I think the best solution to the league imbalance is not having 15 teams in each league, but having 16 teams in each league. As I heard on ESPN's Baseball Today podcast a few days ago, Keith Law stated that he also believed that this was the best solution. There are markets that could easily support teams, many of which are not currently being covered by MLB. This would also allow for Interleague play to only happen during designated times. Having it happen every day would truly destroy any novelty that still exists in it.
If the gimmick of Interleague Play has lost its draw on fans, it really serves no purpose. Living in Wisconsin, but being a Minnesota Twins fan, I have the opportunity to see the Twins play in Milwaukee for 1 weekend series every year, which is very appealing. I believe that those games are some of the best selling games that the Brewers have. It would make perfect sense to me to only have Interleague play happen on weekends, allowing the games to become destination games for some fans who would like to travel to see their team play.
I don't but in to the whole rivalry thing between the Twins and the Brewers. I have no ill will towards the Brewers or their fans, however I have some friends who are Brewers fans who do buy into it. It seems to sell more tickets in some cases, so it is serving a purpose right now.
There are still a few issues involved with having 16 teams in each league, how would the divisions work? My ideas are either to have 2 divisions of 8 teams, which has been done in the past with fewer teams, or have 4 divisions of 4 teams, with 2 wild cards, similar to the NFL. 4 divisions and 2 wild card teams would actually create more playoff drama, which in turn will sell more tickets. It will also allow for potentially 3 teams from the AL east to make the playoffs. The first round could be 3 game series hosted by the 3 and 4 seeds, and the 1 and 2 seeds would be able to have a few days rest and set up their rotation to win in the playoffs. This would create more of a race to get the #1 and #2 seeds.
I think having these extra races will increase ratings of television broadcasts, as well as ticket sales to the late season games, for some teams who may not have seen those ticket sales in a long time. I just think all of the new things that would be offered by this would be advantageous for many teams.
I think that having these divisions would keep the major rivalries of the Yankees and Red Sox alive, which has been a mainstay my entire sports memory.
Another issues that comes up is the difference in the leagues with the DH available only in the American League. I realize that the tradition has been to have only the DH in the American League, but what would the big difference be? I think the MLBPA would be in favor of it because there would be more decently paid hitters around because of it, I am sure some pitchers would be opposed to it, but I don't think enough of them would show strong enough dissent.
These are just my thoughts on these topics, I am by no means an expert, just an average fan. I would love to hear other people's thoughts on the topic.
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