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Major League and minor league baseball realignment

Started by Desert Man, April 29, 2018, 11:47:47 PM

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Desert Man

I predict by the year 2030, there will be 34 major league baseball teams, with the American and National leagues have 17 teams each. The new teams in the 2020s are Brooklyn (the Bulldogs) and Sacramento (Golden Retrievers) in the AL, and Montreal (Expos) and Portland (Pioneers) in the NL. This means the two triple-A leagues the Pacific Coast League has 17 and International League has 17, I predict 2 Tennessee teams in Memphis and Nashville will be in Int'l. The 3 double-A leagues: Eastern has 14, Southern has 12 and Texas has 10. Class-A leagues: the top level California has 12, Carolina has 10 and Florida State has 12. The low level Midwest has 16 and South Atlantic has 16, while 1 in CA and FL leagues serve as low-level teams. Short-season A New York-Penn has 16, Northwest has 10 and my fantasy Alaska has 6. Advanced rookie Appalachian has 14, Pioneer has 12 and my fantasy Hawaii has 8. And the Arizona and Florida leagues have 16 each, with 2 APL teams serve as lowest rookie. In foreign leagues, The Dominican Republic and Venezuelan rookie have 14 each, while Puerto Rico has 6 teams with Major League team affiliations. I predict AL East and West, as well NL East and West have 6 teams while AL Central and NL Central has 5 each.   
Get your kicks...on Route 99! Like to turn 66 upside down. The other historic Main street of America.


Alps


KeithE4Phx

Quote from: Desert Man on April 29, 2018, 11:47:47 PM
I predict by the year 2030, there will be 34 major league baseball teams, with the American and National leagues have 17 teams each. The new teams in the 2020s are Brooklyn (the Bulldogs) and Sacramento (Golden Retrievers) in the AL, and Montreal (Expos) and Portland (Pioneers) in the NL.

The days of three NYC teams ended 60 years ago.  Montreal is still a possibility, but a team is more likely to move there.  That team is the Tampa Bay Rays if they don't get a new ballpark in the next 5 years.  Another (slim) possibility is the Oakland A's.  Portland and Sacramento are big enough to support the NBA, but not MLB.

QuoteThis means the two triple-A leagues the Pacific Coast League has 17 and International League has 17, I predict 2 Tennessee teams in Memphis and Nashville will be in Int'l. The 3 double-A leagues: Eastern has 14, Southern has 12 and Texas has 10. Class-A leagues: the top level California has 12, Carolina has 10 and Florida State has 12. The low level Midwest has 16 and South Atlantic has 16, while 1 in CA and FL leagues serve as low-level teams. Short-season A New York-Penn has 16, Northwest has 10 and my fantasy Alaska has 6. Advanced rookie Appalachian has 14, Pioneer has 12 and my fantasy Hawaii has 8. And the Arizona and Florida leagues have 16 each, with 2 APL teams serve as lowest rookie. In foreign leagues, The Dominican Republic and Venezuelan rookie have 14 each, while Puerto Rico has 6 teams with Major League team affiliations. I predict AL East and West, as well NL East and West have 6 teams while AL Central and NL Central has 5 each.

Your fantasies are not based on anything even close to reality.
"Oh, so you hate your job? Well, why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called "EVERYBODY!" They meet at the bar." -- Drew Carey

jp the roadgeek

If MLB is to expand, it should go to 32 teams.  At least this way, there will be 16 teams in each league, and there would not have to be an interleague series in each series window.  The two cities I have slotted for teams are Montreal and either Charlotte or Nashville.  One question is does Montreal go to the NL, as it was an NL city from 1969-2004, or should it go to the AL to have a territorial rivalry with the Blue Jays so that they meet more often?  Either way, there will be 8 divisions of 4 teams.  The playoff format would be similar to that of the NFL: 12 teams, 6 in each league.  Top 2 teams get byes.  The 3-6 and 4-5 are 1 game playoffs. The Division Round, LCS's and World Series remain in the same format.  The season is cut to 160 games: 16 games against each team your own division (48), 6 against each of the 12 teams in the other divisions (72), either 6 games against each team in one division in the other league OR 6 games against each interleague team that finished in the same spot in their division the previous year (24), plus 6 games against you interleague territorial rival (3H, 3A).

