Insider article:
http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/blog?nam ... id=5911560If the Jays played in the AL West or AL Central, they might be tempted to over-pay for someone like Zack Greinke to load up for a run at the AL East title. But instead, the team evaluations tilt in the other direction
This is why, as baseball executives and union officials negotiate over the expanded playoff field for 2012, they should strongly reconsider blowing up the divisions -- and taking the teams back to the pre-1969 American League and National League alignments. Let the five best teams in each league qualify for the playoffs. No East, Central or West divisions.
This way, the Orioles, Rays and Jays will more directly compete against the other AL teams for a playoff spot, instead of having their postseason chances more directly impacted by the talent acquisitions of the Yankees and Red Sox. The schedules should be balanced, so that Baltimore, Tampa Bay and Toronto would have more games against other AL teams, rather than opening the year knowing that Boston and New York would make up a third of their schedule.
Would it make a difference?
Well, consider how different recent history might look if there were no divisional factions over the last decade. In a lot of years, rival talent evaluators regarded the Toronto Blue Jays as one of the 10 best teams in the majors, and in a six-year period, Toronto won 86 games in a season twice and 87 games in another year -- while playing in the unbalanced schedule. But the Jays never made the playoffs.
If the divisional format was stripped away, the Rays, Orioles and Jays would more consistently have incentive to make moves to try to contend. If a player like Victor Martinez were assessing offers from Baltimore or Tampa Bay or Toronto, he would feel better their chances for playing in the postseason.
