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Ryan
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 Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 2:03 pm Post subject: Astros Sold, Move to AL West |
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| Quote: | MLB Approves Astros Sale, Price Cut $65 Million
MILWAUKEE November 17, 2011 (AP)
Baseball owners unanimously approved the sale of the Houston Astros from Drayton McLane to Jim Crane on Thursday, which will lead to the team moving from the NL Central to the AL West for the 2013 season.
The decision will give each league 15 teams, baseball's first realignment since the Milwaukee Brewers switched from the AL to the NL after the 1997 season.
As part of the Astros' agreement to switch leagues, the sale price was cut from $680 million to $615 million, a person at Thursday's meeting told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because details weren't announced,
Major League Baseball will make up part of the $65 million difference, paying McLane $35 million over three years, the person said.
Commissioner Bud Selig said owners also approved two additional wild-card teams for the postseason, meaning 10 of the 30 teams make the playoffs. Selig said he hopes the expanded playoffs can start next year, but he said the specifics are being worked out. The players' association favors the move.
http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/mlb-approves-astros-sale-price-cut-65-million-14974919 |
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TheGunslinger
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| Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 2:30 pm Post subject: |
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Not an Astros fan; but the disparity in the makeup of the Leagues did bother me because it appeared as if there was no easy way to realign them to even without adding a ton of teams in the future.
This is fairer to everyone because playing in a 6 team Division is a lot tougher than playing in a 4 team Division.
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CTGuy
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| Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 2:31 pm Post subject: |
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| 15 teams in each league means at least one interleague series being played all season long. Just think: On the final day, an AL playoff spot could be determined at Wrigley Field and a NL spot could be determined at Yankee Stadium! |
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daver40
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| Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 2:49 pm Post subject: |
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I like it.
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CafeSSJ
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| Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 6:43 pm Post subject: |
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Here's a good article explaining all the pros and cons.
PLENTY of both. If you are a fan of interleague play (SEPTEMBER!!) and team travel, you'll have tons to discuss.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7247519/major-league-baseball-some-major-changes
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Last edited by CafeSSJ on Thu Nov 17, 2011 9:26 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Thomps2525
One of us is stupid and it's not you!
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| Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 9:22 pm Post subject: |
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| A lot of Angels executives and players---and the team is in Anaheim, not "Los Angeles"---are not happy with having to travel two time zones away to play the Astros. Of course if I got paid millions of dollars every year just to play a few baseball games, I'd gladly go to any time zone in the world! |
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CTGuy
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| Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 10:53 pm Post subject: |
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| Thomps2525 wrote: | | A lot of Angels executives and players---and the team is in Anaheim, not "Los Angeles"---are not happy with having to travel two time zones away to play the Astros. Of course if I got paid millions of dollars every year just to play a few baseball games, I'd gladly go to any time zone in the world! |
Poor babies. The NHL's Atlanta Thrashers became the Winnipeg Jets over the off-season, but made the move too late for the NHL to move them to a geographically suitable division. So for this season they're still in the Southeast Division -- with Washington, Carolina, Florida and Tampa Bay! |
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TheGunslinger
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| Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2011 5:36 am Post subject: |
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That was a pretty interesting read; but I kinda think maybe the solution lies in adjusting the intra-division schedule by adding a home/away date to each which would equal 8 more games not needed to be included in that 30 number he talks about in the 'perfect' schedule.
So if you want 18 Inter-League games - that leaves 4 games for the "rivilary" series (2 & 2) if that's what they want there. You could break these 22, (Inter-League?), games down into 2 two week blocks; one block midway throught the first half of the season and the other midway through the second part. That would be fair and fun.
Whatever they do we do not want to be playing Inter-League games all year long - that would really change the makeup of the game.
| Quote: | How much interleague: There is only one schedule format that's mathematically perfect -- but it would include 30 interleague games for each team.
That would mean all five teams in a division would play three interleague games apiece against the five clubs in the corresponding division in the other league (i.e., AL Central versus NL Central), plus three more apiece against five teams in a different division (i.e., AL Central versus NL West one year, then NL East the next).