Another idea is radical realignment with 32 teams.  This idea would keep 162 games: 14 against divisional opponents (42), 6 against inter-divisional opponents (72), and 3 against each team in the other league (48).  This would emphasize geography, and teams would travel and play at home in pairs, with dedicated weeks around major holidays for divisional play, and a dedicated week just before the All-Star Break and the last week of the season to play your territorial rival.  So for example, if the Yankees and Mets were grouped together: in a week they went to Chicago, the Yankees would play at Wrigley and the Mets at Guaranteed Rate Tues-Thu, then they would switch spots Fri-Sun.

The alignments: 

Option 1: Montreal AL

AL East: BOS, MON, NYY, TOR
AL North:  CWS, CLE, DET, MIN
AL South: BAL, HOU, TB, TEX
AL West: KC, LAA, OAK, SEA
NL East: NYM, PHI, PIT, WAS
NL North: CHC, COL, MIL, STL,
NL South: ATL, CHA/NAS, CIN, MIA
NL West: ARZ, LAD, SD, SF

Option 2: Montreal NL

AL East: BAL, BOS, NYY, TOR
AL North: CLE, DET, CWS, MIN
AL South: CHA/NAS, HOU, TB, TEX
AL West: KC, LAA, OAK, SEA
NL East: MON, NYM, PHI, PIT
NL North: COL, CHC, MIL, STL
NL South: ATL, CIN, MIA, WAS
NL West: ARZ, LAD, SD, SF

OPTION 3: Radical Territorial Realignment (AL is the Eastern Conference, NL is the Western Conference) Note: I made certain exceptions to keep traditional territorial rivals together in the same division.

AL Atlantic: BOS, NYM, NYY, PHI
AL Lake: DET, MON, PIT, TOR
AL East: BAL, CIN, CLE, WAS
AL South: ATL, CHA/NAS, MIA, TB
NL Central: HOU, MIL, MIN, TEX
NL North: CHC, CWS, KC, STL
NL Mountain: ARZ, COL, SD, SEA
NL Pacific: LAA, LAD, OAK, SF




Interstates I've clinched: 97, 290 (MA), 291 (CT), 291 (MA), 293, 295 (DE-NJ-PA), 295 (RI-MA), 384, 391, 395 (CT-MA), 395 (MD), 495 (DE), 610 (LA), 684, 691, 695 (MD), 695 (NY), 795 (MD)

Desert Man

Quote from: KeithE4Phx on April 30, 2018, 12:29:53 AM
Quote from: Desert Man on April 29, 2018, 11:47:47 PM
I predict by the year 2030, there will be 34 major league baseball teams, with the American and National leagues have 17 teams each. The new teams in the 2020s are Brooklyn (the Bulldogs) and Sacramento (Golden Retrievers) in the AL, and Montreal (Expos) and Portland (Pioneers) in the NL.

The days of three NYC teams ended 60 years ago.  Montreal is still a possibility, but a team is more likely to move there.  That team is the Tampa Bay Rays if they don't get a new ballpark in the next 5 years.  Another (slim) possibility is the Oakland A's.  Portland and Sacramento are big enough to support the NBA, but not MLB.

QuoteThis means the two triple-A leagues the Pacific Coast League has 17 and International League has 17, I predict 2 Tennessee teams in Memphis and Nashville will be in Int'l. The 3 double-A leagues: Eastern has 14, Southern has 12 and Texas has 10. Class-A leagues: the top level California has 12, Carolina has 10 and Florida State has 12. The low level Midwest has 16 and South Atlantic has 16, while 1 in CA and FL leagues serve as low-level teams. Short-season A New York-Penn has 16, Northwest has 10 and my fantasy Alaska has 6. Advanced rookie Appalachian has 14, Pioneer has 12 and my fantasy Hawaii has 8. And the Arizona and Florida leagues have 16 each, with 2 APL teams serve as lowest rookie. In foreign leagues, The Dominican Republic and Venezuelan rookie have 14 each, while Puerto Rico has 6 teams with Major League team affiliations. I predict AL East and West, as well NL East and West have 6 teams while AL Central and NL Central has 5 each.

