MLB Realignment?

That's right, I'm back, and it's a baseball post. It's hard to believe that it has been six months since my last post, and boy was I wrong about those Falcons. But now we move on to the sport currently being played around the country: baseball.

The talk going on at the moment is that baseball may realign. The last time this happened was the split into three divisions per league, and the move of Milwaukee to the National League from the American League.

I'm of the opinion that the product has gotten stale and this is evidenced by the somewhat sagging attendance numbers and ratings. So, how would I fix it?

My idea requires six teams to swap leagues, and one team to switch divisions. Here is the current layout.

American League

East: New York Yankees, Boston, Baltimore, Toronto, Tampa Bay

Central: Minnesota, Cleveland, Chicago White Sox, Kansas City, Detroit

West: Oakland, Texas, Seattle, Los Angeles Angels

National League

East: Atlanta, Philadelphia, New York Mets, Florida, Washington

Central: Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh, Houston, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Milwaukee

West: San Francisco, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego, Colorado, Arizona

It is a known and publicized fact that Seattle is a beaten-down outlier in the AL West, and Toronto is sick and tired of being in the shadow of the three-headed Tampa-Boston-New York Cerberus. So those two are up for moving around, and their dancing partners will be revealed shortly. The third team swap that I would pitch is Kansas City to the NL and Pittsburgh to the AL. Both franchises have been mired in mediocrity that switching leagues may just be the spark they need.

Now, the talk at the moment is that the Union wants to have 15 teams in each league, which seems good and balanced until you realize that such alignment would require either continual interleague play throughout the year, or two teams having entire series off.

I would maintain the league names and division names. So here's what my MLB would look like. Teams switching leagues are in bold. Teams switching divisions are in bold italics.

American League

East: New York Yankees, Boston, Baltimore, Washington, Tampa

Central: Cleveland, Chicago White Sox, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Detroit

West: Oakland, Los Angeles Angels, Texas, Houston

National League

East: Atlanta, Philadelphia, Florida, New York Mets, Toronto

Central: Chicago Cubs, St. Louis, Kansas City, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Colorado

West: San Diego, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco, Arizona, Seattle

Washington moves to the AL East, and into a natural geographic rivalry with Baltimore. The Pirates join the AL Central. Houston leaves the NL Central and joins the AL West and a natural rivalry with the Rangers.

The Blue Jays get out from under Boston and the Yankees, but still get to play divisional games in New York, and also get the Braves and the Phillies coming to town. The Royals move into the NL Central, as do the Rockies. You might as why, but several Central division teams are closer to Denver than San Francisco is. The Mariners move into a much more logistically friendly division in the NL West.

We keep the 16/14 alignment and maintain four playoff teams per league. Some people are suggesting to up the number of playoff teams, but look at the NHL and the NBA. Their playoffs last nearly two months. The NFL has six teams per conference in the playoffs and they barely go five weeks.

Other options being bandied about include contracting two teams, or splitting into two divisions per league instead of three. Obviously, I prefer my idea.