TV is what they go by and Nashville, Charlotte, and Portland all fall in top 30 markets.

To DawgNDuckFan: The Expos have now moved to Washington, DC and became the Nationals.

Here's a new realignment scenario to ponder...

AL EAST:
Bos
NYY
Bal
Tor

AL NORTH:
Clev
Det
Minn
Chi

AL CENTRAL:
KC
Tex
* Houston
* Arizona

AL WEST:
LAAngels
Oak
Sea
* Portland (expansion)



NL EAST:
NYM
Phi
DC
Pitt

NL: Central:
STL
Chi
Cincy
Mil

NL SOUTH:
Atl
Flor
* Tampa
* Carolina (expansion)

NL WEST:
SD
LAD
SF
Col





but I'd much rather see MLB drop some teams....

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Why? The game is pretty strong right now, just get a salary cap and find a way to spread some reveune out and baseball will be fine.

If anything, MLB needs to drop some teams to spread the talent out. The six that I would drop are Florida, Tampa Bay, Toronto, Arizona, Oakland and Kansas City. Please no grief about if they won the World Series or tradition.

With that out of the way, we can go back to two leagues each with two 6-team divisions:

AL East: NY Yankees, Boston, Baltimore, Detroit, Cleveland, Milwaukee

AL West: Texas, Minnesota, Chicago White Sox, Seattle, Anaheim, Colorado

NL East: NY Mets, Philadelphia, Washington, Pittsburgh, Chicago Cubs, St. Louis

NL West: Atlanta, Cincinnati, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego

(Hey, this looks like the NL pre 1993 expansion)

No interleague play is going on here. Teams will continue to play a 162-game schedule by playing teams in their division 18 times and teams in the other division 12 times.

Since MLB likes it, we’ll keep the wild card as the best 2 teams after the division champ regardless of division. Same playoff format: best-of-5 division series, best-of-7 league championship and best-of-7 World Series. Home field goes to the better team in the division and league series and alternates in the World Series (AL odd years, NL even years).

That’s my 2 cents, but with the luxury tax, it’s closer to 3 cents.

You are a complete idiot.

Face it, the Royals are a Triple-A organization.

You totally missed the point. The Royals are a Mickey Mouse organization (apologies to the Angels) with a lousy fan base.

Royals used to be a class organization until the new ownership took over. Their current owner is an idiot, the general manager is an idiot. So yes I agree with you on the Mickey Mouse part, but a lousy fan base hardly. While "small market" they draw from a very large region. Try Omaha, Lincoln, Wichita, Topeka, Des Moines, Springfield, Columbia, Tulsa. They have the largest radio network in the American League. Its the fan base that is more upset at the performance in the front office and field, put a solid club and KC will bring the fans.

Also its funny that you put the don't argue about World Series and Tradition since they have combined for more World Series titles than the AL West setup you have.

By the way, the new AL West has 5 World Series (Anaheim, Mineesota 2, Chi Sox 2).
The Royals have 1 and I have to admit, the 85 Series was awesome.

Would it make you feel better if I exchanged the Royals for the Rockies (being that they suck and have no tradition).

My apologies to you KC Sports Fan, I see that you care about your team.

Sounds like you want this:

AL East: Baltimore, Boston, Cleveland, Detroit, NY Yankees, Milwaukee

AL West: Chi. White Sox, LA Angels, Kansas City, Minnesota, Seattle, Texas

NL East: Atlanta, Cincinnati, NY Mets, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington

NL West: Chi. Cubs, Houston, LA Dodgers, San Diego, San Francisco, St. Louis

Penn State Danny, your scheduling format sounds great, but I prefer that the league should expand the playoffs. To make it easier, check my example:

MLB Intra-Divisional Schedule Format

Team: Boston Red Sox

AL East

Baltimore (v.*9, @*9)
Boston (n/a)
N.Y. Yankees (v.*9, @*9)
Toronto (v.*9, @*9)