Your fantasies are not based on anything even close to reality.

They're adjusted in my fantasy version, so each major league baseball team has a triple-A, double-A, class- A (top, low and shortseason), and Rookie (advanced and beginner) levels.

I thought San Juan, Puerto Rico (AL) and Monterrey, Mexico (NL) would be great, but not realistic as well. Mexico and Puerto Rico have baseball fanfare, and Latin America is a new territory for the MLB. The A's might get a new stadium in Oakland or nearby areas. May the Rays move to Montreal or Brooklyn then, but the Yanks and Mets may block it.
Get your kicks...on Route 99! Like to turn 66 upside down. The other historic Main street of America.

SP Cook

Baseball is much more likely to contract than expand. 

Baseball in Florida is failing.  Combination of an over-saturated market, because there are nearly a thousand spring training games available at low cost, multiple levels of highly successful low cost minor league teams, bad (Tampa) and badly located (both) stadiums, and retirees/moved theres who keep other loyalties (in Miami even second and third generation natives consider some northern city they have never even been to "back home", only other place like they I have been is Las Vegas). 

The decline of several marginal markets in the north in size to the point teams cannot be supported, while it has been slowed, cannot be reversed.  The rust belt will continue to rust.

Oakland is stuck in a rotten stadium in a broke, and broken, state in a market that can probably support one and a half baseball teams. 

As to some of the cities mentioned.  Charlotte is just too small.  If the whole region is included, it works, but, unlike football, baseball needs fans on a Tuesday night.  That means just Charlotte, not the whole I-40/77/85 prosperity corridor.   Montreal is a big city, but we have seen this movie before.  The ultimate end of Tredeauism is economic failure which they compensate for by devaluing the C$.  Sports teams take in C$ and pay out US$, and unless you have a plan for it to work when Tredeau's chickens come home to roost, you don't have a plan.  Portland is too small and if you believe it nutty land use plan, not going to grow.  Nashville would be wedged between Atlanta and Cincinnati, both of which make a good effort at regional fans.  It would probably have to go it just with locals, which would be a challenge. 

NWI_Irish96

Number of teams isn't changing either way anytime soon.

I do think at some point the NL adopts the DH and shortly after that the AL and NL go away entirely.  Teams want more games in their own time zone, mostly because of TV/money reasons but also becuase of the reduced travel for the players.  This is what I think the divisions will look like in the future:

Northeast: TOR, BOS, NYY, NYM, PHI, PIT
Southeast: BAL, WAS, CIN, ATL, TB, MIA
Great Lakes: CLE, DET, CHW, CHC, MIL, STL
Midwest: MIN, KC, HOU, TEX, COL, ARI (don't love this name
Pacific: SEA, SF, OAK, LAA, LAD, SD

Six division winners get seeded 1-5 based on record and next five best records get seeded 6-10.  8/9 and 7/10 play in the wild card game, 1-6 get byes to the Divisional round.
Indiana: counties 100%, highways 100%
Illinois: counties 100%, highways 61%
Michigan: counties 100%, highways 56%
Wisconsin: counties 86%, highways 23%

hotdogPi

Clinched, minus I-93 (I'm missing a few miles and my file is incorrect)

Traveled, plus US 13, 44, and 50, and several state routes

I will be in Burlington VT for the eclipse.

jeffandnicole

Baseball in Montreal failed miserably.  I simply don't see the support up there.

I think Nashville is a bit underserved, and could host a team that wants to move from their current city. 

