Major League Baseball has announced that in 2013 the Houston Astros will be moving to the American League and that the playoffs will include a second wild card team. This sets up three 5-team divisions and alters the playoff format again. I guess the tradition argument is all but dead, so I have another idea to improve interest in the game: floating realignment. But what I have in mind is a different form of realignment than those discussed previously by the league and elsewhere.
Under a floating realignment the teams are realigned every year. The twist is that it would be dependent upon the previous year’s finish. The AL and NL would have three divisions: East, West, and Champions. In each league, the 5 teams that made the playoffs in the prior year would shift to the Champions division, the rest would divide into the East and West divisions. This gives greater hope for the struggling franchises and extra challenge for the dominant ones.
It does not punish success, it creates an opportunity to win a greater challenge. Just as how a league championship is more prestigious than a division championship, a Champions division title would be a greater achievement than a regular division title.
If they tried floating realignment next year it would look like this:
AMERICAN LEAGUE
East
Toronto
Baltimore
Cleveland
Chicago
West
Houston
Kansas City
Minnesota
LA Angels
Oakland
Seattle
Champions
New York Yankees
Tampa
Detroit
Texas
Boston
NATIONAL LEAGUE
East
Washington
New York Mets
Miami
Pittsburgh
Cincinnati
Chicago
West
San Francisco
LA Dodgers
Colorado
San Diego
Champions
Philadelphia
St. Louis
Milwaukee
Arizona
Atlanta
That came out a bit unbalanced, with some divisions having 6 or 4. Instead of a home division assignment, put the eligible teams in order geographically from east to west, then divide them right down the middle. It keeps the divisions at 5, but the only drawback would be that a couple of teams might be in the east one year and the west another (KC or Milwaukee). Beyond being a little odd, it shouldn’t have much of a logistical effect because we have these things called airplanes. So, fixing for this, next year would look like:
AMERICAN LEAGUE
East
Toronto
Baltimore
Cleveland
Chicago
Kansas City
West
Houston
Minnesota
LA Angels
Oakland
Seattle
Champions
New York Yankees
Tampa
Detroit
Texas
Boston
NATIONAL LEAGUE
East
Washington
New York Mets
Miami
Pittsburgh
Cincinnati
West
Chicago
San Francisco
LA Dodgers
Colorado
San Diego
Champions
Philadelphia
St. Louis
Milwaukee
Arizona
Atlanta
What do you think?
Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. But let me tell you, they can’t all be bold, epic posts like that last one.