AL North

Chicago White Sox (v.*4, @*4)
Cleveland (v.*4, @*4)
Detroit (v.*4, @*4)
Minnesota (v.*4, @*4)

AL South

Kansas City (v.*4, @*4)
[Nashville] (v.*4, @*4)
Tampa Bay (v.*4, @*4)
Texas (v.*4, @*4)

AL West

L.A. Angels [a.k.a. Anaheim] (v.*4, @*4)
Colorado (v.*4, @*4)
Oakland (v.*4, @*4)
Seattle (v.*4, @*4)

NL East

N.Y. Mets (v.*3 [Year A], @*3 [Year B])
Philadelphia (v.*3 [Year B], @*3 [Year A])
Pittsburgh (v.*3 [Year A], @*3 [Year B])
Washington, D.C. (v.*3 [Year B], @*3 [Year A])

NL North

Chicago Cubs (v.*3 [Year C], @*3 [Year D])
Cincinnati (v.*3 [Year D], @*3 [Year C])
Milwaukee (v.*3 [Year B], @*3 [Year D])
St. Louis (v.*3 [Year D], @*3 [Year C])

NL South

Atlanta (v.*3 [Year E], @*3 [Year F])
[Charlotte] (v.*3 [Year F], @*3 [Year E])
Florida (v.*3 [Year E], @*3 [Year F])
Houston (v.*3 [Year F], @*3 [Year E])

NL West

Arizona (v.*3 [Year G], @*3 [Year H])
L.A. Dodgers (v.*3 [Year H], @*3 [Year G])
San Diego (v.*3 [Year G], @*3 [Year H])
San Francisco (v.*3 [Year H], @*3 [Year G])

This is a sample team schedule for future moments of the teams of Major League Baseball. Each will be 3 games per series. MLB will expand 32 teams and it will split in 2 leagues, with 4 divisions of 4 teams for each league. The American League and National League will respectively have their divisions named as the following: East, North, South and West. “??????” will represent a new franchise for the American League. “v.*3” represents a home series and “@*3” represents a road series.

The scheduling format will be the following:

Intra-Divisional Play – Each division consists 4 teams. Therefore, each team in that division will face another team from the same division 18 times (9 at home and 9 on the road). It’s the same as facing in 6 series (3 at home and 3 on the road). Since the division has 4 teams, it will be the following:

18 games per team faced from same division * (3 other divisional teams except own self) = 54 games

Ex: NL West – Arizona Diamondbacks – vs. NL West

vs. L.A. Dodgers (v*9, @*9) = 18 games
vs. San Diego (v*9, @*9) = 18 games
vs. San Francisco (v*9, @*9) = 18 games

Inter-Divisional Play (a.k.a. League Play or Conference Play) – This is when a team faces teams outside its own division but inside the same league or conference. Therefore, each team would face another team from another division 8 times (4 at home and 4 on the road). It’s the same as facing in 2 series (1 at home and 1 on the road). It will be the following:

8 games per team faced from another division * 4 non-divisional teams = 32 games

or

32 total games of the 4 teams faced "combined" from a different division * 3 other divisions = 96 games

Ex: AL West – Anaheim Angels – vs. AL North

vs. Chicago White Sox (v.*4, @*4) = 6 games
vs. Cleveland (v.*4, @*4) = 6 games
vs. Detroit (v.*4, @*4) = 6 games
vs. Minnesota (v.*4, @*4) = 6 games

Inter-League Play (a.k.a. Non-Conference Play) – This is when a team faces all of the teams outside its own league or conference. Therefore, each team would face all the teams of one division from another league or conference 3 times (3 at home or 3 on the road). It’s the same as facing in 1 series (1 at home or 1 on the road). The The oppositions will depend under a 8-year rotation. It will be the following:

3 games per team faced from one division from another league * 4 inter-league teams = 12 games

Ex: AL East – Boston Red Sox – vs. NL East (Years A and B)

vs. N.Y. Mets (v.*3 [Year A], @*3 [Year B])
vs. Philadelphia (v.*3 [Year B], @*3 [Year A])
vs. Pittsburgh (v.*3 [Year A], @*3 [Year B])
vs. Washington, D.C (v.*3 [Year B], @*3 [Year A])

