Off Topic: MLB Realignment

One of the hot topics around the MLB world recently has been division realignment. It’s time for MLB to take a step away from its "purist" form and do what is fair. It is time to put the same number of teams in each league and balance out the schedules. Here are a few possible alignments the MLB could switch to. Some are realistic and some are a little more outrageous.

1. This is the simplest realignment. It only involves the Astros moving from the 6 team NL Central to the 4 team AL West. This creates 6, 5-team divisions and 2, 15-team conferences. The drawback to having even conferences is that there are an odd number of teams in each conference so you must have at least one interleague series going on at a time. I don't see why this is an issue as every other major North American sport already does this including the NBA and NFL.

NL East	NL Central	NL West
Atlanta Braves	Cincinnati Reds	Colorado Rockies
Philadelphia Phillies	Chicago Cubs	Arizona Diamondbacks
New York Mets	Milwaukee Brewers	Las Angeles Dodgers
Florida Marlins	Pittsburgh Pirates	San Diego Padres
Washington Nationals	St. Louis Cardinals	San Francisco Giants

AL East	AL Central	AL West
Boston Red Sox	Cleveland Indians	Houston Astros
New York Yankees	Detroit Tigers	Texas Rangers
Baltimore Orioles	Chicago White Sox	Las Angeles Angels
Tampa Bay Rays	Kansas City Royals	Oakland Athletics
Toronto Blue Jays	Minnesota Twins	Seattle Mariners

2. If you want to take it a step further you can realign the divisions based on geographic location. In this economy even a professional sports team should be looking on ways to cut down on travel costs. This model divides the teams by location.

NL East	NL Central	NL West
Florida Marlins	Philadelphia Phillies	Houston Astros
Tampa Bay Rays	Pittsburgh Pirates	Texas Rangers
Atlanta Braves	Cleveland Indians	Colorado Rockies
St. Louis Cardinals	Cincinnati Reds	Arizona Diamondbacks
Kansas City Royals	Detroit Tigers	San Diego Padres

AL East	AL Central	AL West
Boston Red Sox	Chicago Cubs	Seattle Mariners
New York Mets	Chicago White Sox	San Francisco Giants
New York Yankees	Milwaukee Brewers	Oakland Athletics
Baltimore Orioles	Minnesota Twins	Las Angeles Dodgers
Washington Nationals	Toronto Blue Jays	Las Angeles Angels

3. Yet another model based on geographic location. This one is unique because it creates a division for California tams to call their own. It also puts closer together teams from the north-east together. One drawback is that this will create a super division of the Phillies, Yankees, and Res Sox.  But through time things should change. And has anybody thought about realigning the leagues instead of National and American but now East and West?

EL New England	EL Atlantic	EL Midwest
Boston Red Sox	Baltimore Orioles	Toronto Blue Jays
New York Yankees	Washington Nationals	Detroit Tigers
New York Mets	Atlanta Braves	Cleveland Indians
Philadelphia Phillies	Tampa Bay Rays	Cincinnati Reds
Pittsburgh Pirates	Florida Marlins	St. Louis Cardinals

WL Central	WL Frontier	WL California
Chicago White Sox	Houston Astros	San Francisco Giants
Chicago Cubs	Texas Rangers	Oakland Athletics
Milwaukee Brewers	Colorado Rockies	Las Angeles Dodgers
Minnesota Twins	Arizona Diamondbacks	Las Angeles Angels
Kansas City Royals	Seattle Mariners	San Diego Padres

4. Yet another geographical influenced realignment. This one breaks up the Yankees from Boston and from the Mets. This alignment features more balanced divisions and features both good and bad teams in all divisions. And do you even need leagues anymore? You could just take the top 8 or ten teams in baseball and put them in the playoffs.

Atlantic	North	Mid West
Boston Red Sox	New York Yankees	Cincinnati Reds
New York Mets	Toronto Blue Jays	Chicago White Sox
Philadelphia Phillies	Pittsburgh Pirates	Chicago Cubs
Baltimore Orioles	Cleveland Indians	Milwaukee Brewers
Washington Nationals	Detroit Tigers	Minnesota Twins

South East	South	West
Florida Marlins	St. Louis Cardinals	Colorado Rockies
Tampa Bay Rays	Kansas City Royals	Las Angeles Dodgers
Atlanta Braves	Arizona Diamondbacks	Oakland Athletics
Houston Astros	San Diego Padres	San Francisco Giants
Texas Rangers	Las Angeles Angels	Seattle Mariners

5. Bear with me on my final suggestion. This would be more of a rotating division format, updated every couple years based on past performance. In this setup you would have the most parity and the most fairness. Every league is as competitive as the next. Best 8 or 10 teams make the playoffs every year. 

Ruth Division	Wagner Division	Koufax Division
New York Mets	Boston Red Sox	New York Yankees
Cincinnati Reds	Toronto Blue Jays	Cleveland Indians
Texas Rangers	Milwaukee Brewers	Minnesota Twins
Arizona Diamondbacks	Kansas City Royals	Houston Astros
Seattle Mariners	San Diego Padres	Oakland Athletics

Mays Division	Williams Division	Ryan Division
Philadelphia Phillies	Baltimore Orioles	Tampa Bay Rays
Washington Nationals	Florida Marlins	Detroit Tigers
Atlanta Braves	St. Louis Cardinals	Pittsburgh Pirates
Chicago White Sox	Colorado Rockies	Chicago Cubs
Las Angeles Dodgers	Las Angeles Angels	San Francisco Giants