Just for Sport

TSN reported yesterday that the NHL is considering realigning its teams. The league, which is currently in a six division format, is thinking about switching to just four divisions. The six division format has always been doomed from its inception. At least it’s an even number, but not when you crown division champions and are stuck with the problem of deciding which teams face each other, etc. It’s better in hockey than it is in baseball, though, because Western Conference teams face Eastern Conference teams all the time.

Baseball, ironically enough, reacted to its four division “problem” by switching to a six division format, then switching Milwaukee from one league to another. It was a simple enough solution: even number of teams in each league, and nobody even cares about Milwaukee anyway, right? Well, except for the commissioner. Anyway, the American League now has 14 teams, and the National League has 16. Why not round it out? The NCAA tournament starts with 64 teams, not 62.

It’s time for baseball to take a clue from the NFL: We need four divisions in each league, with an equal amount of teams. This would provide more competitive balance, a simpler schedule, and possibly more playoff teams. I’ll admit that I’m biased on this topic because I have a vested interest in the two divisions (AL West and NL Central) that have an abnormal amount of teams. In an age where the schedule makers are concerned about balance of schedule, the schedule is very unbalanced for the ten teams (1/3 of the league) in these two divisions.

In order to divide the teams into eight divisions of four teams each, two more teams are required. Both would have to be in the AL, unless the Brewers were to move back over (not advised). Before I talk about where the new teams should be located, let’s talk about the realignment of the National League, because we know where all those teams are. My proposed plan takes into account mostly geography, but also does its best not to split up truly historical rivalries – recent ones don’t count as much because they’re mostly based on recent success, which is pretty spotty when you’re trying to set up a system that should last for a while.

NL North
Chicago
Cincinnati
Milwaukee
St. Louis

NL South
Atlanta
Arizona
Houston
Florida

NL West
Colorado
Los Angeles
San Diego
San Francisco

NL East
New York
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Washington

This method ensures that each team resides in a division that is actually descriptive of their location. The South division is probably most problematic, because it is large in scope and a hodgepodge of all three current divisions. At least the problem of the Pirates in the Central division is solved. Travel issues for each team are improved or at least the same, with the possible exception of the Diamondbacks. Rivalries such as LA-San Fran and Chicago-St. Louis are preserved.

Before we realign the American League, we must first address the issue of expansion. What cities should get the new teams? Here are the candidates.

Locations that were in contention for the Expos franchise: Arlington (Va.), Las Vegas, Monterrey (Mexico), Norfolk (Va.), Portland

Locations that have professional teams other than baseball: Buffalo, Calgary, Charlotte, Columbus, Edmonton, Green Bay, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Long Island (Uniondale), Memphis, Montreal, Nashville, New Jersey (East Rutherford), New Orleans, Oklahoma City (kind of), Orlando, Ottawa, Portland, Raleigh-Durham, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Jose, Vancouver

Other locations that might be capable of supporting a pro team: Albuquerque, Anchorage, Austin, Birmingham, Boise, Honolulu, Little Rock, Louisville, Omaha, San Juan, Tulsa, probably a bunch of Canadian cities (forgive me if I’ve forgotten any…if they’re not already on this overly extensive list, it ain’t happening)

Let’s assume, for the sake of my sanity, that new teams would be picked based solely on their geographical location in order to make realignment easier. Here’s what the American League might look like:

AL North
Chicago
Cleveland
Detroit
Minnesota

AL South
Kansas City
Tampa Bay
Texas
New Team A, perhaps New Orleans or Nashville

AL West
Anaheim
Oakland
Seattle
New Team B, perhaps Portland or Las Vegas

AL East
Baltimore
Boston
New York
Toronto

Once again, travel is made easier for almost every team, again with the possible exception of Tampa Bay and Texas. Of course, Texas is no longer in a West Coast-only division, and Tampa Bay isn’t always going North, so it makes more sense nevertheless. Friends that I have proposed this system to maintain that my bias for Texas led to the considerably weak AL South, but these teams do not have to be perennially bad. A few years ago, the North division would have been considered very weak as well. Again, historic rivalries are preserved, for the most part.

