A Letter to Bud Selig

Dear Mr. Selig,

I am aware that the state of Major League Baseball dictates a change of the current divisional layout.  The divisions have been unbalanced for years and need reshaping in order to increase the fairness in a way that maintains the integrity of the game.  While in certain occasions I consider myself a baseball purist, I have learned that change can be good for the game.  Balancing divisions and adding another team to the playoffs would increase fan interest, and give more teams a shot at postseason play.  However, there have been rumors that a solution to the unbalanced divisions would be to move the Houston Astros from the National League Central to the American League West, giving both divisions five teams a piece.  While I see that this is an easy and quick change that can be made, I feel that it would unfairly affect fans of the game whose loyalty could rest with multiple teams.

New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles all have two teams in each city (as I’m guessing you know) one American League and one National League.  This allows fans to effectively root for both of their home teams over 95% of the time (allowing for 6 interleague games a year against each other).  Everyone will have their one favorite team; for example: Cubs fans live and die on the north side, but will root for the White Sox as well, and Yankees fans will pick the Yankees over the Mets any day but still can go to Mets games and root for them.  They are what I like to call dual citizenship fans.  They belong to both the Cubs Nation and the White Sox Nation.  This is why putting teams like this in the same division would be a terrible idea, alienating fans who have cheered for both squads for years. 

Texas is a special place.  It is the biggest and best place in the world, and although the Rangers and Astros don’t play in the same city, because they are both in Texas they are loved by fans all across the second largest state in the country.  They might as well be in the same city.  Putting them in the same division would be disastrous to the Astros and Rangers dual citizenship fans.  Fans like me who lived in Houston until I graduated High School and currently live in Fort Worth.  I am a Rangers fan for all but six days a year when they are playing the Astros.  If the two were moved into the same division it would cause the Rangers to lose a great fan, rather than gain the interest of others.  I know I am only one man, but I know that there are many more like me who would be so hurt by the two Texas teams having to compete for the same division.  That is why I have devised a couple of alternate options for realignment. 

First of all I must preface the fact that both of these options assume that we will be moving to two 15 team leagues; thus giving everyone a rolling interleague schedule rather than the set aside weeks that are currently in place.   

Option 1   

Move the Milwaukee Brewers back to the American League, where they were prior to 1994.  The Brewers were moved to even out the leagues giving each league an even number allowing for a better interleague schedule.  I wouldn’t call the Brewers initial move an unsuccessful experiment, thoughts have changed over the past 15+ years and we have found that the idea of two 15 team leagues is not as bad an idea as initially thought.  The Brewers have been in the National League for the shortest amount of time (other than the expansion Diamondbacks of course) and would easily move back to the American League.  I would then place the Brewers in the American League Central where they would geographically fit in with the White Sox, Twins, Tigers, and Indians.  I would then move the Royals to the American League West giving the Rangers a division rival that is closer than Anaheim.  This would even out both leagues and I believe improve both divisions.  It would be a simple quick move that would cause a minimal amount of confusion for everyday fans. 

Option 2       

Move the Arizona Diamondbacks to the American League West and move the Astros to the National League West.  Doing so would still give the Rangers a closer division rival than the Angels, as well as even up the leagues and divisions.  Although the Astros aren’t the best geographic fit for the West division, the travel plans haven’t affected the Rangers too much since they were put in the American League West years ago.  It would have to be the Astros that moved from the Central because the Cubs and Cardinals have to stay in the same division in order to maintain the rivalry they have developed over the years.  Also, the Pirates, Brewers, and Reds could not travel that kind of distance for every division game.  Arizona has not developed any major rivalry inside their division, and this would give Texas fans the ability to still root for both their teams. 

These two options would even up the leagues, what you do with both leagues after that is another story.  Mike Greenberg of Mike and Mike In the Morning (which I know you watch) has been trying to sell his plan of two 15 team leagues, allowing the top six teams into the playoffs.  Every team would play a balanced schedule, playing each team in the opposite league three times a piece, giving them roughly 8 games apiece against the teams in their own league.  I love the idea of evening up the schedules, giving teams like Baltimore and Toronto more of a chance, and I think overall this plan is a very good one.  The only flaw I see in the plan (and as Bob Costas said on Mike and Mike In the Morning, every plan will inevitably have flaws) is that there is a possibility of good teams playing meaningless games in September.  The one thing I hate about the NBA is the fact that teams like the Lakers, the Heat, and the Celtics, who are going to make the playoffs regardless, play games that mean nothing toward the end of the season.  In February the Lakers can lose three or four in a row with little to no consequences because they have clinched a playoff spot weeks before the playoffs begin.  I fear that this will happen to the top tier teams every year, clinching playoff spots with three or more weeks to play in the regular season.  I personally like the current division rivalries, but agree that something has to change for teams like the Orioles who have to play the Yankees and Red Sox 18 or 19 times a year and are vying for the same Wild Card spot as any other team not in the American League East that only has to play those two teams a handful of times.  What would be wrong with keeping the divisions, but lowering the number of games played within the divisions?  If we kept Greeny’s idea of playing each team in the other league three times a piece, then each team played the teams in their division 12 times; it would leave 69 games to be divided up amongst the other 10 teams in their respective league.  I think this would help give more teams a chance while maintaining division rivalries. 

