0A2C2D3A2C3C4F0 wrote: Check this out Pirate Fans. You think the NL Central would be tough test for the Pirates, how about the Grapefruit League North Division?
MLB Considers Radical Move for 2020 Season
Holy Shit! :o
ugh, no no no. Not because of competition this season, but because this is the gateway to the permanent radical realignment and getting rid of the American and National Leagues that they've been talking about.
Temporary!
They'll use it as a test drive to try to convince people it would the right way to go moving forward.
Maybe I've missed something in the rumor mill, but why are you thinking this way?
I think the reason is because baseball has always been a regional game, and I think the owners want to better capture that. I've felt for some time now that MLB has wanted to restructure the two leagues, mixing American and National League teams together, to create regional rivalries. I feel that was the purpose of playing Interleague games, to get us fans used to the mixing of the two leagues.
Remember when Interleague games were only played at certain times during the year, and they were special? With the moving of the Astros and the balancing of the leagues, now they're played throughout the season and I don't even notice them anymore. Box scores used to be printed by league in the papers every morning, now they're mixed together as if to say, "Baseball is one entity now, not two". Umpires no longer serve one league, but both. These are the little things that have been done to move us towards accepting restructuring. I think when they expand by two more teams, that's when the realignment will come.
I think this is right [highlight]and hope it is still a long way away.[/highlight] Impressed that you get a paper that still prints box scores. I hardly ever look at box scores anymore because it is a pain to find them online. I look at Pirates on mlb.com or espn but that is usually it.
I think it's still a few years away. I don't think expansion will happen anytime soon so it might be another 10-15 years before realignment occurs. I don't know it MLB is in any hurry, but they have been laying the groundwork for this for a few years now.