East is east, West is west - Central may be gone. MLB ponders changes.

I heard that Jim Bowie had a pretty good cutter.

 

The Nationals could only move if the Orioles agreed. It would hurt the gate at Red Sox and Yankees games in Baltimore, but it could also help the Nats' TV deal, which is in the hands of Angelos and Co.

But the point of moving teams is to eliminate the six-team division, so there would have to be a lot more back-and-forth if an East Coast team switched.

 

USA Today pegs the Arizona Diamondbacks as being the leading candidate (along with aforementioned Astros)

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2011-06-13-major-league-baseball-realignment-arizona-diamondbacks_n.htm

 

Yes. Because the current system holds the Yankees and Red Sox down. :

 

I've seen it argued that a six-team division makes it mathematically harder to win that division. Other than the Pirates, every team from the NL Central has either won the division or qualified for the playoffs in the last 10 years.

 

MLB originally wanted D'backs in the AL (back when radical realignment was all the rage) to put all four AL West teams in the same time zone, but Jerry Colangelo had a hissy fit, so into the NL they went.

 

IIRC, Colangelo threw that fit because they tried to move the D-backs after they started putting the team together. They had a National League philosophy they were trying to build around, and switching after they'd started drafting players would mess with that philosophy.
Now, why that really matters I have no idea. If you're good, you'll be good if you play with a Martian League philosophy. But that was the argument.

 

Which is fine, really, because the team to move should be Florida. The Orioles and Yankees used to train near Miami, creating a rivalry there. The Red Sox are huge in Florida, and Rays-Marlins would be an instant rivalry.

From there, you slide Pittsburgh into the NL East. The Pirates and Phillies belong together. Next, you move Toronto to the AL Central. The Jays-Tigers rivalry was big when they were in the East, and it will become solid again. Plus, the Jays would gain a new nearby rival in the Indians.

Finally, Kansas City moves to the West, giving Texas another Central time zone team in its division and reuniting the five westernmost teams of the old AL West. Houston and Arizona don't have to move, and the Marlins benefit from adding teams that have a history in their market. Win all the way around, so don't expect it to happen.