I know that you have a very difficult job, and in the end will do whatever is best for Major League Baseball, I just hope that my ideas could give you a different perspective on things.  Losing one of my teams would be devastating, especially since for me the team that I would lose would be from the area I currently live in.  Change is needed, but I think that there are avenues of change that can affect a smaller number of people and still bring fans to this great game.  

Sincerely,

John Briese.      

http://notyourusualsportsguy.blogspot.com           

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Posted in: Bud Selig,Houston Astros,MLB realignment,Texas Rangers

He is Only One Man...Unfortunately

Who is more important to their respective team, Cliff Lee or Mariano Rivera?  With all the talk that surrounds the Phillies starting rotation this season, being dubbed by some as “the greatest ever”, questions have been raised whether the team’s starting pitching is more important than who gets the ball with a lead in the ninth inning.  I’ve heard one analyst on TV note that he would trade any one of the Phillies starting pitchers for Mariano Rivera just to sure up the latter innings.  I am inclined to agree with him. 

The Texas Rangers are asking themselves the question of what is more important, a frontline starter, or a sure thing closer.  Neftali Feliz took the American League by storm last season saving 40 games in 43 opportunities and winning the Rookie of the Year award.  Feliz combined his effortless motion, a fastball that can reach 100+ when he wants it to, and his young tenacity to give the Rangers something they had not possessed in a few years, confidence in the late innings.  However Feliz has expressed his interest in moving from the bullpen to the starting rotation, much like the Rangers former closer C.J. Wilson did last season.  Wilson finished with 15 wins last season, and pitched very well in the postseason after making his move to the starting rotation. The difference though is that Wilson could be erratic as a closer and set up man, and never instilled the confidence in management as a late innings man that Feliz has done.  So what does Ron Washington, John Daniels, and Nolan Ryan do?

The Rangers have a gaping hole in their rotation since Cliff Lee flew to Philly leaving Wilson and Colby Lewis as the only veteran starters in the rotation.  They were hit with a blow late Friday when they learned that 13 game winner Tommy “Big Game” Hunter will be out at least six weeks with a strain in his groin and will start the season on the DL.  With Brandon Webb “nowhere close” to being ready to start according to the Rangers, they are left with the 3, 4, and 5 spots in the rotation to the likes of Matt Harrison, Derek Holland, and most likely either Mark Lowe or Alexi Ogando.  A starting rotation that could give Rangers fans expectations for a lot of 15-13 games much like the one this past Thursday against the Reds.  Washington has already come out and said that Feliz will be the closer this season because that is where he is most needed right now, but the question remains whether his rotation will be able to sustain leads long enough for him to come into the game in the ninth. 

Personally I agree with Washington and think that Feliz is needed most in the bullpen, because I would rather have the closer that gives me the confidence that the game is over after the 8^th inning, than a starter who can regularly go eight innings every five days.  It may sound dumb to some, but I would rather have Brian Wilson in the 9^th then have Felix Hernandez in innings 1-8.  I would know that 95% of the games where my team took a lead into the ninth inning, we would come out victorious, and that to me is worth more than anything a starting pitcher could ever give me.  Feliz is an amazing talent, and could be a great starting pitcher someday, but for now he needs to accept the role he has been given as the guy who will shut the door on opposing teams whenever he is needed.  Although the Rangers starting rotation is looking slim, they will find ways to get to Feliz in the ninth; but moving him to the starting rotation would be a mistake right now without a suitable replacement for the closer role.        

The Rangers are entering the season as the reigning American League Champions, but with less than a week from opening day they still have major concerns when it comes to who will be on the mound day in and day out.  They know a couple things, that C.J. Wilson, the teams new Ace will be taking his blue glove to the mound on Opening Day, and they know that Neftali Feliz will be the one getting the ball in the ninth; everything else, they are hoping, will just fall into place.  Until science allows the Rangers to clone Feliz and put him both in the rotation and as the closer, they will have to settle for only using him for one role.  For now he is only one man, and can only do one job…unfortunately.       

Image provided by www.profantasybaseball.com   

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Posted in: Neftali Feliz,Not Your Usual Sports Guy,Sports,Texas Rangers