But sources say there's still strong resistance to playing that many interleague games per year, so it's more likely they stick to the current 18. That would mean all five teams in one division would play three times apiece against every team in one division in the other league (i.e., NL West versus AL East) -- plus three "rivalry" games per team instead of the current six.
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Games within your league: Nobody knows where the intraleague portion of the schedule is headed, either. In fact, that figures to be the source of the biggest debates.
Again, the only format that's mathematically perfect is this one: 72 games within your division (18 against each team), 60 outside your division (six against each of the other 10 teams) and 30 interleague games. But if 30 interleague games isn't going to fly, it's going to get messy.
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So instead of 72 within your Division you have 80. Now add the 60 games outside your Division like it is currently, and you are left with 22 games to get your 18 Inter-League games and 4 for the Rivialry Series instead of the current 6.
I'm freaking brilliant man. 
My 80-60-22 Plan gives the fans two extra dates within their own Divisions and it is much easier to expand home-away series to accomodate an extra date than it is to add 'extra' series to the schedule.
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CTGuy
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| Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2011 7:12 am Post subject: |
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| TheGunslinger wrote: | Whatever they do we do not want to be playing Inter-League games all year long - that would really change the makeup of the game.
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But how do you avoid that with 15-team leagues? You can get only seven intraleague matchups for each league. What do the other two teams do? Take a three- or four-day break? Play each other in exhibition series for charity? Play soccer-style "friendlies" against foreign clubs? As it is now, you always have one NL series going on during the designated interleague period because the NL has two more teams. Making both leagues equal but odd-numbered just makes the "odd" matchup interleague. We may not "want" to be playing interleague games all year, but you can't wish away math. Contract or expand by two teams; there's your only answer, and MLB doesn't want to do either.
I suppose the schedule makers will try to do some crystal-ball gazing and put what they handicap as no-hope teams in the interleague slots the last couple of weeks, but that's very dangerous as you do get surprise contenders (and surprise non-contenders) just about every season. If the schedule is going to be rigged to make sure the strongest teams on paper -- or the teams that get the best ratings -- aren't playing weaklings from the other league when pennants and wild cards are on the line, what's to prevent the umpires, who are paid by MLB, from making calls against the upstart teams during July and August to make sure they don't mess up September? |
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TheGunslinger
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| Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2011 7:37 am Post subject: |
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| CTGuy wrote: | | TheGunslinger wrote: | Whatever they do we do not want to be playing Inter-League games all year long - that would really change the makeup of the game.
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But how do you avoid that with 15-team leagues? You can get only seven intraleague matchups for each league. What do the other two teams do? Take a three- or four-day break? As it is now, you always have one NL series going on during the designated interleague period because the NL has two more teams. Making both leagues equal but odd-numbered just makes the "odd" matchup interleague. We may not "want" to be playing interleague games all year, but you can't wish away math. Contract or expand by two teams; there's your only answer, and MLB doesn't want to do either.
I suppose the schedule makers will try to do some crystal-ball gazing and put what they handicap as no-hope teams in the interleague slots the last couple of weeks, but that's very dangerous as you do get surprise contenders (and surprise non-contenders) just about every season. If the schedule is going to be rigged to make sure the strongest teams on paper -- or the teams that get the best ratings -- aren't playing weaklings from the other league when pennants and wild cards are on the line, what's to prevent the umpires, who are paid by MLB, from making calls against the upstart teams during July and August to make sure they don't mess up September? |
Well the way I see Inter-League play is that it is fluff that doesn't need to add up to playing everyone on the other League every year.
As long as it has some sort of fixed rotation making 18 plus 4 games work does enable them to play All interleague play in 4 weeks time. Break that in half to two week blocks and it doesn't become overload.
If you think about it; my plan keeps everything the same as last year except that it adds an extra home and away date to your own Division rivals and cuts 2 dates from the current "Rival" series, (from 6 to 4).
A month of 'new' baseball is more than enough Thank You.
Don't forget the extra Wild Cards and the 'Sudden Death' nature of those 1 game playoffs.