Possible Problems
Any time the league is expanded (let alone realigned), the integrity of the game is called into question. One has to consider schedule expansion, although this is highly unlikely.
Nevertheless, the introduction of more teams means that the talent pool is going to be watered down a bit, calling statistics into question in an era where they are already on very shaky ground. However, these questions always end up being temporal. It is much more important to have an equality between the leagues, especially if so much emphasis is being placed on a “balanced schedule.” How can the schedule be balanced if the numbers are wrong?

The playoff question, in my mind, is the biggest obstacle to a realignment. Right now four teams from each league make it, meaning under a new system there would be no wild card. One thing I appreciate about the current playoff system is that only good teams make the playoffs. To be sure, some very good teams are often left out, but at least half the league doesn’t make it in, a la NBA or NHL. The reality is, though, that the player’s association has actually been pushing to let more teams in. Last year, they proposed a system where ultimately eight teams make it in, but there’s a play-in round. Certainly this and other proposals would have to be considered if MLB wanted to continue allowing Wild Card teams to make the playoffs. In my mind, whatever they came up with would be worth the switch to an eight division format – as long as they keep the playoff pool relatively shallow. I still want end of season pennant races to mean something.

There are several other logistic problems inherent with expansion. Ownership groups would have to be assembled, stadiums would have to built (I withdraw my nomination of New Orleans if they use the Superdome), minor league affiliations would have to be made, etc. It’s clear that such a system couldn’t happen overnight. But Mr. Selig is clearly on his way out. The new commissioner could start things off on the right foot by announcing a five-year or seven-year plan to expand and realign baseball, for the better integrity of the game.

Got a different plan for realignment, or an improved playoff system? Don’t think baseball should be realigned? Want to lobby for a specific city to get a team? Post a comment!

A few days ago, I posted about overrated football players. Today, we visit the world of baseball. Again, this work was done by a committee of five (and sometimes four). (Note: There will not be posts about basketball or hockey. Only one of our number knows enough about hockey to say anything valuable, and you could fill up four or five rosters of overrated players in the NBA.) We ended up with a five-man rotation, three closers, three catchers, five outfielders, two managers, and two each of the rest of the positions. There was much more contention involved in the creation of this team than in the NFL version. Many lively debates broke out, and several compromises were made. The same basic rules applied here. This time I’m not going to try to explain why we picked every single player, just provide commentary where it is warranted. Watch the comments, I’ll have at least a couple about picks that I disagree with.

SP
John Lackey
Chan Ho Park
Jeff Weaver
David Wells
Jaret Wright

Perhaps as residents of Abilene, Texas, we are biased, but John Lackey is overrated around here. Locals talk about him as if he were the second coming. The man has had one really good start, and it happened to be in Game 7 of the World Series. Otherwise, he’s a thug.

Closers
Francisco Cordero
Jason Isringhausen
Brad Lidge

One of the funniest things about my recent visit to Minute Maid Park was the 12 year old kid behind me yelling for “Lights Out Lidge!” only to see him blow something like his third save in a week - against the Diamondbacks.

C
Mike Piazza
2/3 of the Molina Family

Mike Piazza gets credit for playing the catcher position, but it’s more like he takes up space back there. He’s a one-dimensional player, simple as that. Which 2/3, you ask? That’s up to you to decide.

1B
Jason Giambi
Richie Sexson

The fact that Giambi won an MVP is a joke.

2B
Marcus Giles
Jeff Kent

We’re just not a fan of the ’stache.

3B
Adrian Beltre
Alex Rodriguez

A-Rod is certainly a good player, but not, as some might say, the best active player. Not at all.

SS
Bobby Crosby
Derek Jeter

This was by far the most crowded position. We settled on probably the worst player ever to be listed as a preseason pick for MVP (Crosby) and on Mr. Overrated himself.

OF
Johnny Damon
J.D. Drew
Adam Dunn
Jim Edmonds
Juan Pierre

We wanted six outfielders, but couldn’t get past seven. So, we simply cut the weakest two. What we got is a pretty good list of overrated players, perhaps captained by Jim Edmonds, the biggest flopper in baseball if such a thing can exist.

Manager
Dusty Baker
Lou Piniella

I cringed when I realized that our picks were the last two managers of the Cubs. We couldn’t believe it this offseason when Lou Piniella emerged as the consensus best manager available. Here’s how you tell: My friends made fun of me when they found out the Cubs had hired Piniella.