Fanpost Friday: A Proposal for the Future of Baseball

With all the hand-wringing about some of the problems and the lack of popularity of baseball according to some measures, I have a proposal for how the leagues and the baseball season could be changed to help generate some interest around the game and solve some problems within the game’s eco-system as it currently exists. I think this is actually a feasible proposal that could create a lot of excitement and money for the league. So, without further ado, here we go.

Three 10-Team Leagues

National League

1. BOS

2. CHC

3. LAA

4. LAD

5. NYM

6. NYY

7. PHI

8. SF

9. TEX

10. WAS

American League

1. ATL

2. BAL

3. CHW

4. CLE

5. DET

6. HOU

7. KC

8. SEA

9. STL

10. TOR

Federal League

1. ARI

2. CIN

3. COL

4. MIA

5. MIL

6. MIN

7. OAK

8. PIT

9. SD

10. TB

The first part of the proposal, and the lynch pin to it, is breaking all the teams in baseball into 3 leagues and reinstituting the rule that teams do not play outside of their own league. The rationale behind this is two-fold, to solve, in part, the disparity between small and big markets from a competitive and revenue sharing standpoint, and to generate more excitement from a larger number of fan bases throughout the year (this goal will be amplified with the next proposed change).

I divided the three leagues according to average payrolls over the last number of years while also paying attention to the size of the market the teams play in. So, the way I have it arranged, the large market teams would compete against each other in the National League, the mid-markets in the American, and the small markets in the Federal. How this arrangement would affect revenue sharing is the part I am most unsure about because I simply don’t know enough details, but it seems to me that it potentially could be eliminated or scaled back because the small markets and big markets don’t directly compete against each other any longer. I’m sure a reduction or elimination of revenue sharing would be something these large markets would be in favor of. On the other hand, the small markets would hopefully not be losing out very much either because needing to keep their payrolls at a level that makes them competitive with the larger markets would no longer be necessary.

Players would still be free to be traded or sign with any of the 30 teams within the different leagues and the draft and international process could remain the same. So, the opportunity for teams to acquire players would remain essentially unchanged.

Overhauled Season

Here’s where I think things come together to make the season something that would be more exciting for everyone. Split the season into two equal halves, with records starting back at 0-0 after the first half (similar to the International League). I would recommend reducing the number of regular season games to 144 (each team plays each other team in their league 16 times) in order to allow for some expanded playoff time, though keeping the number at 162 would not be impossible. At the end of the first half, the top two teams from each league would play a championship series to crown a first-half champion. The teams that win this championship would be guaranteed a spot in the playoffs at the end of the year. All of these championship series would be played at the same location, which would be the location of the All-Star festivities. Rather than just being a couple of days, the break could be a week or so, where that particular city becomes the center of the baseball universe with both the championship series and the All-Star game(s) being played over the course of some action-packed days.

The second half of the season would play out the same as the first half, with the top two teams from each league playing each other for the second-half championship. Each of these winners becomes a 1 seed in the coming playoffs. If a team won both the 1st and 2nd halves of its league, they keep their 1 seed and the guaranteed seed (G-seed) that they had from their first half win is given to the remaining team with the best overall record in their league from both the first and 2nd half combined. This would give us 6 playoff teams at this point, two from each league. Then, a quick mini-playoff between the 3-6 overall records in each league would determine a final playoff team from each league, bringing us to 9 playoff teams.

It is in the playoffs and only in the playoffs that the teams play across the leagues. The playoffs begin with all the same kind of seed playing a double round-robin against each other. So the 1’s vs. 1’s; G’s vs. G’s; 3’s vs. 3’s. The last place of the 3’s from the round-robins would be eliminated and the remaining 8 teams put into a bracket like what currently exists. The team that got 1st place from the 1’s would be the overall #1 seed and would get to choose their opponent with some restrictions (cannot choose another of the 1’s nor the winner of the G’s). Then, the winner of the G’s would get to choose their opponent (not the 2nd place of the 1’s). Then the 2nd place of the 1’s gets to choose (not the remaining 1) and the two remaining teams then face-off. These teams would play out their series in exactly the same way the playoffs work currently, culminating in the World Series.