Being that Miami recently got a new stadium, I don't see that team moving anytime soon.  Tampa could've been swayed to move, but they're being swayed by a new stadium offer as well.  So that leaves the Florida teams staying put.

Henry

This is a wild fantasy, but if there were an Eastern League and a Western League, it would probably be something like this:

EASTERN LEAGUE
North: Boston, NY Mets, NY Yankees, Philadelphia, Toronto
Great Lakes: Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh
South: Atlanta, Baltimore, Miami, Tampa Bay, Washington

WESTERN LEAGUE
Midwest: Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Kansas City, Minnesota, St. Louis
Mountain: Arizona, Colorado, Houston, Seattle, Texas
California: LA Angels, LA Dodgers, Oakland, San Diego, San Francisco

Granted, this is just a prototype, but I could see it working well that way, with all the geographical groupings together.
Go Cubs Go! Go Cubs Go! Hey Chicago, what do you say? The Cubs are gonna win today!

MisterSG1

Quote from: jeffandnicole on April 30, 2018, 09:49:16 AM
Baseball in Montreal failed miserably.  I simply don't see the support up there.

Finally someone who gets it.

There are many things to consider with the Montreal factor, SP Cook mentioned the fluctuation of the Canadian dollar, which is important to the discussion but not the only factor.

The biggest elephant in the room before we talk about fan support, is where on the earth do they play? "The Big Owe" just won't cut it nowadays, and it definitely didn't cut it back then. A new ballpark would have to be constructed somewhere, I should remind you that the Expos in the late 90s almost got a retro ballpark built in Old Montreal, but the Quebec government vehemently said NO to help fund it. I should remind everyone that funding for sports venues isn't as easy to come by in Canada. As well, there would be incredible anxiety considering the incredible cost overruns of the Olympic Stadium in Montreal, and of the SkyDome in Toronto.

Had this downtown ballpark been built, perhaps the Expos may have survived? Who knows, or it may have been akin to shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic. Moving outdoors into an intimate atmosphere can either save you or break you. When the Montreal Alouettes of the CFL moved outside in 1997, they became very popular. When the Toronto Argonauts did the same, moving over to BMO Field in 2016, it did squat to help attendance. Many assumed that going outside would make the Argos more popular but it didn't whatsoever.

That brings us to fan support, even in that monumental 1994 season, they were averaging around 22,000 per game. In the last 5 years, they were around 10,000 per game. Conversely, across the 401, if the Blue Jays were having a monumental season like that, you wouldn't even be able to get into the dome unless you bought off a scalper. Now while in previous years, there were claims of 48,000 people attending Blue Jays preseason games in the Olympic Stadium, it should be noted that the novelty has worn off. Only 25,000 went to one of the games this preseason in Montreal.

So that's my rant about this issue.

KeithE4Phx

#11
Quote from: Henry on April 30, 2018, 10:09:37 AM
This is a wild fantasy, but if there were an Eastern League and a Western League, it would probably be something like this:

EASTERN LEAGUE
North: Boston, NY Mets, NY Yankees, Philadelphia, Toronto
Great Lakes: Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh
South: Atlanta, Baltimore, Miami, Tampa Bay, Washington

WESTERN LEAGUE
Midwest: Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Kansas City, Minnesota, St. Louis
Mountain: Arizona, Colorado, Houston, Seattle, Texas
California: LA Angels, LA Dodgers, Oakland, San Diego, San Francisco

Granted, this is just a prototype, but I could see it working well that way, with all the geographical groupings together.

Baseball, more than any other sport, is irretrievably steeped in its traditions and history.  Getting rid of the NL and AL completely is something that will likely never happen, despite the fact that they haven't been separate entities for many years.
"Oh, so you hate your job? Well, why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called "EVERYBODY!" They meet at the bar." -- Drew Carey

Rothman

A stadium in Old Montreal sounds like a city shooting itself in the foot.  Bulldoze what is one of your biggest tourist draws and retail revenue generators to put up a stadium?  Pure idiocy.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

MisterSG1

Quote from: Rothman on April 30, 2018, 11:32:45 AM
A stadium in Old Montreal sounds like a city shooting itself in the foot.  Bulldoze what is one of your biggest tourist draws and retail revenue generators to put up a stadium?  Pure idiocy.

