Proposed MLB Realignment Would Greatly Benefit An Already Talented Team
Milwaukee Would Have Even More To Celebrate With Proposed Realignment
Rarely does a solution that is so simple provide so much intrigue along with it, yet we could very likely experience it in just a few weeks from now. Major League Baseball, in an effort to start its season as quickly as possible and play as many games as possible,
may have just hit on the perfect plan.
Since half of the teams have Spring Training homes in Arizona and the other fifteen in Florida, it makes sense to divide the two leagues by these states. The issue was explained by baseball writer Bob Nightengale in the April 11 edition of USA Today.
"The divisions would be realigned based on the geography of their spring training homes," Nightengale said. " The plan would allow teams to return to the comforts of their spring sites and playing a schedule with wholly different divisional opponents. "
Three of those divisions would comprise the Grapefruit League, the current name of the spring format in Florida. Its counterpart would also contain three divisions, each made up of teams that train in the Cactus League in Arizona.
Not only would the novel configuration limit the threat of the COVID-19, but it would also arouse excitement about new rivalries. According to the proposed realignment, several teams would benefit from its new division opponents.
No one would get quite the boost the Brewers might realize, given the teams they would need to beat. Not one of the opponents (San Diego, Kansas City, Seattle, Texas) has reached the postseason in the last three years, finishing a combined 275-373 last season.
Compare this proposed Northwest Division of the Cactus League with Milwaukee's current rivals, the National League Central. For the past five years this quintet, made up of the Cardinals, the Cubs, the Reds and the Pirates, has been the toughest division in baseball.
Four of the clubs have reached the postseason within the last half decade, and three of them have won the division. The lone exception is Cincinnati, who because of big name acquisitions the last two winters have been picked to finish at the top in most 2020 baseball publications.
Perhaps the most intriguing result of the proposed realignment concerns the East Division of the Grapefruit League, or those clubs that train in the Sunshine State. The Washington Nationals and Houston Astros are among the quintet of teams slated for that designation, which would make the first time in baseball history when the two teams that met in the previous World Series would start the next season as members of the same division.
