206 replies to this topic

[BSLChrisStoner]

Radical realignment. 4 divisions + 2 Wild Cards.  That's what I want.

[Mike in STL]

Radical realignment. 4 divisions + 2 Wild Cards.  That's what I want.

Football setup. Need to add two more franchises. 

 

Would smaller divisions make the division games mean more? Tell you what though, if our division is NYY BOS TOR and us, It better be a balanced schedule. If we play NYY and BOS 54 times we might as well mail it in.

 

I care about the balanced schedule more than divisions or sizes. 

[BSLChrisStoner]

Football setup. Need to add two more franchises. 

 

Would smaller divisions make the division games mean more? Tell you what though, if our division is NYY BOS TOR and us, It better be a balanced schedule. If we play NYY and BOS 54 times we might as well mail it in.

 

I care about the balanced schedule more than divisions or sizes. 

 

Yep. 

 

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[DJ MC]

Radical realignment. 4 divisions + 2 Wild Cards.  That's what I want.

 

I'd rather have more divisions and no wild cards.

[Nigel Tufnel]

Bill James Online@billjamesonline·4m

 

It is easy to see the money you are getting by creating an "important" game. It is harder to see the money you are eventually going to lose by making the great majority of the games less important.

[mweb08]

I don't like it, but it's not a complete black and white issue on the impact of importance on the regular season.

This would make the #1 spot in a league much more coveted and it would keep more teams in the mix later in the season, which makes their games more important.

However, I do think that overall, it cheapens the regular season. Even more importantly to me, it allows more mediocre or slightly better teams a legit chance at a title, since the baseball playoffs are more random than they're in the NFL and especially the NBA. I don't like that level of team winning titles.

That's the bigger problem imo than the importance of each regular season game, because they aren't that important to begin with plus there's the other factors I mentioned.

[SportsGuy]

One division each league...no IL play. Shorten season to 154.

Play every team as even amount of times as possible.

6 teams make playoffs. First 2 seeds get bye.

3 game series in first round. Best of 7 other 2 rounds.

[Nigel Tufnel]

One division each league...no IL play. Shorten season to 154.

Play every team as even amount of times as possible.

6 teams make playoffs. First 2 seeds get bye.

3 game series.

 

And in a 15-team league, you could play all the other teams 11 times and get to exactly 154 games.

[BSLChrisStoner]

CBS Sports: MLB playoff expansion: Five other changes that could make October more entertaining
https://www.cbssport...e-entertaining/

[Mike B]

Like the universal DH.  About 25 years overdue

 

Hate the double elimination format especially the idea of playing at a  neutral site.

 

No to expansion unless they are adding one to each league, balancing the schedule and great reducing IL play.

 

Even with that how many bad teams can they fit in one league

[Pedro Cerrano]

I don't get why people dislike interleague play -- especially if they make the DH universal.  It's fun to watch us play other teams in other stadiums every once in a while. 

[Pedro Cerrano]

One division each league...no IL play. Shorten season to 154.

Play every team as even amount of times as possible.

6 teams make playoffs. First 2 seeds get bye.

3 game series in first round. Best of 7 other 2 rounds.

 

This would mean that teams would have to be off on weekends which owners will balk at.

[Mackus]

I don't get why people dislike interleague play -- especially if they make the DH universal.  It's fun to watch us play other teams in other stadiums every once in a while. 

 

I agree.  I think the amount is a little bit on the high side, but I'm cool with it.  I also think that it's the perfect way to deal with some incongruity in however the math works out for everything else.  Going up or down 3-4 games of interleague would be fine, there will be a good way to make it work that seems reasonable.  

 

The only critique I have is that, combined with the unbalanced schedule, it does add even more disparity in the potential strength of one team's schedule compared to others when those teams are competing with each other for a wild card.

 

I'd actually be in favor of more common scheduling for intraleague and the remaining interleague games being the larger source of strength of schedule disparity and randomness.

[DJ MC]

Interleague play is never going away.

 

Even taking out the monetary aspects, MLB as a whole has been consolidating the leagues in all but name since after the strike. There are no league offices beyond honorary "presidents", no longer umpires divided by league, etc. The only difference of any importance is the DH, and that has been teetering on the edge of universality for a while now. We are much more likely to see a headfirst dive into fully geographic divisions than any kind of retreat from the unitary model..

[BSLChrisStoner]

Forbes.com: How MLB Could Offset Lost Revenues From The Coronavirus Outbreak Through Expansion

https://www.forbes.c...id#4accdd516c65

[BSLChrisStoner]

CBS Sports: Why the coronavirus shutdown could lead to MLB expansion in the near future
https://www.cbssport...he-near-future/

[Mike B]

CBS Sports: Why the coronavirus shutdown could lead to MLB expansion in the near future
https://www.cbssport...he-near-future/

Expansion, yea that is what baseball needs.

[Hooded Viper]

Expansion, yea that is what baseball needs.

They are desperate to get ball back in Montreal and I heard talk about Vancouver, and San Antonio, or Oklahoma City.  Not sure how real those rumors are.

[Mike B]

They are desperate to get ball back in Montreal and I heard talk about Vancouver, and San Antonio, or Oklahoma City.  Not sure how real those rumors are.

I believe Tampa will wind up in Montreal eventually.  

 

There are so many bad teams in baseball now, adding to them sounds like a real bad idea.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Two new teams would be about $66M per team in expansion fees alone. Seems like a decent possibility.