The game is already going to be changed there quite a bit.
To your point of math - it's not perfect math now with the inter-League play - so why does anyone feel a need to marry the 2 Leagues schedules?
I mean seriously - Why would one Leagues Central Division be beholden to the other Leagues Central Division teams every year as if they are in the same Division? That is just an abitrary method of creating "perfect" math in my opinion.
The point of Inter-League play to me is fun and a chance to play everyone over time.
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SenorXM
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| Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 8:51 am Post subject: |
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There will be a lot of screaming by the AL teams who are in the playoff hunt in September when they have to go to NL stadiums and play without their DH.
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TheGunslinger
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| Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 10:27 am Post subject: |
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| SenorXM wrote: | | There will be a lot of screaming by the AL teams who are in the playoff hunt in September when they have to go to NL stadiums and play without their DH. |
That's why it makes no sense whatsoever to play Inter-League all season; that would fundamentally change the makeup of the American League.
Sorry - we don't want to be like the NL. The fans like the DH in our towns.
Keep the mix fun like the games they play in the last week of Spring Training. Maybe start the season a week earlier if there is not enough time to flex the schedule.
We don't need 3 game series or even series with Inter-League. Do like college football home one year and away the next. A couple of relatively short periods of two game hops would be fun for the fans and doable for MLB.
I want to play Cincinnati in a one and one and then maybe play the Mets the next cycle in that portion of the schedule. I sure don't want the Tigers beholden to ANY NL Division for standings every year.
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Thomps2525
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| Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 11:54 am Post subject: |
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| Golly gee, a few decades ago this was all so simple: there were no "divisions" and the World Series included the first-place National League team and the first-place American League team. (I'll save my complaint about calling it a World Series for another time.) I know that having thousands of playoff games makes for high tv ratings and advertising dollars but am I alone in wishing we could go back to the original format? Two first-place teams. They play each other. Simple! |
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TheGunslinger
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| Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 8:17 pm Post subject: |
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| Thomps2525 wrote: | | Golly gee, a few decades ago this was all so simple: there were no "divisions" and the World Series included the first-place National League team and the first-place American League team. (I'll save my complaint about calling it a World Series for another time.) I know that having thousands of playoff games makes for high tv ratings and advertising dollars but am I alone in wishing we could go back to the original format? Two first-place teams. They play each other. Simple! |
Yeah you are the only one, unless you are willing to get rid of all of the teams added since 1961.
You got that list handy?
I do.
| Quote: | The 14 Expansion Era teams, first season and overall winning percentage:
Los Angeles Angels, 1961, .498
Washington Senators/Texas Rangers, 1961, .472
New York Mets, 1962, .479
Houston Astros, 1962, .498
Kansas City Royals, 1969, .482
Seattle Pilots/Milwaukee Brewers, 1969, .474
San Diego Padres, 1969, .464
Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals, 1969, .475
Toronto Blue Jays, 1977, .497
Seattle Mariners, 1977, .468
Florida Marlins, 1993, .479
Colorado Rockies, 1993, .478
Arizona Diamondbacks, 1998, .491
Tampa Bay Rays, 1998, .437 |
In summary: there are now 14 more teams or almost twice as many total as there were before baseball expanded. They are going to add two more most think; so soon they will need to realign again for that.
I'm thinking they will soon have 4 Divisions of 4 teams in each League, and we will be crying about November World Series unless they pry the "sudden death" wild-cards out of the picture.
Going back to old ways doesn't work well with this many teams and the expectation of playoffs in all spectator sports these days.
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SenorXM
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| Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2011 6:01 am Post subject: |
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I can see them using the DH in ALL regular season interleague games.. No matter where the game is played. Maybe not right away, but in the near future I can see that happening.
I think the NL would have a less of a problem doing that than the AL will have playing important games in September without a DH.
Anyway, like in basketball, there are too many teams. There's about 8 teams in baseball that should be cut, they have no chance of holding onto, or getting big name players or competing with the big market teams.. Then sometimes even when they can compete, like in Tampa Bay, they can't draw shit attendance-wise anyway.
But we know that will never happen..
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