Schuster: Realignment In MLB?
By: David Schuster
A story broke Saturday about the possible realignment of baseball and I spoke with Paul Konerko about the pros and cons.
Supposedly the owners and the players union have been working on a new collective bargaining agreement and one topic both sides have agreed on is realignment. The change would be fairly radical as the leagues would be split into two 15 team squads (American & National) but the 3 divisions in each league would disappear. Also, Houston would switch from the N.L. to the A.L. to even out the two sides. Then the top 5 teams in each league would make the playoffs which would be two more teams (overall) then currently. This way both the owners and union would get something out of the deal. The union would get more chances for its' players to win a title and the owners would save a lot of money is travel costs.
Konerko responded to the proposed changes, "I'm not sure I'm a big fan of all 15 teams vieing for 5 spots but overall the positives outweigh the negatives as far as scheduling. This would definitely correct the excessive travel that the players have to go through."
Konerko also pointed out a possible negative, "There would have to be interleague play throughout the entire season. That would mean right off the bat there would be interleague and teams could determine if they make or miss the playoffs at the end of the season with interleague games. Some further adjustments would have to be made as to when the season starts and ends and spring training along with it."
As for not seeing certain teams 13 teams as opposed to divisional play of 18 Konerko added, "I think it would be nice to go to all the places two times and the schedule would be more balanced. From a players standpoint it could be more enjoyable."
Nothing is etched in stone at this point but if economics have anything to do with it, look for theses changes to take place.
