VEVO5 catch-all thread on how to improve MLS

They wanted 5 teams in each division. Not 5 teams in 4 divisions, 6 in 1, and 4 in the other.

 

But that in and of itself did not have to happen.

The AL was 14 teams while the NL was 12 from 1977-1993 without issue. The easier (and IMO better solution) was to go back to 2 divisions per league instead of 3 (which was a silly change to begin with). Small divisions make sense in the NFL with only 16 games but in a league with 162 games you don't need divisions at all but if you must have them they should be larger than 5 teams. Smaller divisions is just as gimmicky as interleague play in my view.

Besides interleague play was introduced long before the Astros changed leagues so it was not done for that reason.

 

Isn't the argument smaller divisions are necessary due to travel. In a sport like baseball, travel likely needs to be restricted more as you play 6 days a week.

Also, 2 divisions per league would still be unfair to the 7 team divisions.

 

If it was about travel then wouldn't the Mets and Yankees be in the same division? And for a long time Cincinatti was the NL West while Chicago and St Louis (I think) were in the east. It may be partly about travel, but it is also largely about culture, history, and marketing.

 

I get what you're saying. I was responding to the idea that they should revert to 2 divisions. As you can tell from my posts, I think baseball divisions make about as much sense as people enjoying baseball.

That being said, any discussion about baseball schedules and fairness must assume that the arbitrariness of the league system is a given.

 

MLB has played balanced schedules before so not sure they give a damn about the travel concern....They went to small devisions and less balance because they believed fans wanted to see rivalries and believed fans wanted more playoff teams. Basically they were trying to copy the NFL...No other reason.

As for the divisions and fairness, from 1977-1993 the AL had 2 seven team divisions while the NL had 2 six team divisions, things seemed okay.

 

Did it seem okay? We can intuitively see why it wasn't. Logically speaking it wasn't fair. I don't think that was disputed.
Just cuz it was accepted at that time doesn't mean it was right

Did eople care? I believe MLB actually did say they wanted balanced divisions (their wording) when made this change. So MLB seems to have been under that impression that the balance was important as well. I googled a bunch of articles referencing the balance issue as well.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...agues-are-balanced-whats-next-to-fix-baseball

Not sure how you concluded that no one cared or that it didn't matter, unless you're basing it on your own opinion?

 

When they made the current change it was about balanced divisions, no one is disputing this. We aren't talking about the change where they moved the Astros to the AL. We are talking about the change that led to the alignment prior to the current alignment.

No one cared and it didn't matter prior to 1998. Yes, once you had one division with 4 teams and another with 6 it became a problem but when the alignment only led to divisions off by 1 team it was never an issue.

From 1976-1993 no one cared that 2 divisions were 7 teams and 2 were 6 teams
From 1994-1997 no one cared that 4 divisions were 5 teams and 2 were 4 teams
Just to add to that, no one cared when the NFL had 4 divisions with 5 teams and 2 with 4 teams from 1976-1994
The NBA and NHL have also both had different sized divisions at multiple times in their history (the NHL currently does) without anyone caring.

Yes, when the balance is as out of whack as it became in baseball it became stupid, unfair, and people cared. Had baseball simply had 2 seven team divisions and 2 eight team divisions no one would have cared and it would have never changed. And you wouldn't need the gimmick of interleague play which for many baseball fans would be a happy trade off.

The reality is that for leagues that want to grow (and all of them do at some point) its impossible to keep a perfect balance, is it slightly unfair at times? Maybe but as long as its minimal (divisions off by 1 team) its hardly a big deal to fans, players, or teams.

 

Your points on baseball are probably correct from baseball fans' perspective and I'm willing to take them @ face value, if we don't try and use the context of baseball fans to justify introducing perversion to MLS.

If you're referencing the NBA, many people are currently espousing the elimination of conferences due to the competitive inbalance between the conferences. This is despite the fact that the NBA is probably the most fair from a schedule perspective within the conference. I actually think it makes sense for that league based on number of games played.

NHL is run by Gary Bettman who has an obsession with making the league more American, which explains why he wanted to introduce perversions.

You're right that bigger divisions result in a less perverse outcome than smaller divisions if there's an inbalance. Doesn't mean that an inbalance is a good thing. It comes with trade offs. TBH, as someone who doesn't give a real ******** about baseball, I find the concept of leagues gimmicky and interleague play to be normal. But that's because I prefer logic over tradition.

What annoys me is where these weird baseball anachronisms are used to justify MLS introducing inbalances that don't really need to be there justifying it as being 'Merican. MLS has no tradition like that, so it should at least aim to have a logical and fair schedule.

Agreed with this sentiment to the extent that you can't have perfectly balanced schedules and we must acknowledge it. However, you can design balanced schedules that are relatively fair (ie divisions that are the same size and have relatively the same schedules). If were not doing that, we're just falling into the same traps that have perverted the baseball and NFL league structures.

Despite my rants against baseball above, Go Jays Go!

 

Franchises aren't boats.

 

Thanks, buddy.

 

Man, and here I thought this was dead and buried .... PHEW