To be fair, i don't know EXACTLY where it was going to be, someone with better experience in Montreal would know better than me.




NWI_Irish96

Quote from: 1 on April 30, 2018, 09:37:42 AM
Quote from: cabiness42 on April 30, 2018, 09:34:23 AM
1-6 get byes to the Divisional round.

Then 1 and 2 would have to get a second bye.

No, you have two wild card winners from the 8/9 and 7/10 games to complete the round of 8.
Indiana: counties 100%, highways 100%
Illinois: counties 100%, highways 61%
Michigan: counties 100%, highways 56%
Wisconsin: counties 86%, highways 23%

Desert Man

Quote from: SP Cook on April 30, 2018, 09:04:19 AM
Baseball is much more likely to contract than expand. 

Baseball in Florida is failing.  Combination of an over-saturated market, because there are nearly a thousand spring training games available at low cost, multiple levels of highly successful low cost minor league teams, bad (Tampa) and badly located (both) stadiums, and retirees/moved theres who keep other loyalties (in Miami even second and third generation natives consider some northern city they have never even been to "back home", only other place like they I have been is Las Vegas). 

The decline of several marginal markets in the north in size to the point teams cannot be supported, while it has been slowed, cannot be reversed.  The rust belt will continue to rust.

Oakland is stuck in a rotten stadium in a broke, and broken, state in a market that can probably support one and a half baseball teams. 

As to some of the cities mentioned.  Charlotte is just too small.  If the whole region is included, it works, but, unlike football, baseball needs fans on a Tuesday night.  That means just Charlotte, not the whole I-40/77/85 prosperity corridor.   Montreal is a big city, but we have seen this movie before.  The ultimate end of Tredeauism is economic failure which they compensate for by devaluing the C$.  Sports teams take in C$ and pay out US$, and unless you have a plan for it to work when Tredeau's chickens come home to roost, you don't have a plan.  Portland is too small and if you believe it nutty land use plan, not going to grow.  Nashville would be wedged between Atlanta and Cincinnati, both of which make a good effort at regional fans.  It would probably have to go it just with locals, which would be a challenge. 

Imagine 2 less teams in MLB, one of each league: The Tampa Bay Rays and San Diego Padres are not doing too good in wins, fans and revenue. Dispersal drafts for former Rays and Padres players, and their minor league teams have to go as independent without affiliation. If this is possible (about the year 2020), MLB would the 4th largest of 5 big North American major or pro sports leagues: NFL 32, NHL 31, NBA 30 and MLS 23-25?
Get your kicks...on Route 99! Like to turn 66 upside down. The other historic Main street of America.

Desert Man

#16
My own MLB alignment in the 2020s - bring back the two-division per league alignment and the Tampa Bay Rays relocate to Orlando FL. I feel Portland OR will have an expansion team and a third team for NYC in Brooklyn (if the Yankees and Mets agree), but the chances of Sacramento CA is as low as San Diego keeping the Padres-let's see what happens. Orlando doesn't have a minor league team currently, same with Portland OR. The triple-A Giants affiliate in Sacramento can either go to San Jose, current class-A Giants team site, or Tucson, AZ (currently has a Pecos League team, which I doubt will last long, since many Indy leagues fold up). Las Vegas tries to keep the triple-A A's affiliate, but I see Fresno CA gets the A's affiliation contract, and Sacramento's triple-A team in Reno (currently D-backs), and Arizona's in Las Vegas.

AMERICAN
EAST: Baltimore, Boston, Brooklyn (new), Chicago White Sox, Cleveland, Detroit, NY Yankees, Orlando (formerly Tampa, still called the Rays), Toronto.
WEST: Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles (actually Anaheim), Minnesota, Oakland, Sacramento, Seattle, Texas.

