I admit that I Ken Rosenthal sits on my last nerve like no other sports writer. I don’t know why. Even when I agree with him, it makes my stomach tighten. 
Today I came across an article of his that did nothing to change that.
This article in particular. Blow up the leagues? Pull the Yankees and the Red Sox out of the same division because now on top of making money they have diminished any “intellectual advantage” low budget teams may have had? Oh the poor Marlins, they made more money in revenue sharing than they put into their lineup.
The last 10 years have proven that baseball is fine the way it is. The Rays almost won the World Series. The Phillies did win it (and they’re from a small market). The Angels, the White Sox. You get the point.
Baseball doesn’t have to be fixed. It doesn’t have to be like the NFL. The Yankees and Red Sox rivalry has been around for a long time and it is good for baseball.
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Well now, if you are saying that we should add the DH to the NL, I agree wholeheartedly. If Wang didn’t have to run the basepaths in Pittsburgh two years ago, he’d still be a Yankee today. Guarantee that.
I’m not saying there’s any easy solution, and no I don’t think just a realignment is going to work. I’m just saying baseball is IMO less interesting now … it is now officially rare for half of the AL postseason teams to NOT be NY and Boston. Obviously realignment isn’t going to change that, unless one team gets moved to the NL, which is REALLY drastic.
Yes the Rays had their good run, but one year later the East was not even close.
The idea of a New Jersey team did seem kinda interesting … but on the other hand, the NY market already has the Mets. I wonder what would happen if the Mets were able to build a dynasty?
As far as the NL is concerned, I’d be interested to hear what you mean about “worrying about what the AL is doing.” In one sense I do think they need to worry about it–what is the point of forcing teams to put .150 hitters in their lineup? How is that good baseball? Especially when it comes time for AL pitchers to do it.
Pingback: uberVU - social comments
BTW, CVH, Do you have a suggestion on how to fix the NL? That might be a fun post.
“The Yankees and Red Sox rivalry has been around for a long time and it is good for the Yankees, Red Sox, their fans, and television networks.”
Fixed that for you. Rigid adherence to tradition will do one thing: ensure that baseball becomes the realm of diehards, because they are the only ones that care. The rest of us care primarily about seeing our teams in the postseason. And right now the AL wild card basically exists to make sure your rivalry gets to extend into October. The wild card has only been won by other divisions 4 (of 15) times. The Central has only won it once.
Obviously there are other teams in MLB that can tangle with the Yankees or the Red Sox; I’m not hearing anyone denying that. And I know the big market teams are going to have the occasional season where they’ve put together their own personal All-Star team, like last year’s Yankees. I’m not saying it isn’t fun to watch on occasion.
But the AL East is a mess. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be a Blue Jays fan–seeing their empty stands is saddening. You want to know what’s good for baseball? The fact that no other divisions are so unbalanced.
And the National League as a whole is a joke. You obviously don’t take them seriously yourself. So how can you say that baseball is fine?
Hi CVH,
Thanks for stopping by and giving your thoughts I appreciate that.
I’m not sure that I agree that the AL east is a joke. Just two years ago the Rays went to the World Series. The National League is a joke. I think that’s because they have spent too much time worrying about what the AL is doing or not doing and how they can get part of that money instead of working on building better teams.
Do you think Rosenthal’s idea is a good one? Do you have an idea for changing the alignment?