Does Major League Baseball need a realignment?

[BooCocky]

I remember listening to something on ESPN where Buck Showalter said MLB is in need of a serious realignment to strengthen the game of Major League Baseball. He goes on to say it is unfair for teams across the Majors to play a team like the Royals 18 times in a single season. He said for some teams those are guaranteed like fifteen wins or so. He strongly believes baseball schedules need to be equal, when it comes to scheduling. Like each team plays a team a certain amount of times just to level the competition.

Do I agree with this? Yes I do, for the simple fact teams like the Brewers or Cards see a team like the Pirates fifteen times a year, while a team like the Yankees see each of there division foes 18 times a year. The difference is, each division foe for the Yankees are a lot better than the Pirates. I strongly believe Major League baseball would benefit from little changes such as this. It would even the playing field, and some teams won't get homefield just for winning there division because they play three shit teams, 18 times a year.

So, does MLB need to realign there scheduling to even the playing field throughout the AL and NL?

 

[CH David]

I remember listening to something on ESPN where Buck Showalter said MLB is in need of a serious realignment to strengthen the game of Major League Baseball. He goes on to say it is unfair for teams across the Majors to play a team like the Royals 18 times in a single season. He said for some teams those are guaranteed like fifteen wins or so. He strongly believes baseball schedules need to be equal, when it comes to scheduling. Like each team plays a team a certain amount of times just to level the competition.

Do I agree with this? Yes I do, for the simple fact teams like the Brewers or Cards see a team like the Pirates fifteen times a year, while a team like the Yankees see each of there division foes 18 times a year. The difference is, each division foe for the Yankees are a lot better than the Pirates. I strongly believe Major League baseball would benefit from little changes such as this. It would even the playing field, and some teams won't get homefield just for winning there division because they play three shit teams, 18 times a year.

So, does MLB need to realign there scheduling to even the playing field throughout the AL and NL?

So is he also trying to say that the Royals and Pirates and Nationals and A's should play each other more often as well? Because that would help even it out if you want other high strength teams to play high strength teams. The MLB schedule is fine. Teams need talent, and it doesn't help any team, such as the Pirates, when they get rid of what talent they have.

Besides, baseball is a funny game. One year you can be one of the worst teams in the game, and the next year just turn it all around and make it so far as the World Series. Remember that was the Rays just last year. Had one of the worst records in 2007, came out in 2008 and ran through the league. Playing the Royals or bad teams aren't exactly walks in the park. They are Major League franchises. They come out to play and can beat you on any given day, especially if you are overlooking them.

There are reasons that teams get top picks in the draft for having the bad records. It is to help them get out of the hole that they are in, and get back to playing winning baseball. Unfortunately some teams, again like the Pirates, can't keep all of their young players to improve for the future, whereas others, such as the Rays, have been able to play through the rough seasons and learn what it takes to win.

So to reiterate my answer to your question, no the MLB doesn't need to fix their scheduling. Teams just need to utilize their talent, and if their talent isn't any good, then choose better talent.

 

[Mr. TM]

The Jays have to play with the two richest teams in baseball, playing them 18 times each. It takes a great effort to be able to get around these two teams and make the playoffs, and it has only been done once (unless my tired mind is playing on me) since the Jays won the World Series back to back.

If we played all 29 other teams equally, I'd love it, I would get to see games against The Dodgers, which never happens. It would really open up a lot of different teams to each fan, and instead of tire out rivalries, we would get to see something fresh.

 

[Baller]

No I don think it needs realignment because one year you can be good the next year you can suck or vice versa.

The Rays made the World Series last year and yes played 36 games against the Yankees and Red Sox. There is a 162 games in a season, and you are going to have to play 18 games against good teams and bad teams in your division so it is a fair system

 

[Shocky]

I think most of this is on the competitive inbalance of Major League Baseball and the lack of a Salary Cap. When teams like the Yankees and Red Sox can throw around a quarter of a Billion dollars without blinking an eye, it makes small market teams look like Triple A Teams. Yes the teams on the coasts that are lumped in with each other should play each other more, while the teams in the smaller markets should play against each other more.

Until MLB puts a hardcap on the stupid spending on the big market teams, then the problem will exist, but I think the "problem" actually balances out the advantage the big markets have.

Personally I feel the NFL and it's 8/4 team divisions is the best way to go for every sport. I also feel the Baseball season is too damn long, and a contraction of the schedule would be very beneficial, seriously, who wants to watch baseball in march and November?

