This affects this moving forward so I thought I'd make a thread rather than catch a post here and there scattered among other subjects like realignment. There are many ways to say NO, but Oakland politicians did so by saying YES to an untenable plan that the A's will not agree to. It accomplishes three things for the politicians. It gives them cover from those who would be upset that they wouldn't negotiate a mutually beneficial deal with the A's with a YES vote, it strengthens their power base for corruption by incorporating huge additional spending that will need their approval and thus supply the basis for paying bribes for their approval and it delays the A's relocation efforts. The A's SHOULD proceed on the assumption that they WILL move and I would like to seem them move to the Eastern Time zone (Nashville) to facilitate realignment by time zones. Currently there are 14 teams on Eastern Time, 8 teams On Central Time, 2 teams on Mountain Time and 6 teams on Pacific Time. A move from the Pacific to the Eastern time zone would permit all but one five team division to play it's division games within it's own time zone and eliminate the crossing of two time zones for the ALW for division play. 3 5-team Eastern Divisions 1 5-tean Central Division 1 5-team Central/Mountain Division 1 5-team Pacific Division
I have a map that I can't upload, but here is the proposal: Eastern Division 1: New England BOS NYY NYM PHI TOR Eastern Division 2: Midwest DET CLE PIT CIN (NAS) Eastern Division 3: South BAL WASH ATL TBR MIA Central Division 1: Great Lakes CHW CHC MIL MIN STL Central/Mountain Division: Near West HOU DAL KCR COL ARI Pacific Division: West SEA SFG LAD LAA SDP
I'm gonna go out on a limb and say MLB isn't gonna restructure the entire sport (and eliminate the AL and NL) because one team moved. Kansas City moves to the west, Nashville to the central, that's it.
I agree with this and it would be a good thing to add another team in the Central time zone to the AL West.
I wouldn't expect the the AL and NL structure to go away. Place the divisions as you please. There isn't any real difference between them anymore.
Interesting idea. Unfortunately, if there is even the slightest hint that it might be good for Houston, Manfred will nix the idea.
Didn't you hear? New rule was passed that says "American League teams that go to four straight ALCS must forfeit all draft picks. (Only applies to qualifying teams from 2017-2020)."
There will almost always be some teams in adjoining divisions which are closer than the most remote teams of any division. while PHI and BAL are close, putting them in the same division creates overlapping divisions and greater distances in adjoining geographic divisions. Minimal changes could be made which would solve no existing issues. But not solving problems is often the most likely proposal.
Why Nashville? Other than them stealing the Oilers, I'm not sure what qualifies them over other candidates. Like RM95 said, Vegas is almost certainly the destination.
I'll have to rethink this. Nashville is in the Central Time Zone so that leaves 14 ETZ, 9 CTZ, 2 MTZ and 5 PTZ teams. The advantage of Oakland moving to the ETZ won't be solved by a move to the CTZ. My primary objective is to minimize travel across time Zones and secondarily to minimize total travel withing time zones. A five team Pacific Zone solves one time zone issue and fifteen ETZ teams would solve three, but 14 ETZs means only two could be resolved. This means at least one CTZ team would be required in an otherwise ETZ. So the result is two multi TZ diviisons instead of just one. Las Vegas is in the PTZ so we're back to 6 teams in the west and requires at least two teams to cross two time zones since there are only two MTZ teams to add to the extra PTZ team. This is why Texas Teams have to cross two time zones to play three division rivals now. And as another poster has said, Manfred has no problem with that. I wonder how he's react o the Yankees and Boston being in the same division as the Giants, Dodgers and Mariners? He'd have a conniption fit.
They're certainly a candidate. But their chances of remaining in Oakland look slim to me now. San Antonio could be checked out and Jacksonville might work. It's typical to shop around to see who can provide a better support package and tax package from among cities with a population willing to support the franchise. Texas and Florida are growing and though growing, I still think of Vegas as dynamic, but small. Wasn't Vegas billed as the biggest LITTLE CITY in America?