NATIONAL
EAST: Atlanta, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati, Miami, Montreal (new), NY Mets, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington.
WEST: Arizona, Colorado, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Portland (new), St. Louis, San Diego, San Francisco.
Get your kicks...on Route 99! Like to turn 66 upside down. The other historic Main street of America.

Alps

Way too many playoffs. Way too many one game playoffs. Screw that.
Five divisions. Six teams each. Winner of each division advances to the playoffs. 5 and 4 play a 5-game set. 1 and 4/5, 2 and 3 play a 7 game set. Then the World Series.
Don't like that? Six divisions, five teams each, just like we have now, but only six teams advance to the playoffs. Just like above. 3-6 play, 1-2 sit for a round. No AL | NL divisionality in the playoffs. Just win your division.
I want to see the same thing in every American sport: 32 teams in 8 divisions. That makes playoffs very clean: round of 8, round of 4, championship.

mgk920

The most recent labor-related stoppage a few years ago made me start thinking of the ultimate of realignments, that being deep-sixing the Minor League affiliations and reorganizing everything into an overseas model of team promotion and relegation (Major Leagues <-> AAA <-> AA <-> A <-> etc.).  Any discussion?

:hmmm:

Mike

SP Cook

Quote from: mgk920 on May 01, 2018, 01:00:19 AM
...overseas model of team promotion and relegation (Major Leagues <-> AAA <-> AA <-> A <-> etc.).  Any discussion?


That will not work in a North American context.   In, for example, England, there are multiple teams per city, and really only far fewer cities in the first place.  In North American, sports are regionalized with HUGE public spending on stadiums, and large, longterm, contracts that depend on future revenue to pay past players.  And there are regional networks, both TV and radio, that cover the "local" team, even if it is 100s of miles away.  That is where the real money in baseball is, the regional sports network (which is why people that say baseball is dying and cite a rating for a nationally televised game don't know what they are talking about, because 99% of games are on local TV and get HUGE ratings in their local market). 

You want to be the guy who tells Gillette that New Your and Los Angeles are AAA and being replaced by Boise and Louisville?


mgk920

Quote from: SP Cook on May 01, 2018, 09:19:37 AM
Quote from: mgk920 on May 01, 2018, 01:00:19 AM
...overseas model of team promotion and relegation (Major Leagues <-> AAA <-> AA <-> A <-> etc.).  Any discussion?


That will not work in a North American context.   In, for example, England, there are multiple teams per city, and really only far fewer cities in the first place.  In North American, sports are regionalized with HUGE public spending on stadiums, and large, longterm, contracts that depend on future revenue to pay past players.  And there are regional networks, both TV and radio, that cover the "local" team, even if it is 100s of miles away.  That is where the real money in baseball is, the regional sports network (which is why people that say baseball is dying and cite a rating for a nationally televised game don't know what they are talking about, because 99% of games are on local TV and get HUGE ratings in their local market). 

You want to be the guy who tells Gillette that New Your and Los Angeles are AAA and being replaced by Boise and Louisville?

The way to avoid that?  Play well enough to not be relegated.  And every now and then a 'big' team does go down.  A few years ago 'big market' team F.C. Köln was relegated from the Bündesliga.  A couple of years later they re-found their way and were promoted back.

The Chicago White Sox are off to a totally ATROCIOUS start this year.  As of this typing, they are 8-18 (.308), fourth worst in Baseball and would definitely be in the relegation hunt.  The teams that are worse and would be relegated if the season ended now are the Orioles (8-20 - .286), the Royals (7-21 - .250) and the Reds (7-22 - .241).

One difference between there and here - no intercollegiate sports 'there'.  If you want to play sports 'there', you join a local sports club.  That's why you see so many club teams at so many levels over there.  You'd also be surprised at how many Minor League and semi-pro baseball teams exist in North America, even in the major metros.

Small market teams that succeed on the field also capture the serious attention of fans.  Cases in point - Leicester City and even our own Green Bay Packers.