 

[tripolie atche]

yea i saw that shit on baseball tonight as well & it was probably the dumbest thing i had ever seen i mean contracting the Marlins & Rays???? Both teams are getting new stadiums & despite their payrolls being really low they both have had some success (Marlins have 2 titles & Rays have an AL Pennant)

another thing that caught my attention was STL & the Cubs werent even in the same division under the new realignment, which is one of the best rivalries in baseball history

just do us a favor buck & dont quit ur job at ESPN

 

[Dr. Stinger A. Zoidberg]

No, I dont think it needs it. Anything can happen at any point in baseball. Rookies can breakout, injuries can occur, 1st place teams can go to last place over the course of a couple of games.

Look at the Royals at the beginning of the 2009 season. Greinke was lights-out, he was certainly coming into his own. Everyone thought the Royals would make it to the playoffs for the first time in many years. But then, a 1 loss turned into 2, 2 turned into 4, 4 turned into 6, and the next thing you knew, the Royals were back in last place.

Look at the Yankees. They were horrible in April, May, and the early part of June. Chein-Ming Wang was getting loss after loss. Wang got hurt, the Yanks needed another starter. Sabathia was getting a few wins a month, but that wasnt helping the team. Burnett was getting win after win however. They Yankees still needed starters. Chamberlain came in, he was abismal. They put Hughes in the rotation, he was horrible. The hitting was doing poorly and many thought that they had spent a lot of money in the off season for nothing.

Then, the all star break hit, The Yanks coming off of a 3 game sweep to LAA, put Hughes in the bullpen. Brought up Sergio Mitre as their #5 starter. Sabathia was doing good, Burnett was doing good, as well as Pettite and Chamberlain. The hitting started getting hot and they had one walk off win after the other. Look where they are now.

What I'm trying to say is, you dont play the game on paper, you play it on the baseball diamond. For all we know, next year the Nationals could come in first and the Redsox could be in last. It's all a matter of how well you play the game.

 

[klunderbunker]

I think Shocky nailed it, as usual.

This is going to keep happening no matter how the schedule works. The simple fact is that the ownership of a lot of teams simply don't mind being the laughingstocks of the league. Look at the Pirates, the Royals etc. They've been awful for years and not once have they made a serious long term attempt to fix it. And why should they? They can't compete with anyone for anything because they can't afford to. As a member of the Tribe, this hits home for me very well. In 07 and 08, we had the AL Cy Young winners. There was no way we were going to be able to resign them because they were going to get a massive contract offer from New York or Boston etc. and we were going to lose them. We traded them to get some value out of them. That's bullshit. It's impossible for teams like Cleveland to be able to afford the highest level of talent because they're just going to be stolen away in three years, so why should we try to do anything when that's the end result?

In short, no baseball doesn't need a realighment. Baseball needs to be redone from a business standpoint, namely with a salary cap. There's no reason at all for baseball not to have one, and it keeps the same teams in the title hunt every year that we don't have one, because heaven forbid Cleveland plays Pittsburgh in the World Series and there's no New York or Boston. We can't let that happen now can we? That would be.....fair. What a horrible thought!

 

[The Brain]

I would like to see a realignment of the baseball schedule, but not because of the reasons Showalter gave. Take a look at the divisions. Everyone has at least one horrible team. That evens things out. I would like to see a schedule realignment simply because I get tired of seeing the divisional teams so often. I’m a Cubs fan. I don’t like that they play teams in the east and west only six times a year. As I type this I’m watching the Cubs against the Giants. It’s the end of September and this is the first time the Cubs have been to San Francisco all year. The Giants were in Chicago for a two game series in May. That’s it for these two teams all year. Compare that to 16 games against the Astros. It’s nice to have so many games against the lowly Pirates, but I miss the Phillies, Mets, Dodger, etc. I just miss seeing the other teams in the league.

I would like to see MLB eliminate interleague play. It was a good idea in 1997, but after 12 years it’s lost it has lost it’s luster. I don’t even get pumped up for Cubs vs. Sox anymore. It’s just another series. I would rather go back to the old days of NL vs. NL and AL vs. AL. They don’t even have to eliminate interleague play for good. Maybe do interleague games every five years. That would bring back some excitement to Cubs vs. Sox, Mets vs. Yankees, etc. I guess I’m just a fan of the good old days. I’m all for the wildcard, but I could do without interleague.