Baseball is toying with the idea of adding an extra wild card team. They hope this will increase interest in the game and keep more teams alive for a postseason berth. However, with attendance declining, perhaps the game needs a complete overhaul. Rather than adding a playoff team, they should contract, realign, and augment the competitive balance. By taking the following radical steps, baseball improves on the field, pennant races remain interesting, and attendance should increase as a result.
First, Major League Baseball should contract two teams. This will decrease the number of players at the big league level and lessen the watering down of talent, which has plagued the game since the mid-90s. The two Florida teams are the best candidates for contraction. Both teams are generally down toward the bottom in attendance regardless of performance. Last season, the Marlins finished fourth from the bottom. Unlike the Marlins, the teams beneath them, Toronto, Oakland, and Cleveland, draw when successful. Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Rays finished in the bottom ten. During last season’s pennant race, the Rays drew only 13,000 for a key game down the stretch.
Once contracted, a team would need to move to the American League to establish two 14-team leagues. The Milwaukee Brewers are the logical choice to switch leagues. The Brewers joined the American League in 1970 after a season in Seattle. They remained an American League squad until 1998. On top of this, the Brewers have the team best suited to playing American League baseball. The team slugs the ball as opposed to many National League teams.
After realignment, the two 14-team leagues should create two seven-team divisions. The Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Orioles, Indians, Tigers, and White Sox would be in the AL East. The Twins, Royals, Rangers, Angels, Mariners, Athletics, and Brewers would join the AL West. The Phillies, Braves, Mets, Nationals, Reds, Pirates, and Cubs would be stationed in the NL East. The NL West would be made up of the Cardinals, Astros, Giants, Diamondbacks, Padres, Rockies, and Dodgers. The two division winners and the next two teams with the best record, regardless of division, make the postseason. As an example, if this format were in place in 1987, the Twins, Tigers, Blue Jays, and Brewers would have made the playoffs. Under this scenario, three AL East teams make the playoffs.
In order to ensure competitive balance, it is time to scrap interleague play and return to a balanced schedule. Interleague can punish some teams. Players consider it a sideshow. Detroit Manager Jim Leyland believes it has “run its course.” AL teams are punished in NL parks because AL pitchers are not used to hitting. On top of this, teams competing for the Wild Card do not play the same competition. Divisions play each other. Therefore, if an AL West team is competing with an AL Central team for a wild card berth, one might face a weaker blotter of NL opponents. For example, this season the Cubs played the Yankees and Red Sox while the Cardinals avoided both. On top of this, few really want to see Toronto take on San Diego.
In addition to the matchups, interleague resulted in an unbalanced schedule. The Yankees and Red Sox play each other 18 times. This has taken the luster off the rivalry. Additionally, it means other AL teams do not play the Yanks and Red Sox as much as they used to. Detroit plays Minnesota 18 times, but the Red Sox only make one trip to Detroit. Instead, the Tigers play another lame interleague series against Arizona. By eliminating interleague play, the game can return to the balanced schedule. Each team plays each other an equal number of times within their league. This will eliminate the possibility of a good team having a great season and then being exposed in the postseason. Fans and players will understand their teams better without having their statistics padded by the unbalanced schedule. The 2001 Seattle Mariners provide the best example. That season, Seattle won 116 games and subsequently manhandled by the Yankees in the ALCS. New York exposed the Mariners, whom went 30-9 against bad Texas and Anaheim teams and 12-6 in interleague. They went 42-15 against this inferior competition while finishing 10-9 against the 102-win Athletics.
In addition to a balanced schedule, baseball should consider a 154-game schedule. The extra playoff teams render the current schedule onerous. The season sometimes begins in March and has ended in November. In 2008, bad weather wrecked havoc on the Phillies-Rays World Series. Eliminating eight games would provide some room to maneuver and allow the postseason to begin earlier. The Fall Classic can be played in fall weather once more. On a side note, returning to the 154-game schedule wipes out the steroid era since records would no longer be based on 162 games. Baseball can erase the steroid nightmare.
Since Bud Selig took over as commissioner, baseball may have changed too much for its own good. There are too many teams watering down talent. Interleague play and the unbalanced schedule make a mockery of the regular season and randomly reward some teams while punishing others. Attendance has been down this year and the pennant race a bore. This trend is likely to continue and adding a wild card team is unlikely to alleviate the core issues.
Sources:
Baseballreference.com
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/tom_verducci/05/20/interleague.wandy.rodriguez/index.html
http://www.ottawasun.com/2011/05/20/interleague-play-favours-als-big-spenders
http://baseball.about.com/od/newsrumors/a/Top-5-Reasons-Why-Mlb-Attendance-Is-Down-In-2011.htm