Move one team from NL to AL?
by moose35 on Jan 15, 2010 6:03 PM EST
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I read about this idea somewhere (so I'm not pretending to take credit for it), but the NL has 2 more teams than the AL. Which means that any AL team has a 14% bigger chance of making it to the play-offs. I know the AL has more quality teams, which is why we almost always win Interleague-Play and the ASG, but out of mathematical fairness, it would be a fair thing to do. Of course, it might take some getting used to, but it evens out the leagues and might resolve the "Well, we have a six team division!" cries.
So who would you move over? I'd personally take one team from the 6-team NL Central and move them to the NL West (Houston?). Would you do it at all?
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Only if it means we get to play the Pirates more often
This sticker is dangerous and inconvenient, but I do love Fig Newtons.
A 15 team league would mean that one team would be not playing every single day. That’s a logistical nightmare for the schedule makers.
"Have faith in the Yankees, my son. Think of the great DiMaggio."
+1
Didn’t even think of that. I forgot for a second that AL teams only play other AL teams 90% of the time so it has to be an even number. Good call.
This sticker is dangerous and inconvenient, but I do love Fig Newtons.
Exactly.
Or there would be an interleague game almost every day, which doesn’t really make sense. I would be ok with expansion, though I’m sure there are problems that would arise that I’m not seeing.
"He wasn't an astronaut, he was a tv comedian! And he was just using space travel as a metaphor for beating his wife!"
Completely forgot about that
Then they’d have to have an interleague game every series. But they could do that instead of having Interleague Play, you’d have a better idea of where NL and AL teams stand.
I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle - victorious.
Vince Lombardi
Bad Move
With 15 teams a piece in the AL and NL, there would have to be interleague play all season. With 7 AL matchups and 7 NL matchups that leaves a lone AL and NL team whenever all teams play which is 5 of 7 days per week. Also no one can complain about having trouble making the playoffs in the 6 team NL Central, because that is a weak division. Move one of those teams to the AL and they’ll wish they could go back to a 6 team NL Central.
The solution to having 2 x 15 team leagues
You have to have one interleague series going on all season long instead of having interleague intervals on the schedule.
Thing about interleague play is that it is patently unfair in the wildcard chase. Imagine a team from the NL who gets NY and Boston on their schedule competing for a wildcard birth against a team that gets Cle and KC on their schedule.
It could be done...
Having interleague games throughout the season is the answer. The only reason why the AL and NL used to never play each other was because they were different organizations until the 90s. That was when they were abolished as separate entities and united under the single MLB organization. Baseball is the only sports organization that is so weird about having teams from opposite leagues play each other.
The solution: Move one team from the NL to the AL. This gives us 3 divisions of 5 teams in each league. Each team has a 20% statistical chance of winning their division. Each team plays one 3 game series against each team from the opposite league. Each team also plays a 3 game and a 2 game series against each nondivision team in the same league. Finally, each team plays five 3 game series and one 2 game series against each interdivision team. This comes out to 163 games, which I think is a good compromise for uniformity. With this setup, each team still plays most of their games in their division, and about 3/4 of their games in their own league, but each team gets to play every other team. I think this is the most fair and uniform way to do this.
That was exactly my thinking behind it
I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle - victorious.
Vince Lombardi
Move NL team, season- long interleague play
Interleague play really sucks, especially for the Yankees who have 6 games against the Mets in a 2 week period. With one interleague series going on constantly, we would lose the “Interleague Period” hype.
Disagree about playing everyone in the other league- I like the unbalanced schedule in one’s own division. 18 × 4 teams = 72 games in one’s own division, 10 teams x 7 = 70 games for other 2 AL divisions + 5 × 4 games = 20 games against 1 NL division, which rotates every 3 years as in football. The 4 game series are all in one park. The players and the leagues hate 2 game series because of the added travel.
Even though this is 20 interleague games, as opposed to the 15 now, the schedule balances in terms of games against common opponents and over three years everyone plays everyone else.
The dominance of the American League has nothing to do with having fewer teams. It has everything to do with the Yankees, Red Sox, and Angels driving competition higher by fielding good teams every year.
by designatedquitter on Jan 19, 2010 4:36 PM EST reply actions
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6 teams yes 6 AL OAK-why old park no money KC NL PITT WASH ZONA SD THE NEW al east NYY BOS BALT TOR DET CLE AL WEST TB SEA TEX LAA MINN CHI NL EAST NYM FLA PHILLY CINY MIL CHI NL WEST ATL HOU STL SF LA COL
okay i have cereal palsy arhrtis and chronic fatiue as well i have a grea life loveing folks some days are better that other days i got a make a wish in 2001 saw my favorive team the broncos was the trip of the lifetime i wish everyone couild gotten to enjoy that with me i know some of u hate the broncos and that ok but i bleed organ and bule reseident broncos fan for ap lol denver will rise again resident broncos fan for every blog
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