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Monday, July 14, 2008
Why are the Jays in the same division as the Orioles?
The Montreal Canadiens are currently in the “Northeast” division, along with Boston, Buffalo, Toronto, and Ottawa. Ten years earlier, Pittsbugh and Carolina were in their division and Toronto was not. Twenty years ago, they were in the “Adams” division, with Boston, Buffalo, Quebec, and Hartford (who later moved to Carolina). Thirty years ago, they were in the “Norris” division with Detroit, LA, Pittsburgh, and Washington. Forty years ago, they were in the original 6 ("East") division, with Detroit, Boston, NYR, Chicago, Toronto.
Who the heck cares what division a team is in? Why must the Jays and Orioles be married together, forever? If it was me, every 4 years, I’d have division realignment. You can keep “natural” rivals together, but even that is not a hard-and-fast rule. Rivals are more natural and meaningful in hockey than baseball, and Montreal was not always in the same division as Boston and Toronto.
The World Cup of Soccer, clearly the pinnacle of all sports competitions, has 6 “groups”, where the top 5 seeded teams, plus the host country, lead each division, and then there is a drawing of the “second class” teams, and “third class” teams, and “fourth class” teams. This way, you get a basically random selection of teams in each division, and you make sure that each division is fairly well-balanced. And every 4 years, you start over.
How about, every 4 years, the 6 best teams get to select who they want in their division? So, coming into 2008, the six divisions would be headed by: Yankees, Redsox, Cardinals, Angels, Twins, Braves. We can follow the World Cup lead of having a lottery for the next 6 best teams (Braves, Phillies, A’s, Indians, Padres, Cubs) for random selection in each group. Or assign based on geographical proximity. Or, you can have the Yanks (with the best record) decide who they want in their division, either among these 6, or from any of the other 24 teams. They might insist, for example, on selecting the Royals, or Pirates first. Let the Yankees decide whether they prefer to save money on travel in selecting their competition, or whether they prefer to select their division foes based on beatability, or marketability.
Imagine the kind of media fanfare MLB can generate on this. Not that we care, but they might.
Yes, yes, I know. It’s not charming, and therefore it’s not baseball, and therefore, the idea is stupid. Consider it said if this is what you are thinking.
For some reason, other leagues are successful in not having to be married to your opponents forever.
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