Mike

SP Cook

Quote from: mgk920 on May 01, 2018, 09:49:38 AM


Green Bay Packers.


The NFL is funded in a totally different way than the other three sports.  ALL NFL games are on network TV and they split the money equally. They even share the live gate.   There is no local contract (except for radio and exhibition games, which together don't add up to 1% of the revenue).  A team in that system can make it not only in Green Bay, but really anywhere. 

The other three sports do not work that way at all.  All have extensive revenues from LOCAL TV, LOCAL radio, and LOCAL live gate.

Further, if you put the White Sox, or the Reds, or whoever, in AAA, they would win every game.  Because in baseball, the players, from Rookie League through AAA all work for the MLB club.  That is how it works.  The owners of minor league teams have zero say in the on the field product.  Which is why they spend their time on goofy promotions and such.  The big clubs own everybody, and the top players are on the big club.  And then there is the Rule 5 Draft.  A good MLB club cannot even keep a player who is not good enough for it, but good enough for a lesser MLB club down at AAA or AA, because of Rule 5.


jp the roadgeek

While a promotion/relegation system would be interesting, it just wouldn't fly.  The first reason is that stadiums in the minor leagues are much smaller than MLB ballparks.  Many AAA ballparks barely hold 10,000, while most MLB venues hold over 40,000.  Plus, many of the minor league parks are antiquated and offer very little in the way of premium seating.  Second is travel: many minor league cities do not have the airport facilities to support major air travel.  Most MLB cities are hubs, and most minor league teams don't have team charters and would either have to incur the expense of purchasing one, or fly commercial and have to either find a high cost flight to an out of the way city or have to endure connecting flights to lesser cities.   Another reason is that the minor league teams are supplied with players from a MLB organization, and are not truly independent teams.  League Championship teams are not the equivalent of AAA affiliates of EPL teams; in the EPL, you can't call up prospects, send down struggling players, or send a player coming back from injury down to the Championship or Division 1 on a rehab assignment.  Just for laughs, if you did have a system such as that, and you promoted and relegated the participants of the IL and PCL Championship series and relegated the bottom 4 in MLB, you'd have MLB teams this year in Durham, Scranton-Wilkes Barre, Memphis, and El Paso, while the Tigers, Phillies, Reds, and Giants would be playing in AAA.  And what happens to superstars on these teams?  Seeing a superstar like Joey Votto having to play in places like Toledo and Pawtucket and ride the bus and play in front of 6000 on some nights while making $20 million a year and enduring inferior facilities and experiencing minimal television and media exposure would be a nightmare.  MLB would have to create a transfer window where players could be sold to other teams for the highest price, which would essentially destroy the free agency system, and the EPL does not have a players' union to deal with and sell this idea to (which would never fly). 
Interstates I've clinched: 97, 290 (MA), 291 (CT), 291 (MA), 293, 295 (DE-NJ-PA), 295 (RI-MA), 384, 391, 395 (CT-MA), 395 (MD), 495 (DE), 610 (LA), 684, 691, 695 (MD), 695 (NY), 795 (MD)

Jim

I don't think a relegation system should or ever would be implemented by MLB, but I think that relegation to AAA would not be the way it would work if tried.  Maybe something like this: you'd still have the 30 (or whatever number as this might entail/facilitate expansion) of MLB clubs and some would be in the "championship division" and some in the "other division".  Perhaps some overlap in schedules would exist like the current interleague but in the end, only championship division teams would play for a spot in the playoffs that lead to the World Series.  Maybe the others in the championship league would play in some sort of postseason to avoid relegation.  Other division teams would vie for their own championship and whatever number of the top teams would jump up to championship for the next season.  All of these, regardless of division are full-fledged MLB clubs with their own farm systems, etc.

If there's going to be a major change in MLB, I think what I'd be happiest to see is the elimination of the AL and NL and better geographically centered divisions, along the lines of what the NHL (mostly) does.
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Alps

Promotion and relegation only works in sports without a farm system. So how about MLS and the various soccer league in the USA?



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