A Radical Baseball Realignment Proposal

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Michael Young bats against the Houston Astros in 2004.

OK, so now it is official. My favorite teams (Texas & Houston) just became division mates as the Houston Astros will join the AL West in 2013.

My question is, what happens to the Silver Boot?

My question is, why stop there? Does anyone within MLB have the guts to really shake things up. Let’s radically realign the baseball landscape. Every team could use less travel. Every team could benefit from better TV ratings.

Here is my proposal:

National League

AL East

  • BOS
  • NYY
  • NYM
  • PHI
  • TOR

AL Central

  • CWS
  • CLE
  • DET
  • PIT
  • MIN

AL West

  • ARI
  • COL
  • HOU
  • KC
  • TEX

National League

NL East

  • ATL
  • BAL
  • MIA
  • TB
  • WSH

NL Central

  • CHC
  • CIN
  • MIL
  • STL

NL West

  • LAA
  • LAD
  • OAK
  • SD
  • SEA
  • SF

Yes, it is not perfect. It’s better than anything Bud Selig is willing to propose. If you are going to keep the six division structure, I’m not sure you can come up with a better plan. If you can, I’d love to see it. So what do you think?

  • http://twitter.com/derekbonesteel Derek Bonesteel

    I don’t like it at all!  Here is why:

    1. There is over 100 years of history for a lot of these teams in their current leagues.  The Astros are relatively newcomers to the NL, even though they have been in it for 50 years.

    2. The divisions should all have 5 teams. Period.

    3. What they are moving to is much better than your proposition. 

    4. Personal opinion, if a city has 2 teams (NY, LA, Chicago, DC kind of) then those 2 teams should be in different leagues.

    5. The Astros won’t be adding that many 9:05 games to their schedules (10 -15).  That excuse is overblown. Besides, they played in the NL West for 30+ years against SD, LA and SF, and it worked just fine.

  • http://ecrosstexas.com/blog/2011/5-things-to-like-about-nhl-realignment 5 Things to Like about NHL Realignment | The Unwasted Life

    [...] wish MLB and the NHL were more bold in their thinking. I recently posted A Radical Baseball Realignment Proposal where I outlined what baseball could do if they had any guts to shake things [...]

  • http://www.talentidols.com/ Next Star

    I love this game…