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2011 MLB Season Thread.

Jabba is done for the season needed Tommy Johns Surgery. Colon pulled his hammy and is likely to miss a start or 2.

Now the big news of the day.

Sources: MLB, players talk realignment
A simple form of realignment being seriously considered has been raised in the labor talks between Major League Baseball and the players' association, according to four sources: two leagues of 15 teams, rather than the current structure of 16 teams in the National League and 14 in the American League.

According to a highly ranked executive, one consideration that has been raised in ownership committee meetings is eliminating the divisions altogether, so that 15 AL and 15 NL teams would vie for five playoff spots within each league. Currently, Major League Baseball has six divisions.

A source who has been briefed on the specifics of the labor discussions says that the players' union has indicated that it is open to the idea of two 15-team leagues, but that the whole plan still hasn't been talked through or presented to the owners.

Sources say the talks are serious, and while one executive believes the odds of change are less than 50-50, another says this is the type of discussion that can gather momentum and become a reality.

A sticking point involves interleague play. Because of the odd number of teams in each league, it is possible that a team in contention late in the season will have to be playing its final games in interleague play.

One of the biggest issues that would have to be resolved in any realignment resulting in two 15-team leagues is which of the National League teams would switch to the American League.

Two highly ranked executives believe the Houston Astros would be a possibility, because a switch to the AL for Houston would foster a rivalry between the Astros and the Texas Rangers.

The Marlins could be another candidate, a source suggested.

"There are still a lot of details that would have to be discussed," one source said.
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http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=6651634
 
einmusiker said:
Its inevitable and i wonder how the brewers will be affected. Will they get sent back to the al? That would be annoying
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The brewers were originally an AL team, why not move them back where they belong.

I would love to see a balanced schedule again. I hate playing one team 18 times and another only 3. I know it is weighted in the division but I miss seeing good teams in the rest of the county..
 
MacNut said:
The brewers were originally an AL team, why not move them back where they belong.

I would love to see a balanced schedule again. I hate playing one team 18 times and another only 3. I know it is weighted in the division but I miss seeing good teams in the rest of the county..
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Because theyve been in the nl for a while now and have established great rivalries with st louis, north chi, phi, etc

Sure as a non brewer fan im sure you dont care about those rivalries but for us it would be annoying as hell. Move someone else this time
 
The reason it's currently a 16/14 split rather than 15/15 is because without interleague play, there would always be a team not playing on a given day, and the MLB doesn't want teams to have off days on weekends. So does that mean there will always be one interleague game each weekend?

Sounds like it would go to more of an NHL model where one team will always be playing another from the other league, and divisions are mostly symbolic more than anything since playoff spots will go to the top X in the league and not the division. And I'm not sure if I like that at all.
 
MacNut said:
It looks like they would go with a year round mixed interleague.
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That I could live with, I don't mind interleague play and it would be nice to see more teams from the AL each year (seems like the Cards are always playing the same teams from the AL each season).

I don't like the playoff spot idea though, it seems like it would destroy division rivalries if you're not competing against the other teams in your division for a playoff spot. For example, if the Cards are competing with the Giants for a playoff spot, it's not as fun when they see each other at best 6 times a year (and the Cards and Giants have finished the season series). Part of what makes the current system great is that in September, you're probably going to be playing the division rival you're battling it out with for 1st place.
 
Agreed. I don't like the expanded playoffs idea. The season is long enough already and feel the DS and CS is enough to weed out the best teams to play in the World Series.
 
quagmire said:
Agreed. I don't like the expanded playoffs idea. The season is long enough already and feel the DS and CS is enough to weed out the best teams to play in the World Series.
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Agreed. Given the number of teams, I can see the justification for 8 teams in the playoffs, but it's a slippery slope from there to the NBA playoffs...

I'd be all for shortening the schedule 10 games and dropping some of the rest days in the playoffs, as well--MLB should be done by Halloween, period.
 
Get yur brooms out, crew sweeps the cards for first place. Marcum pitched a solid 7 and axford another strong save inning. These guys are for real. Mcghee and bettencourt need to start contributing offensively. Looking forward to this east coast trip ill be at yankee stadium for the stretch
 
sysiphus said:
Agreed. Given the number of teams, I can see the justification for 8 teams in the playoffs, but it's a slippery slope from there to the NBA playoffs...

I'd be all for shortening the schedule 10 games and dropping some of the rest days in the playoffs, as well--MLB should be done by Halloween, period.
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I don't want to see the divisions go away, the best fall baseball is the close races for first and wild card chases. 2 15 team leagues seems like it would lose a lot of juice. I would not mind adding another wild card and have a play in series. Best of 3 or a one and done series.
 
Wow, watching the game today and yesterday and seeing how the officiating team gives every close call to boston and the advantageous strike zone for them i can really see how the sox have turned their season around :rolleyes:
 
einmusiker said:
Wow, watching the game today and yesterday and seeing how the officiating team gives every close call to boston and the advantageous strike zone for them i can really see how the sox have turned their season around :rolleyes:
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Riiiight, because the Red Sox have played every game since May at Fenway Park. We went 8-1 on our last road trip, so that theory is stupid. We turned our season around because we're absolutely loaded with talent - pitching and offense with solid defense. It was only a matter of time.

Anyway, I hardly think a 10-4 whooping is the result of close calls gone against you.

I'm not sure how I feel about realignment, I suppose it depends on the proposal. I do agree some balancing needs to happen, playing the same teams 20 times gets old.
 
ender land said:
While April/May were not so fun to be a Twins fan, June sure has been so far :)
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theyre getting hot at the wrong time for me. Brewers play them 6 times coming up. At least we finally got off the schnide last night, Greinke pitched a gem with 10 ks.

Any thoughts on the NL central with Pujols out now should be between the brewers and reds. If the Brewers pitching holds up they should be able to take the division now, and if Axford stays consistent watch out for them to go deep in the playoffs.
 
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einmusiker said:
theyre getting hot at the wrong time for me. Brewers play them 6 times coming up. At least we finally got of the schnide last night, Greinke pitched a gem with 10 ks.

Any thoughts on the NL central with Pujols out now should be between the brewers and reds. If the Brewers pitching holds up they should be able to take the division now, and if Axford stays consistent watch out for them to go deep in the playoffs.
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Pujols couldn't hit his way out of a paper bag for April and most of May and the Cardinals were still in first. As long as our bullpen doesn't keep imploding, the Cardinals will still be in the race without Pujols.
 
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