If MLB still did 2 divisions per league

[Tripredacus]

Working on a project and one thing I have to hammer out is what would the divisiona alignment be in MLB if they used 2 divisions per league instead of 3 like today?

This is what I've come up with:

AL East (7 teams)
- Baltimore
- Boston
- Cleveland
- Detroit
- New York
- Toronto
- Tampa Bay

AL West (8 teams)
- Chicago
- Houston
- Kansas City
- Los Angeles
- Minnesota
- Oakland
- Seattle
- Texas

NL East (8 teams)
- Chicago
- Cincinnati
- Miami
- New York
- Phildelphia
- Pittsburgh
- St. Louis
- Washington

NL West (7 teams)
- Atlanta
- Arizona
- Colorado
- Los Angeles
- Milwaukee
- San Diego
- San Francisco

The National League is the trickiest for me. Back in the two division days, Atlanta was in the NL West. I think there was a similar issue with the Falcons in the NFL.

Would it make more sense to put the Cardinals in the West and swap with the Cubs?

[commishbob]

Random thoughts...
Put Atlanta in the West, there is, as you noted, precedence for that.

St. Louis and Chicago belong together. Their rivalry goes back a long way.

As long as we're playing commish...let's swap Houston and Milwaukee back to the NL and AL respectively, as God intended.

[Tripredacus]

It is for a baseball computer game that I maintain. I wish that it were possible to just have 3 divisions, but it doesn't seem so. I had finally gotten it to the point where I could put 15 teams in each league, so that I didn't have to keep 4 teams in their own division.

So the easiest would be to swap Chicago and Atlanta.

Too much time has passed, I see Houston and Milwaukee being in the leagues they are in now. It is as if I don't even remember them being in opposite leagues.

[jgannon]

Yeah, Houston in the A.L. is just wrong!! But let's face it, we're probably getting to the point where the modern fan won't even realize that they were ever in the N.L. Or even that they used to be called the Colt 45s!

As to the Brewers, Milwaukee is an N.L. town, and there were several incarnations of Brewers teams. But yes, the modern Brewers were first an A.L. team after having moved from Seattle as the Pilots. I can deal with them being in the N.L. more than I can Houston in the A.L. But I would have no problem with them going back to the A.L.

[Tripredacus]

Here's some perspective

American League


National League


International League (with wrong years)

[KCRfan1]

As a creature of habit, by all means Havey's Wall Bangers are in the AL. Bring back Gorman Thomas as the DH! His 45 hr's 170k's and .240 BA fit right into todays game......

[Runscott]

There's something I love about your idea - the playoff changes that would be needed.

Perhaps let the 2nd and 3rd place team from each division play a best of three for the right to meet the 1st place team in a best-of-seven. Then you end up with 12 teams making the playoffs and you still have some great battles at the division level to get one of the top three spots.

Also, I would put Cincinnati and Houston in the NL West and move Milwaukee back over to the AL. Then you would have things the way they were pre-69, plus new franchises. You know - back in the days when Houston could have cheated all they wanted and the other teams would have thought it was only fair.

[KCRfan1]

The way the proposed divisions look, each would be contested by most teams within their respective divisions. The NL East is wide open, save for Pittsburgh and Miami. This could be a lot of fun to keep a mock division with the teams and see just how close the division races are. As a fan I would love this.