Year to Year, why does this not get fixed?

[lordsepic]

In 1994 major league baseball decided to switch from the 2 league-2 division standings, to a 2 league-3 division standings. The only issue was that there were only 28 teams, so instead of the 5 teams per division, the American League West and National League West only had 4 teams. Not really a huge deal but definitely easier to beat out 3 teams than it is to beat out 4 for a playoff spot. It was okay though, because in 1998 the league added 2 new teams. The Diamondbacks and The Devil Rays. This would even out all divisions right? NO. Diomondbacks added to NL WEST but Tampa was added to AL EAST, Detroit moved to AL central and Milwaukee moved to NL CENTRAL. I don't understand in 10 years how managers or owners have not complained from the (fixed...my mixup)AL central that they have a 6 team division to the NL WEST's 4 team division. How has this never been corrected. it is one of the things in baseball that bothers me each year.

 

[DaleMurphyCollector]

Time zones and travel costs would be the main reasons. I've heard arguments about not disturbing the "rivalries" within the existing divisions also.

 

[markakis8]

Yah seems the most simple solution would be just to move Houston into the Western division.

 

[muchuckwagon]

I'm sure people are more concerned about war in the Middle East and the state of the economy.....the declining stock market, collapse of the automobile industry or the number of foreclosures that continue to grow.

Baseball has been printing money for the last 10 years....how else could they afford to hand out $100m contracts like candy on Halloween?

In 1994 major league baseball decided to switch from the 2 league-2 division standings, to a 2 league-3 division standings. The only issue was that there were only 28 teams, so instead of the 5 teams per division, the American League West and National League West only had 4 teams. Not really a huge deal but definitely easier to beat out 3 teams than it is to beat out 4 for a playoff spot. It was okay though, because in 1998 the league added 2 new teams. The Diamondbacks and The Devil Rays. This would even out all divisions right? NO. Diomondbacks added to NL WEST but Tampa was added to AL EAST, Detroit moved to AL central and Milwaukee moved to NL CENTRAL. I don't understand in 10 years how managers or owners have not complained from the NL central that they have a 6 team division to the NL WEST's 4 team division. How has this never been corrected. it is one of the things in baseball that bothers me each year.

 

[DaleMurphyCollector]

Yah seems the most simple solution would be just to move Houston into the Western division.

Then you lose the 19 games a year vs. Cubs & Cardinals (they put butts in the stands) and replace them with games against the Rockies and Padres (YEAH!). What would be your incentive as the owner of the Astros to agree to this?

 

[boomo]

it will all fix itself in the next 5 years or so when 4-6 teams go bankrupt and
get dropped out of baseball

 

[lordsepic]

Yah seems the most simple solution would be just to move Houston into the Western division.

Then you lose the 19 games a year vs. Cubs & Cardinals (they put butts in the stands) and replace them with games against the Rockies and Padres (YEAH!). What would be your incentive as the owner of the Astros to agree to this?

would be quickly replaced by Texas/Houston in state rivalry. They will still put butts in the seats

 

[DaleMurphyCollector]

it will all fix itself in the next 5 years or so when 4-6 teams go bankrupt and
get dropped out of baseball

It'll never happen. If the Expos weren't contracted a few years ago, then nobody will be. The only way to fix soemthing like this is to wait for a team to actually move. Florida's attendance is so bad, they can move to Reno, Salt Lake, or somewhere west and the Reds or Pirates (not in the Central time zone) can move to the East.

 

[DaleMurphyCollector]

Yah seems the most simple solution would be just to move Houston into the Western division.

Then you lose the 19 games a year vs. Cubs & Cardinals (they put butts in the stands) and replace them with games against the Rockies and Padres (YEAH!). What would be your incentive as the owner of the Astros to agree to this?

would be quickly replaced by Texas/Houston in state rivalry. They will still put butts in the seats

Uhm....Texas is in the AL West, not NL West.
You already get the 6 inter-league rivalry games, regardless of the divisions/leagues Houston & Texas are in.

 

[sportscardtheory]

I have brought this up before. I think they would have to have have inter-league play spread throughout the season instead of one or two weeks a year if they were to move Houston to the AL... which would make sense anyway.

 

[Therion]

Yah seems the most simple solution would be just to move Houston into the Western division.

Then you lose the 19 games a year vs. Cubs & Cardinals (they put butts in the stands) and replace them with games against the Rockies and Padres (YEAH!). What would be your incentive as the owner of the Astros to agree to this?

would be quickly replaced by Texas/Houston in state rivalry. They will still put butts in the seats

No way is this true. There would be no more Texas/Houston games than already occur. I don't see the NL Central changing because none of the teams are going to want to give up the games against the Cubs and Cards. Sure, there is no real rivalry between Houston and Chicago and the Houston/St. Louis rivalry is a baby-rivalry at best, but those games still fill stadiums.

 

[Mighty Bombjack]

There is some confusion in this post. The OP states that there are 4 teams in the NL West, but he meant the AL West.

Asking Houston to move to that division is not just changing divisions but changing leagues, resulting in odd-numbered teams in both leagues. MLB has stated that they have a big enough headache in scheduling the season without having odd numbers of teams requiring more days-off. That would be near impossible to schedule and would require, as sportscardtheory has pointed out, more interleague play being stretched out over the entire season. Many prominent baseball people are against interleague altogether, and this move would really weaken the distinction between the AL and NL, something which few of us would want.

 

[lordsepic]

yeah my fault. I meant AL

 

[Therion]

yeah my fault. I meant AL

Oh hell no. Why would Houston want to go into that bastardized DH system?

 

[sportscardtheory]

There is some confusion in this post. The OP states that there are 4 teams in the NL West, but he meant the AL West.

Asking Houston to move to that division is not just changing divisions but changing leagues, resulting in odd-numbered teams in both leagues. MLB has stated that they have a big enough headache in scheduling the season without having odd numbers of teams requiring more days-off. That would be near impossible to schedule and would require, as sportscardtheory has pointed out, more interleague play being stretched out over the entire season. Many prominent baseball people are against interleague altogether, and this move would really weaken the distinction between the AL and NL, something which few of us would want.

I personally think it would be smart of them to do this. If they are going to have inter-league play anyway, why condense it into a week or two? I say spread it out and make all the divisions the same amount of teams... it just makes sense.