Ex: AL East – Boston Red Sox – vs. NL North (Years C and D)

vs. Chicago Cubs (v.*3 [Year C], @*3 [Year D])
vs. Cincinnati (v.*3 [Year D], @*3 [Year C])
vs. Milwaukee (v.*3 [Year C], @*3 [Year D])
vs. St. Louis (v.*3 [Year D], @*3 [Year C])

Ex: AL East – Boston Red Sox – vs. NL South (Years E and F)

vs. Atlanta (v.*3 [Year E], @*3 [Year F])
vs. [Charlotte] (v.*3 [Year F], @*3 [Year E])
vs. Florida (v.*3 [Year E], @*3 [Year F])
vs. Houston (v.*3 [Year F], @*3 [Year E])

Ex: AL East – Boston Red Sox – vs. NL West (Years G and H)

vs. Arizona (v.*3 [Year G], @*3 [Year H])
vs. L.A. Dodgers (v.*3 [Year H], @*3 [Year G])
vs. San Diego (v.*3 [Year G], @*3 [Year H])
vs. San Francisco (v.*3 [Year H], @*3 [Year G])

Under this format, a team will still play under a schedule of 162 games. Interesting, huh?

To be sure, the teams with the brackets can represent the 2 new expansion teams (1 for the American League and 1 for the National League; and if Colorado heads to the AL). I'm not sure about you guys but feel free to make your opinions about it. Each league will have 4 division champions and 4 additional qualifiers (with the best won-lost record outside division leaders) for the post-season. Here is an idea from last season's final standings

Ex: 2004 Season (with predicted division alignment)

E = East, N = North, S = South, W = West

In bold - Division champions
Italic - Eliminated from post-season
In bold and italic - Clinched playoff berth

American League

#1 - N.Y. Yankees (101-61) E
#2 - L.A. Angels of Anaheim (92-70) W
#3 - Minnesota (92-70) N
#4 - Texas (89-73) S
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
#5 - Boston (98-64) E
#6 - Oakland (91-71) W
#7 - Chicago W. Sox (83-79) N
#8 - Cleveland (80-82) N
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
#9 - Baltimore (78-84) E
#10 - Detroit (72-90) N
#11 - Tampa Bay (70-91) S
#12 - Toronto (67-94) E
#13 - Seattle (63-99) W
#14 - Kansas City (58-104) S

National League

#1 - St. Louis (105-57) N
#2 - Atlanta (96-66) S
#3 - L.A. Dodgers (93-69) W
#4 - Philadelphia (86-76) E
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
#5 - Houston (92-70) S
#6 - San Francisco (91-71) W
#7 - Chicago Cubs (89-73) N
#8 - San Diego (87-75) W
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
#9 - Florida (83-79) S
#10 - Cincinnati (76-86) N
#11 - Pittsburgh (72-89) E
#12 - N.Y. Mets (71-91) E
#13 - Colorado (68-94) W
#14 - Milwaukee (67-94) S
#15 - Montreal [now as Washington, D.C.] (67-95) E
#16 - Arizona (51-111) S

I hope that gives anybody an idea about this. Take care.

John (a.k.a. NCAAnopaawaa2000)

_________________
Florida State Seminole fan for life (mostly on football, basketball and baseball)!

Too bad this isn't going to happpen.

Eastern Conference
North East Division
Boston
NY Mets
NY Yankees
Philadelphia

Southern Division
Atlanta
Baltimore
Florida
Tampa Bay
Washington

Central Division
Cleveland
Cincinnati
Detroit
Pittsburgh
Toronto

Western Conference
Pacific Division
LA Angels
LA Dodgers
Oakland
San Francisco
San Diego
Seattle

Southwest Division
Arizona
Colorado
Houston
Texas

Midwest Division
Chi. Cubs
Chi. White Sox
Kansas City
Milwaukee
Minnesota
Saint Louis