This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Competitive Balance

I woke up, brushed my teeth, and threw on gym shorts and a cheap t shirt this morning hoping to get to school an hour early so I can recline my seat and sneak in a nap before school. Of course I lose my keys[1] and get flustered. My whole day is ruined. They ended up being in my trunk in case you were concerned. My whole routine is thrown off.

I hit extra traffic on the 57 freeway on my way to Cal State Fullerton but I still manage to get there 40 minutes before class started. Instead of my nap, I decide to check Twitter for some sports news and insight. One of my favorite baseball writers Jonah Keri retweeted a comment that woke me up instantly. I began foaming at the mouth with anger when I read it.

“Atlanta has played only 61 games against winning teams. Boston has played 103.”

Find out what's happening in Aliso Viejowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

For a league that used “competitive balance” as an excuse to get PEDs out of the sport, this discrepancy is ridiculous. A large part of this is due to the AL East being considerably better than the NL East. The Red Sox play the Rays, Yankees, and Orioles 54 times a year. All of them are winning teams. The Braves get to play the Phillies, Mets, and Marlins 54 times a year which is a gift.

Let’s look at a more glaring example. The Texas Rangers, currently battling for the last playoff spot in the American League, played 72 games against winning teams this season. Every team in the AL East played over 90 games against winning teams. How is it fair that these teams are playing to get to the same destination and have much different roads? The Rangers get to finish their season at home against the Astros[2] and Angels, both losing teams.

Find out what's happening in Aliso Viejowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Cleveland Indians, who are in the AL Central, a harder division than the AL West the Rangers play in, finish their season against the White Sox and Twins who are two of the worst three teams in the league.

Here comes the part where I whine about my team. The Orioles had to play 33 games in the last 34 days of the season. That is brutal for any team. Their last 20 games all came against AL East opponents, by far the best division in baseball. The Rangers and Indians schedule is a cake walk compared to the Orioles schedule. I am shaking and foaming at the mouth in anger as I write this.

I could be one of those writers who just bitches about this problem and doesn’t offer a solution. But I am going to give all 7 of my readers a treat, and fix this problem.

There are 15 teams in each league. Have every team play the other 14 teams in their league 10 games each. That is 140 games, which leaves room for 22 interleague games per season.[3] This is a great solution Jonah Keri casually mentioned in an article on Grantland.[4] That fixes the competitive balance problem because every team plays each other the same amount of times. The Rangers will not get to play the Astros and Mariners 18 times a piece anymore while the Yankees play them 7 times. The Braves no longer get to beat up on the pathetic Marlins 18 times. They only get to beat the crap out of them 10 times like everyone else.[5]

There are some unintended consequences to this formula. Division rivalries become less meaningful. The Red Sox and Yankees would only play each other 10 times a year. But honestly, who enjoys watching the Yankees and Red Sox play 4 hour games every Sunday night on ESPN?

This will likely not happen because MLB commissioner Bud Selig likes division rivalries and he should. Division rivalries translate to high ticket sales and big television ratings. The “old school” analysts on MLB Network will bitch and moan about how division rivalries are not what they used to be.

Old school rivalries which are hanging by a thread will likely prevent change from happening. But it’s cool. Let’s just continue to watch 18 Yankee Red Sox marathon games and let the Dodgers beat up on the Padres and Rockies. That is quality entertainment.


 

1.       I have a nail hanging in my room where I am supposed to put my keys every night to prevent this from happening and I fail to even do that. My parents are proud.

2.      The Astros are going to be insane in a few years. Best minor league system in baseball by far and have more young pitching talent than anyone. But they are still the worst team in MLB right now and will lose 108 games this season.

3.      The Orioles played 21 interleague games in 2013 anyway. No harm in adding one more to everyone’s schedule.

4.       http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/73689/its-time-to-fix-the-mlb-schedule-problem

5.       I am all for everyone in the league beating the hell out of the Marlins. When your owner, an art dealer, makes all your baseball decisions and puts you in an ugly stadium with orange uniforms, you do not deserve to win any games. Ever.

 

 

 

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?