Eye On Baseball

I'm all for maintaining/establishing a tradition in our major sports leagues.  Talking about old games, players, stats, seasons is as much fun as the games itself.  I hope MLB balances the divisions or creates a single division for the AL and NL...Most of all, I hope the playoff-format stays exactly the way it is now.  What a great final month and post-season 2011 was/is!!!  Don't ruin it, MLB and Commish Dumba**

Why move Houston to the AL. Milwaukee belongs there, send them instead. 

I believe added more playoff teams ought to take a backseat to playing MLB games in London.

I am totally for realligning baseball divisions to make as many in-state and near-state rivalries as possible!

Works for the NFL (mostly).... reduces travel times and expense (which would pay bigger dividends for MLB with 81 road games every year in 20 - 30 trips).  

Sure some older rivalries would be lost.... but after the last expansion/reallignment, there weren't any Cincy fans mourning the loss of the Braves or Dodgers.  

But I never understood how you can have 6 teams in the NL Central and only 4 in the AL West.  

Another option is to scrub divisions completely, just have AL and NL, take the top 4 from each to playoffs.  

MLB doesn't need more wild cards, a la the NBA.  Teams with losing records should STAY HOME come playoff time.  

 

I got a few words for ya!  Pirates, Royals, Orioles, Reds (fluke, perhaps last year), Marlins (yup i see two championships in the last 15 years, but it wont happen again anytime soon with that payroll/attendance), Nationals/Expos.


Thats 6 teams that have no chance (maybe the Reds) of being in the playoffs next year, or the following year, or the year after that or that or that.


I can pretty much tell you who's going to be in the playoffs next year and pobably be 75% right.

Yanks, Sox, Rangers, Tigers  (same, maybe the Angels or Indians....maybe)

Cards, Phillies, Braves and the only division with some mystery is the NL west.  Could be SF ARI or Colorado.



There needs to be a hard cap and a SOFT cap too so the fricking Pirates would spend some cash.
      
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Selig should concentrate on getting HGH out of the game.  I don't watch many games anymore because they are filled with obvious cheaters.

I'm really tired of the pretend logic that the Astros need to move so they can be with Texas.  So based on your logic, the Mets and the Yankees need to be in the same division.  And the Cubs and the White Sox.  And St. Louis and Kansas City.  And Los Angles, San Francisco, Oakland, San Diego can be together.  And Philadelphia needs to be with Pittsburgh.  And Cincinnati and Cleveland since they are both in the same state as well.  And Florida and Tampa Bay.  Then all these "natural" rivalries will exist.  Problem solved.  Or leave it alone and stop pretending that this solution is logical.

MLB has produced nine different World Champions in the last ten years.  If the Rangers prevail that will be 10 in 11 years.  By contrast, only seven different teams have won the Super Bowl and only three teams have won in the NBA in the last ten years.

The two top payrolls-Yankees and Phillies--were gone in the first round.  Numbers three (Red Sox) through nine failed to qualify.  The number 27 DBacks made it and so did the number 29 Rays. 

While no one was looking, parity has come to MLB.

Besides, how can you have a David vs. Goliath if everyone has the same payroll?!

Before Selig came into power, it was never just the big market teams who bought teams and had team salaries which rocketed the small market teams.  Teams like Pittsburgh, KC, and even TB (despite their winning ways) have become farm systems for the Yankees, Red Sox, and Phillies under his watch.  Now, with the two wild cards, the Yankees and Red Sox will be guaranteed to make the playoffs every year.  Although it won't happen, baseball NEEDS a salary cap like the NFL or cap like the NHL where all teams can be competitive, regardless of market.  In football, there are different teams who are competitive each year.  I like interleague, but to have it everyday is not the greatest idea.  Instead of having all the games over a few weeks, maybe they should have six different weekends (since the teams play 18 interleague games) to chunk the games in rather than in June when most people are not really into baseball with the NBA and NHL playoffs still going on.  If this plan happens, the Astros are going to the AL.  Maybe the fresh start is what the team needs, and they will already have the in-state rival with the Rangers.  That will also expand that division anyway.  They should also balance the schedule more.  For example, the Yankees played the Twins in two series (6 games) and the Mets (6 games) last year.  Teams should play other teams in their own league more than those in the other league.  The problem with Tampa is not the lack of a fanbase, but that no one wants to go to that dome to see baseball.  It is not even located in Tampa, but in a suburb.  That would be just like having the Mets or Yankees playing baseball in an area near the Nassau Coliseum.  Selig did not care about the juice heads in 1998 because it brought money back to the game (even though they were cheating) and he does not care that only the big market teams are earning money while teams with such proud histories like the Pirates have become farm systems because they play in less attractive cities.  Also, teams should not be allowed to pay players such big contracts like A-Rod's.  There is something wrong with the system when ONE player is earning more than an ENTIRE team (Marlins) and when that player can't stay on the field, still has 6 years left on his contract, and is guaranteed every penny of that contract whether or not he plays a single game.  Not only do they need a salary cap, but also non-guaranteed contracts.  But this idea is too smart for Bud Selig to adopt because he wants the Yankees, Sox, and Phils to win the World Series every year.