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| Author |
Message |
richard
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Baseball re-alignment?
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Aug 12 22:33 UTC 1997 |
The Baseball Gods are in all likelihood going to re-align all the teams
next season or the season after, in a massive re-structuring. The idea
is to have all the teams aligned by geographic area, so all natural
rivals are in the same divisions.
Here's how the current re-alignment being proposed would look:
AMERICAN LEAGUE
East Mid-East
NY Yankees Atlanta Braves
NY Mets Florida Marlins
Boston Red Sox Tampa (new team)
Philadelphia Phillies Pittsburgh Pirates
Baltimore Orioles Detroit Tigers
Toronto Blue Jays Cleveland Indians
Montreal Expos Cincinatti Reds
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Central West
Chicago Cubs Los Angeles Dodgers
Chicago White Sox Anaheim Angels
St. Louis Cardinals San Francisco Giants
Kansas City Royals Oakland A's
Milwaukee Brewers San Diego Padres
Minnesota Twins Arizona Diamondbacks (new team)
Texas Rangers Colorado Rockies
Houston Astros Seattle Mariners
The American League would still have the Designated Hitter. On the face
of it, this makes all the sense in the world, because this allows
natural rivals to play each other and increase regional interest.
My problem is that my team, the Braves would be stuck in the AL central.
I am a National League person and I *hate* the DH. I want my team
playing the real game, besides all our pitchers are good hitters.
I think I'd put the Tigers in the National league so they could play the
Cubs and Cardinals regularly. Maybe I'd switch Braves and Tigers to NL
central, and put Texas and Houston in AL Mideast.
What do you think?
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| 9 responses total. |
omni
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response 1 of 9:
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Aug 14 18:09 UTC 1997 |
I think it's time to talk about hockey!
This is heresy. The Reds in the *American* League. Btw, Cincinnati has only
1 t and two n's.
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albaugh
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response 2 of 9:
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Aug 21 17:58 UTC 1997 |
I think it's ludicrous to have the newly-formed AL be the only league with
a DH. If they do this realignment, the DH should be in for both leauges or
out for both!
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richard
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response 3 of 9:
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Aug 22 16:54 UTC 1997 |
The league wants to do away with the DH entirely, as theyshould (I believe
in playground rules...noone gets tobat unless they play thefield)
But the Players Associationwont approve re-alignment or anything else
unless the DHis preserved. The DH provides too many jobs forpowerhitters
who are otherwise overthehill, and unable to play the field
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srw
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response 4 of 9:
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Sep 4 06:20 UTC 1997 |
Proving that the player's assoc has too much power. The DH rule sucks.
The fans all know this. They should boycott DH games.
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richard
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response 5 of 9:
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Sep 23 20:47 UTC 1997 |
they still havent come up with a re-alignment plan agreable to
the affected parties. Current idea is to have two eight teamdivisions in
thenational and two seven teams in the American .league.
Montreal, Florida, Houston would switch to the American...
Seattle, Oakland, Anaheim would switch toothe National...
Kansas City and Milwaukee would alsos witch to the National...
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bruin
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response 6 of 9:
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Sep 23 21:28 UTC 1997 |
I have a slight problem with the "Mid-East" division of the American
league, and that is the fact that the division name reminds me too
much of the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict.
But I digress.
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general
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response 7 of 9:
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Oct 18 00:37 UTC 1997 |
Not only does this plan suck, but it's been ditched. Either Milwaukee or
Kansas City will be moving to the National League Central, the Tampa Bay Devil
Rays will take Detroit's spot in the AL East, with the Arizona Diamondbacks in
the NL West. (According to ESPN SportsZone.)
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srw
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response 8 of 9:
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Oct 21 00:29 UTC 1997 |
The major realignment was ditched --- R.I.P.
There is still going to be some minor realignment, I understand.
Isn't Detrouit going from the East to the Central?
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jep
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response 9 of 9:
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Oct 21 13:44 UTC 1997 |
Yes, Detroit will be in the AL Central next year.
This causes me a little short-term concern. I've heard a fair amount of
talk that maybe Detroit can cmpete for a division title earlier than they
otherwise might have, since they'll be away from the deep-pockets
competition of New York and Baltimore. Detroit has been going through a
hard period of rebuilding from the bottom, after allowing their farm
system to become the worst in the majors, and trying to make up for it
with free agent acquisitions through the early 1990's. I've been all in
favor of the rebuilding process. The Tigers were a heck of a lot of fun
to watch in 1997, especially for the expectation that they will build too
something better. My concern: if they think they're close to contending
for a division title, are they going to junk the rebuilding process and
try to win *now*?
If they keep building as they have been, they might become something like
Atlanta, with their long string of competitiveness. (Four World Series
appearances in a row? I could stand that!) If they go for quick
competitiveness, I'm afraid they'll have a one or two year run of good
baseball, much like they did in 1983-1984, and then return to being pretty
bad.
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