Unfortunately they're never going to do that. Divisions create rivalries. Rivalries create interest and interest creates revenue.
And that's why every major sport implements divisions now.
Playoff contention would probably create more interest and revenue than a rivalry. Imagine the excitement of an extra six or seven teams genuinely being in contention in late September.
Re: Bud Selig, MLB considering radical division adjustment
Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 11:22 pm
by J-Roc
This is the most convoluted, ridiculous idea I've seen from a legit source. But I'm at least happy it's being discussed. The system is broken.
Re: Bud Selig, MLB considering radical division adjustment
Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 3:08 pm
by RapsGM
MadFishX wrote:no way would rogers allow the blue jays to not be in the same division as yankees and jays.
there are 2 ways of revenue in toronto for the jays
1.winning
2.yankees/ red sox games
They wouldn't sacrifice yanks/ sox games for winning. Because switching divisions wouldn't guarantee success. However, winning is possible in this division, ie: tampa bay. So I don't expect any radical adjustment anytime soon.
+1