Quote:
Originally Posted by Questdog
7-team divisions are the worst alignment that MLB ever had. It is impossible to create a satisfactory schedule with them for a season with 162 games. When the American League had such an alignment (1977-1993), the teams played stupid schedules that saw them play more games out of the division. This increases the chance that a team with a losing record will win a division title. In fact, for several years the AL East was markedly superior to the AL West and this seemed likely to happen, though it never did, thankfully. Also, since time began, a basic principle had been that each team should play the same schedule as their opponents. When the leagues split into 2 divisions, the principle remained that each team should play the same schedule as the other teams in their division. But with 7-team divisions, this is impossible to satisfy in 162 games and the idiots in charge of the A.L. decided that the tradition of 162 games (at that time only about 15 years old) was more important than the tradition of competitive balance (at that time 100 years old). In fact, 162 games was not a tradition and merely a byproduct of following the principle of competitive balance, which, in a game where differences of 1 or 2 percent are enormous over the long season, is essential for fairness.
Also, a 4th place team in a 7-team division is in both the 1st and 2nd division, which is ridiculous.
Also, the meaning of your concluding sentence escapes me. I cannot argue against the logic of it, because I cannot even figure out what exactly it is suggesting to be logical.
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If you're aiming for balanced divisions, this is bad. If you want to increase the difficulty level, unbalanced divisions are good -- they make it more difficult in the superior division to make the playoffs.
Logically, teams should be geographically close to over teams in their division. In the CL, a team from Oregon and Western Canada play in a division with New York and Boston. Culturally and Geographically, the regions are completely alien.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Westheim
I talked about Dan Nordahl briefly the last time. Well, he was the point of trade talks with the Warriors during the Winter Meetings in Cleveland, where they’re building a new baseball stadium right now, and owners were called up to vote on expansion for the 2015 season, which they swiftly called “nay!” at, 14-10.
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If there is expansion planned -- at least in the short term -- you'd want to stay at 28 teams. Westheim stated he is against a wild card -- so, with a two-division set-up, the only option is seven-team divisions.
The schedule would need to be re-aligned somewhat -- however, with an odd number of teams, each team has an even number of division opponents -- guaranteeing an even number of home-and-away games between division teams.
I've attached a sample schedule here.
28 interleave games (2 x 14)
56 cross-division games (8 x 7)
72 Division Games (12 x 6)
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156 Total Games
The other option would be three divisions: 5-teams, 4-teams, and 5-teams. The team with the best record would receive a bye, and the other two division winners would have a play-off. This would allow the league to keep its integrity.