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How Do You Feel About Division Realignment?

More of this. Less of the loss column.
More of this. Less of the loss column.

From a lead story on SI.com yesterday:

If the recent report that Major League Baseball is considering realigning itself into two 15-team leagues and possibly stripping away its divisions comes to fruition, the league might as well hand the ballplayers pucks and a hoop, too, because baseball will have lost its playoff identity and joined the NHL and NBA in their free-for-all postseason entrance.

There is currently a rumor circulating that Major League Baseball is seriously considering moving a team from the National League to the American League to even out the divisions at 15 teams apiece. While this would appear to solve the problem of unbalanced divisions (and let's be honest, the A's can't compete right now with only three other division rivals), it would add a whole host of different logistical problems; for example, perpetual interleague play.

There are no more than a dozen interleague series that really capture the imagination of most fans and the ones that do are based on proximity (like Mets-Yankees and A's-Giants) or historical ties (the recent Cubs-Red Sox replay of the 1918 World Series, for instance). When the Dodgers play the Angels, it's because they should. When the Dodgers play the Mariners, it's because they have to.


Probably the most interesting point of the article--and of the proposed change--is the idea of the top five teams in each league making the playoffs, thus abolishing pennant races. Sports Illustrated is not a fan of removing this very unique-to-baseball-playoffs concept, and argue that MLB could still add another playoff spot without changing the format too significantly.

From this article, and others like it, what do you think about reorganizing the leagues? Should we keep things the way they are; should we even out the AL and NL and  the divisions? Is the current playoff format working for you, or would you prefer a more inclusive format? And would your answer change if you were a fan of a different team (say, one that plays in a six-team division instead of a four)?

What do you think?

 


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Wednesday, Jun 15, 2011, 7:05 PM PDT
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