[mytreds]

Originally Posted by deknegt

Historically speaking the National League and the American League were two competing entities of Major League Baseball.


Back in the early 1900s they joined forces and formed the MLB, but they continued to stay two unique leagues with their own little different types of rules going on, with teams only facing each other in the world series to see who the best team in the USA was.


As a century passed, the leagues have largely gotten an identical ruleset apart from the AL having a DH and the NL having pitchers bat, and they have some interleague play during the season.


Nowadays, it's mostly just a case of tradition and historical rivalries dictating the division and conference placement. Teams in the NL want to stay in the NL, teams in the AL want to stay in the AL. Divisions are geographic adding rivalries, division teams also play more games thus more revenue to be had on those games.


Ultimately, it's just a case of tradition I think. Why change something that isn't really broken. In other sports like Basketball and Hockey you see the same thing, it's just something inherent in USA sports in general that you have two conferences split up into various divisions.


Also, teams CAN play before the world series, there is interleague play at various points in the season that puts NL teams against AL teams, and the home park decides league rules (DH/No DH). So it's happening more, and will probably continue to be expanded upon as the traditional reasons for not doing it become less and less (i.e. traveling costs)

Leagues even had their own strike zones, because one league had umpires that used a large padded shield, and the other didn’t.

I think it’d be a travesty if the leagues became homogenous. Keep them distinct! That’s what makes baseball unique and interesting!