Divisions in baseball need to be benched

[KamaAina]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/it-s-time-to-get-rid-of-divisions-in-baseball-144807888.html

Were the postseason to begin today, the National League’s second- and third-best teams would play each other in a single winner-takes-all game for the honor of going on the road and playing a series against the best team in baseball. In the meantime, the teams with the fourth- and fifth-best records in the league would face off for a ticket to the NLCS.

If this seems screwed up, it’s because it is. The wild card opened up a world of possibilities, including the one playing out in the NL Central today: The three best records happen to come from the same division, and baseball’s playoff system is in danger of penalizing teams for having the temerity to exist in relative geographic proximity to other good teams....

It’s not a financial thing then, either, which leaves few arguments in favor of divisions. With just one path to the playoffs – a top-five record instead of the division title with a wild-card fallback – teams will act differently. For example, the Dodgers may well have pursued David Price with more fervor knowing the possibility of a one-game playoff loomed that much larger. Granted, anything that creates more player movement and action is a boon to baseball, so change here could have a net positive.

Where the plan runs into trouble is in limiting travel. Teams’ unbalanced schedules – facing division opponents 19 times each with other teams far fewer – aim not just to nurture division rivalries but cut down on travel time. The grind of the 162-game season is real, and no matter how luxurious ballplayers’ flights, compounding that many games in 183 days with more travel is potentially dangerous.

I imagine this will provoke some discussion.

[El Supremo]

1. For 58 years there were only 16 teams.

Two leagues with no "play-off or play-in" games (but an occasional tie breaking extra game). No 5 game series and no interleague games.

I'd like to return to this format with four 8 team divisions or leagues who play a balanced schedule within one or two divisions and only two 7 or 9 game deciding series.

Oh, and the DH for all!

[KamaAina]

2. Okay, who gets the two expansion teams?

Montreal? Portland?

[El Supremo]

4. San Antonio and Mexico City.

[ProfessorGAC]

7. Why Not Havana?

Baseball is big in Cuba!

[El Supremo]

9. Can you imagine the riots when Havana plays Miami?

[ProfessorGAC]

10. Good One

But, the Miami folks need to get over it.

[Auggie]

3. MLB needs a salary cap and true revenue sharing ...

the problem is not divisional, it's the disparity of wealth. Divide the media money equally and cap payroll. Keep individual gate receipts and concessions as they currently are. The playoffs will work themselves out.

Totally agree with dumping interleague play, except I'd acquiesce in the case of 4-6 game geographical series: Giants vs. A's, Yankees vs Mets, Nats vs Orioles, etc.

Kill that extra wildcard game and especially kill the DH.

[hughee99]

5. Between now and the end of the season,

the pirates and cubs have 6 more games against each other, and both have 6 more games against the Cards. When playoff time comes, I'll bet these teams aren't still 1-2-3 in the NL standings.

[ProfessorGAC]

8. That's Probably Right

And, given the youth on the Cubs, they will have the highest chance of all slumping at the same time. I'm pretty happy with how they're coming together. But, they're ahead of schedule and they may not be quite ready yet.

I hope i'm wrong, but trying to be realistic.

[Jamaal510]

6. If the big whigs

decide to change things around, they might as well scrap divisions altogether and have it to where all 30 teams would be in the same league, with the top 15 record-wise making the postseason.