Disclaimer: This proposal is completely hypothetical, and I honestly believe in it, but I realize that the chances of something even remotely like this taking place are next to nil as it is. It's one of those things that's always on my mind, and I figured it was time to release it to the world. So please just read this with an open mind and try not to laugh. (No really, try not to laugh)
Tradition is overrated.
It just is.
Tradition is no excuse to settle for a closed system that rewards laziness and tanking.
So it's time for me to be the commissioner and make baseball the best sport in the country and revive our national pastime.
With that said, let's go right into my reforms before I decide how the game will transform overnight.
The Barebones Reforms
- The Abolishment of the MLB Draft
- All levels of baseball (more on that, shortly), will play 140 games
- Minor League Affiliated Clubs are all at this moment stripped of their Major League affiliation status, and they are all placed under the banner of "independent."
- All Amateur Players are eligible to sign with any baseball club of their choosing at the age of 18; this goes for all international players and American-born players
- With the abolition of the MLB Amateur Draft, a cap will be instituted, teams at any level of baseball are allowed a total pot of money to spend over ten years (the ten years will be decided from the start of a decade to the end of a decade). This pot goes for ALL signings, amateur signings, and professional signings. If a team spends over the allotted money, the team is automatically relegated to the division below them.
- To make sure that trades and other creative transactions continue, trading a player to another team will not be counted against the team's spending pot (this will make those players quite valuable in this system)
- Each team has the option to operate academies for junior players. Once the players turn 18, they will be given the choice to sign with any club of their choosing, or they can choose to play college baseball up until their junior season, which is when they'll be eligible to sign again.
- All teams must keep a roster of 50 players, 25 of them must be available for each games, the 25 not playing can play in a reserve league that will be created at each level of baseball
- Deciding those 50 players, MLB teams must pick 50 players in their minor league system and their Major League club and allow the rest of the players that were playing for their affiliations to sign with any team of their choosing
- The DH is instituted at EVERY single level of baseball (suck it, traditionalists)
That's a lot of reforms, isn't it? I told you that this was going to be complicated. And this is only the beginning.
Let me explain, the MLB Draft promotes tanking, and that can't be allowed to continue in a promotion and relegation system where teams are rightfully punished for their mismanagement and incompetence. A lot of these reforms will make much more sense when I outline how the levels of baseball will be organized from the top of the baseball pyramid and to the bottom.
The spending pot was something that I had to institute, only because of the fact that a completely free market system would allow the big spending teams to rule every single year, while a long term spending pot creates a system of competitive cycles that still allows for a certain amount of parity.
The North American Baseball Pyramid
We'll start with Major League Baseball, this league will now be known as the First Division. I've seen other proposals for promotion and relegation in MLB, and most of those lazy writers just split the league in half and make 15 teams play in the first division and 15 other teams play in the second division. And that's just not gonna work, if you're going to do this system, you have to do it right, and keeping all 30 teams in the first division is a must.
I haven't worked out the scheduling because I'm far from a sudoku master like the Stephenson's, so I'm just gonna make a gamble on this one. I'd like to see all 30 teams play each other in at least one three game series. And with the games that are left over, the teams will play their local rivals or other teams in close proximity.
The system is simple, the top four teams in the first division will play for the First Division Championship. I originally wanted to completely abolish the playoff system, but since Americans are obsessed with it (to a huge fault, by the way), I figured I'd keep a small remnant of the playoffs.
Using this year's MLB standings I'll indicate how my system would've played out this year.
First Round
1. St. Louis Cardinals vs. 4. Kansas City Royals (Best of 7)
2. Pittsburgh Pirates vs. 3. Chicago Cubs (Best of 7)
All games will be played at the team's stadium with the higher seeding. Sorry, there needs to be a real reward for having a better record, so there it is.
The winner of each series plays each other for the First Division Championship. And in that series, the first two games will be played at the stadium of the team with the higher seed, and games 3 and 4 will be at the stadium of the team with the lower seed. From there, games 5, 6, and 7 will alternate between venues. With of course, the team with the higher seed hosting game 7.
Now that we've solved the top of the league, let's focus our attention to the bottom.
Relegation in the First Division is simple, the three teams with the worst record will be relegated to the second division of North American Baseball. Being relegated is being forced to play in AAA, basically, for those who don't understand. Who takes their place will be explained in the organization of the second division.
Who would've been relegated this year? Let's see.
1. Philadelphia Phillies 63-99
2. Cincinnati Reds 64-98
3. Atlanta Braves 67-95
Ruben Amaro, your ass is fired, and your team is headed to the second division!
If the 3rd worst team is tied with anyone, there will be a one game playoff to decide who is relegated, with the winner staying up to play in the First Division in the next season and the loser going down. If multiple teams are tied with the 3rd worst team, head to head will decide who stays up and who goes down.
Now Let's take a look at the Second Division
As it stands right now, there are two leagues in what was formally known as AAA, there was the Pacific Coast League, and there was the International League.
Scheduling stays the same from what it was before, and the shape of each league stays the same.
The teams with the best record in the Pacific Coast League and the International League automatically are promoted to the First Division to take the place of the Phillies and Reds.
