Breaking Up Yankees, Red Sox Good For Mlb?

Recently, in Major League Baseball there has been some chatter about possibly realigning the divisions in an attempt to bring fairness.

The complaint about certain teams’ superiority starts in the off season with their ability to sign the best players. Do these other teams have a legitimate claim of things being unfair?

Since when does being “fair” apply to any facet of life? Is it fair that a baby born to a crack head will probably struggle in life and battle drug addiction?

This whole debate was sparked by the last seven years of dominance from AL East power house teams like the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. The dominance of these two teams makes it almost impossible for the other three teams in the division to have a chance at post season play.

Would breaking up the Yankees and Sox be good for baseball?

MLB commissioner, Bud Selig, and MLB owners, pay attention because I have the perfect solution for all your problems.

Don’t Disturb the B-EAST

Long time ESPN baseball writer, Jayson Stark, pointed out some great facts.  Baseball implemented this current wild card format 15 years ago. In the first eight years, the Yanks and Sox only made the post season together twice. In the last seven years, it has happened five times.

The Yanks vs. Sox rivalry is the most heated and hatred filled in all of baseball, maybe even in all of sports. To eliminate one of these teams from competing for the division crown would be a crime.

Baseball needs these teams to match up the way obese people need gastric bypass surgery.

By switching one of these teams to another division would cut out two-thirds of their meetings. Not to mention, moving one of them to the AL Central would crush the spirits of  the teams remaining in that Central division.

It would be similar to the producers replacing Scott Baio from Charles in Charge; the show would have never been the same.

Two-Party System

When all this talk started, I spoke with one of my best friends — the most knowledgeable baseball fan I know, Amos Kelsey.  Amos’s solution shares on thing in common with that of Stark, add a second wild card team.

His solution is to eliminate the Central by dividing the teams between east and west divisions. The winners of both east and west divisions are automatically in the post season. The two teams with the best records, regardless of east or west, fill the final two wild card positions.

Currently, all of the teams in the AL East will have to face the Yankees and Red Sox 18 times each. This is unbalanced and unfair that the AL Central and AL West only have to play them each six times.

By only having an east and west division, you can cut that number back to only 12 meetings a year and allow for 8 to 10 meetings total with teams they only previously played six times. This means a team like the Tampa Bay Rays would not only play less against their eastern counterparts, but also have three chances to get into the playoffs.

If you were to change the league anymore than this, you might as well just do like the NBA and let everyone in. The baseball post season should be difficult to get in. That is what makes it so special.

This would create the fairest situation for all major league teams. Now, we can listen to some of these tightwad owner’s blame how they can’t compete with other teams spending. Here is an idea. Stop hording all your profits like a pregnant chipmunk.

You Can Do Better

Recently the Milwaukee Brewers owner, Mark Attanasio, complained about how hard it was to re-sign their first baseman, Prince Fielder. He compared the Brewers payroll to that of the Yankees payroll spent on infielders alone.

ESPN writer, Andrew Marchand, reported the response of Yankees president, Randy Levine.

“I’m sorry that my friend Mark continues to whine about his running the Brewers,” Levine told ESPNNewYork.com in a phone interview, Tuesday morning. “We play by all the rules, and there doesn’t seem to be any complaints when teams such as the Brewers receive hundreds of millions of dollars that they get from us in revenue-sharing the last few years. Take some of that money that you get from us and use that to sign your players.”

I totally agree with Levine in this situation. Small-breasted women shouldn’t hate chicks that get implants; they should stop buying padded bras and get themselves some boobies, or quick hating.

Some teams can spend much more money than they do. They may have to go into the red momentarily, but ultimately, come out on top. If you put out an exciting, competitive product in Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Cleveland or a number of other cities with struggling major league teams, people will buy up your product.

Not Only About Green Backs

CBSSports.com 2009 MLB reported salaries shows three of the eight teams in post season last year had payrolls under 90 million. I know that seems like a lot, but with revenue sharing and selling a likeable, watchable product, you’re bound to make money.

The Detroit Tigers salary for last season was 115 million. We all know that no other city has been hit harder by these current times than Motown.

You have to spend money to be competitive — maybe not Yankee money, but at least slightly less than half. I’m sure that owners don’t cheat themselves out of having a luxurious lifestyle, so why sell your fans the generic brand?