Part of my idea for these different stages of the playoffs is choosing a location ahead of time to be host of a round-robin or series, similar to how All-Star week worked and would make each playoff series somewhat like a college football bowl game for the city hosting. This could help generate buzz in each major league city for playoff baseball. If we count up the various sets of events around the playoffs, including all-star week, this gives us at minimum 12 different events to be hosted each year (All-star, 3 3-6 playoffs, round-robin round, 4 quarterfinal series, 2 semi-final series, world series). This could even be expanded further to make each of the round-robin rounds be held in a different location and to make the 2nd half championship series for each league be at a predetermined host location. This would make for 17 different playoff events for different cities to hold; which would be enough for every single major league city to host a playoff event every other year with 2 events each year being available to other neutral locations. The interest and money this would generate would, I think, be enough to offset what revenue the owners would perceive that they would lose from no longer being able to host home playoff series when they make the playoffs now.

Conclusions

I’ve already outlined some of the things that I think this accomplishes, but here are some summary conclusions.

First, this system allows for increased interest from most every baseball market about the fortunes of their own team than currently. At the very least, over the course of the whole season, 18 out of the 30 teams will be involved in some kind of playoff, with a maximum of 24 teams being involved. Since the season resets at the middle of the season as well, this would help keep fan interest and optimism over the fate of their team for a longer period without feeling that a whole season, or even multiple seasons, need to be sacrificed for the possibility of competing. Since a form of the playoffs is so much more attainable and the direct competitors for that spot would now consist of teams of comparable resources, the pressure for every team to remain competitive would be increased and would be a more attainable and attractive goal. Also, this setup allows for accomplishments other than just being the World Series champion to be more openly celebrated by teams and their fanbases. The champion of the first half, of the second half, and of the 3-6 play-in could all celebrate their accomplishments, having qualified for the final playoff tournament and having already won tournaments leading up to it. A greater number of fanbases would have tangible accomplishments to which they could point to feel good about their season and to have optimism for their team’s performance going forward.

Second, this system helps fan interest to extend beyond only their local team. Because there would be 3 self-contained leagues, fans would feel better about being able to choose favorite teams from other leagues apart from their local team. Certainly, fans could simply follow their favorite team and not give much attention to the broader scope, but by separating the leagues, fans would likely feel more at liberty to have multiple favorites since teams in different leagues would not be in direct competition with each other for the vast majority of the year. Part of what I do believe is hurting baseball at this point is that fans, by and large, only follow their own team and don’t pay nearly as much attention to baseball as a whole. This is something that is not the case in Football or Basketball, where keeping up with the larger trends and the better teams in each sport is still attainable and common for fans. If fans have multiple favorite teams across the different leagues, however, they are more likely to pay attention to and be invested in the biggest stars in the game, no matter where they are, and the big events that are going on in the game. I believe this might be able to bring back interest in shows like Baseball Tonight, which otherwise simply do not have the same level of interest from fans as they did before. The more that baseball can be a national discussion again, the better for the sport in my opinion.

Third, the adjusted season would make each individual game more meaningful. The dog days of summer would be gone because the major, meaningful breakpoints in the season would come more frequently. After the All-Star Week, the latter half of the season would be a mad dash for teams to position themselves to be able to make it to the playoffs. The season would also generate the ability more consistently to be the focus of the sports world. Rather than only one championship a year, baseball would have multiple. Also, the format of the end of the year playoffs moving around the nation to different venues with multiple formats being utilized should help keep the national fanbase engaged and interested over that final month.

Fourth, I believe that these changes would generate a lot of fan interest and excitement around baseball in a way that doesn’t strike at the heart of how the game is actually played. So many of the suggestions for how baseball should change are looking at changing some of the fundamentals of the game. But one of the things that sets baseball apart is the fact that the game that we have now is, in most respects, the same game as it has always been. I think it would be tragic to lose that. I don’t believe that baseball is fundamentally flawed, just that the stakes are often not high enough because the product is diluted with too many games that don’t have great impact on the ultimate destiny of a team. My proposal would allow the actual game on the field to remain the same but would change the context of those games so as to add more intrigue and excitement.

So, that is not exactly a rule change but this is my proposal for the best way to change baseball so that the current fans would still be invested in the game but that those who are currently nominal or are not fans have more of an incentive to be invested as well. I’ve been kicking this idea around in my head for a couple of years now and thought it would be fun to share. I’m happy to receive constructive feedback. Happy Friday.