The teams with the second best record in the PCL and International League will play a best of 5 series amongst themselves with the winner taking the place of the Atlanta Braves, and the team with the better record amongst the two will host all 5 games. If their records are identical, a coin flip will decide who hosts all five games.
How would this system look based on the 2015 standings?
Automatically Promoted to the First Division:
PCL: Oklahoma City Dodgers 86-58 (who would have to change their name)
IL: Columbus Clippers 83-61
Who plays in the make or break series?
Indianapolis Indians 83-61 vs Fresno Grizzlies 84-59 Best of 5
Now to explain the relegation process for the second division. This one is real simple and will start to seem redundant, the team with the worst record in the PCL along with the worst record in the IL will be automatically relegated to the third division. The teams with the second worst record in each league will play each other in a best of 5 to decide who stays up and who goes down into peril.
How would that have worked this year?
Automatically Relegated to the Third Division:
PCL: Salt Lake City Bees 58-86
IL: Pawtucket Red Sox 59-85 (Who would also have to change their name)
Who plays in the relegation series?
Toledo Mud Hens vs New Orleans Zephyrs Best of 5
Let's take a look at the Third and the Fourth Divisions
The third division and the fourth division are organized in the exact same ways, there are three leagues in each division so therefore it's quite easy to organize.
Who goes up? The team with the best record in each league is promoted to the next league up. The team with the worst record in each league will be relegated.
Let's take a look at how that would've worked this year.
Third Division Promotions:
Texas League: Corpus Christi Hooks 89-51
Southern League: Biloxi Shuckers 78-59
Eastern League: Reading Fightin Phils 80-61(Who would have to change their name)
Third Division Relegations:
Texas League: San Antonio Missions 60-80
Southern League: Jackson Generals 53-84
Eastern League: Portland Sea Dogs 53-89
Fourth Division Promotions:
California League: Visalia Rawhide 84-56
Carolina League: Myrtle Beach Pelicans 81-57
Florida State League: Clearwater Threshers 79-58
Fourth Division Relegations
California League: Lake Elsinore Storm 50-90
Carolina League: Wilmington Blue Rocks 62-77
Florida State League: Brevard County Manatees 55-80
I'll stop there, the fifth division would be organized under the current direction of the low-A leagues and so on from there onwards. Once the old minor league system moves into the lower depths of the North American Baseball Pyramid, the Independent League teams will make up the lower divisions. I realize that once teams are relegated there might be a real scramble to reorganize the leagues but special circumstances might have to be given toward the newly relegated team.
The system isn't perfect, but it's effective. Now let me explain the benefits of this system.
The Rewards of a Promotion and Relegation System in Baseball
Attendance numbers will rise at every stadium because of this new, exciting principle. And it won't just be for the teams that are doing really well, the teams who struggle will see their attendance soar because the stakes of each game will mean that much more with those teams fighting for their survival in many ways. This system revitalizes the pennant race, and the relegation battle concept will make every game important and therefore, something that is must see television and something that will make attendance rise. Teams like the Braves and Phillies would've seen pivotal games that would've kept the crowds coming and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Notoriously cheap owners like Jeffrey Loria, the Wilpons, and the Monfort brothers will no longer be rewarded for their constant tanking and listless clubs. That is the best part about this system, teams are forced to compete every year, whether it's for titles or their survival.
While punishing bad ownership, this system also saves a lot of clubs and answers the questions about the various markets for baseball that are out there. Is Sacramento a market that would do well with quality level baseball? How about San Antonio? Or Indianapolis? Or San Jose? With this system, all these questions can be answered, and opportunistic businessman can buy teams in the lower divisions and make sure that they progress up the pyramid. This system opens a whole new market for those who want to own a share of a team.
And the best part is that local, civic identity is promoted in this system. Imagine the kinship among the teams in the lower levels and their community of fans, once this system has a generation that has grown up with this system, the amount of away support will probably grow substantially, especially with the rise in the amount of important games.
There's so many ways for our great game to benefit. New heroes, new markets, and new opportunities.
The Cons of this System
The main problem that most critics see with this system is that when a team like the Atlanta Braves is relegated to the second division, how do they survive? The answer is simple, yes, attendance may dramatically drop when a team is relegated but with new opportunities and more haste to buy better players and work your way back into the first division in the next season, the drop in attendance is only temporary.
There's a lot of scheduling issues that would have to be worked out, not to mention major disorganization once a few teams get promoted and relegated. Like for example, the San Antonio Missions would have to play in either the California League, the Carolina League, or the Florida State League. On some level, I'm sure there'd be a way to work around this, but that's an issue that would have to be fixed.
One Last Note
I'm sure many of you who are diehard traditionalists and are afraid of any real change in their world have hated every single second of reading this. And those people are probably thinking that I've been watching too much soccer, and my answer is that, yes, I am a soccer fan but I believe that promotion and relegation is the way to go, and there's a way to improve it as well.
And before anyone jumps into the comments after they find themselves in a major visceral reaction, I'll spare you the obvious: "NO, THE OWNERS WOULD NEVER AGREE TO THIS." Why would they agree to anything that actually holds their performance accountable?
Leave your thoughts in the comments below, would love to hear if any of you have ideas to improve this.
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