WEEKLY WHINE

MLB: ARRRGH!

Since the GoobNet Agency for Reintroducing Relegation to Recreational Game Hierarchies’ previous plans for sports leagues have been such runaway successes, it is now time to add another plan to the list. Here we permit Major League Baseball to join its other counterparts in North American sports by introducing promotion and relegation provisions.

Since 1998, Major League Baseball has had thirty teams, divided unequally into two leagues that are themselves divided unequally into three divisions. At the completion of a 162 game regular season, the division winners, plus the other team in each league with the greatest number of wins, advance to the playoffs.

Numerous other leagues exist, including those that are members of Minor League Baseball, other independent leagues, and various winter leagues. For the purposes of this plan, we have made the assumption that the leagues in Minor League Baseball with the exception of the Venezuelan Summer League will join the hierarchy established herein but the other independent leagues will not.

2010

Under the GoobNet Agency for Reintroducing Relegation to Recreational Game Hierarchies’ plan, affiliate agreements with teams in other leagues are to cease at the end of this season. Any teams that are owned by teams in other leagues are to be sold to independent ownership during a three year transitional period lasting through the end of the 2012 season.

At the end of the season, the First Minor League is formed, made up of the six worst teams in Major League Baseball plus the six best teams in each of the three AAA leagues. The remaining AAA teams, with the exception of the worst team in the International League, the worst team in the Pacific Coast League, and the two worst teams in the Liga Mexicana de Béisbol, make up the Second Minor League.

The four AAA teams that are left over join the top eight teams in the Eastern League, the top seven teams in the Southern League, and the top five teams in the Texas League to form the Third Minor League. The remaining ten AA teams join the top five teams in the California League, the top five teams in the Florida State League, and the top four teams in the Carolina League to make up the Fourth Minor League. The other sixteen A Advanced teams join the top four teams in each of the two A leagues to make up the Fifth Minor League. The remaining A teams are joined by the winners of the two short season A leagues to form the Sixth Minor League.

The remaining short season A teams, plus the top seven teams in the Appalachian League and the top five teams in the Pioneer League, form the First Short Season Leagues. The remaining six teams from the Appalachian and Pioneer Leagues, the top twelve teams in the Dominican Summer League, the top six teams in the Arizona League, and the top eight teams in the Gulf Coast League all make up the Second Short Season Leagues. This leaves thirty three other rookie league teams to make up the Third Short Season Leagues.

An exception to the above provisions is that during the transitional period, no league may contain two teams that share ownership. For example, if the Atlanta Braves have not yet sold the Gwinnett Braves, they may not both end up in the First Minor League. If Atlanta do not qualify for the Major League, the Gwinnett Braves must remain in the Second Minor League, even if they were among the top six in the International League. For each team that does not qualify for the First Minor League in this manner, the next team that does qualify will play in the First Minor League instead, and likewise for all other lower leagues.

2011 AND 2012

From this point forward, the Major League is made up of 24 teams divided into North, South, East, and West divisions. Each team plays 162 games: twelve against each divisional opponent, six against each opponent in two of the other divisions, and five against each opponent in the remaining division. The pairs of divisions that play only five games are determined on a rotating basis. For instance, North Division teams play five games against South Division teams in 2011, five against East Division teams in 2012, five against West Division teams in 2013, and South Division teams again in 2014.

At the end of the season, the four division winners advance to the postseason. The postseason is played in a similar format to the current postseason: the seven game division serieses are played between the division winner with the best record and the division winner with the worst record, and between the other two winners. The winners of each series play in the seven game Major League Championship Series, with the name “World Series” banned until the MLCS winner plays a team from another continent.

Each minor league is, like the Major League, made up of 24 teams divided into North, South, East, and West divisions. Each team plays 162 games distributed in the same way as in the Major League.

There are no championship playoffs in any of the minor leagues. Instead, the winners of each minor league division advance to promotion playoff serieses, for which they have the home field advantage, and are seeded by their regular season records. The opponents from the higher league are the four teams that finished last in their respective divisions. The serieses are played between the highest seeded team in the higher league and the lowest seeded team in the lower league, between the second highest seeded team in the higher league and the second lowest seeded team in the lower league, and so on. The winner of each best of seven series plays the following season in the higher league, and the loser plays in the lower league. These serieses are played concurrently with the division serieses in the Major League postseason.

As is currently done in Major League Baseball, ties for playoff positions at the end of the season are settled by single game playoffs, with home field advantage going to the team with the better head to head record. Designated hitters are used in all minor leagues, but not the Major League. It is also used in promotion playoff games, except those hosted by a team that is in the Major League.

As teams are promoted and relegated between the leagues, each league may move teams between divisions as necessary, taking geographic and sporting considerations into account.

Each short season level is divided into leagues of eight teams, each of which play twelve games against each opponent for a total of 84 games. The winners of the First Short Season Leagues have promotion playoffs against the last placed teams in the Sixth Minor League as described above. Promotion and relegation playoffs within the short season levels are between the leagues that are geographically closest rather than by seedings, to help ensure geographic compactness within each short season league.

The restriction on shared ownership remains in place during these remaining two seasons of the transitional period. If a team has the same ownership as a team in the league to which it is trying to earn promotion, that promotion series is cancelled and both teams will remain in their present leagues. However, if the league leadership determines that a team is intentionally delaying the sale of a former affiliate in hopes of avoiding relegation, the league retains the right to punish the team accordingly, up to and including expulsion of both teams from the league.

Each league may also decide to set conditions on entry relating to financial status, stadium size, and other off field factors. If a team does not meet the conditions of the league to which it is trying to earn promotion, that promotion series is cancelled.

2013 AND BEYOND

Beginning with the 2013 season, no two teams anywhere in the combined major/minor league structure may share ownership. If the transition period expires with a team being unable to divest a lower league team, that lower league team must cease operations.

Whenever a team ceases operations, that league fills the empty slot by promoting the best team in the next lower league that was not promoted. Should a team cease operations in the middle of a season, the team in the next lower league that finishes the season with the best record is promoted automatically, and an additional wild card joins the list of participants in the promotion playoffs as the lowest seed.

Below is a summary of the five leagues in the GoobNet Agency for Reintroducing Relegation to Recreational Game Hierarchies’ plan for professional baseball in North America.

League	Initial Teams	Teams
		Total	Prom Playoff	Rel Playoff
Major League	24 MLB	24	4*	4
First Minor League	6 MLB + 6 IL + 6 PCL + 6 LMB	24	4	4
Second Minor League	7 IL + 9 PCL + 8 LMB	24	4	4
Third Minor League	1 IL + 1 PCL + 2 LMB + 8 EL + 7 SL + 5 TL	24	4	4
Fourth Minor League	4 EL + 3 SL + 3 TL + 5 CalL + 5 FSL + 4 CarL	24	4	4
Fifth Minor League	5 CalL + 7 FSL + 4 CarL + 4 MWL + 4 SAL	24	4	4
Sixth Minor League	10 MWL + 12 SAL + 1 NYPL + 1 NWL	24	4	4
First Short Season Leagues	13 NYPL + 7 NWL + 7 AppL + 5 PL	32	4	4
Second Short Season Leagues	3 AppL + 3 PL + 12 DSL + 6 AZL + 8 GCL	32	4	4
Third Short Season Leagues	21 DSL + 5 AZL + 7 GCL	33	4	0
* Major League postseason teams

The major and minor leagues will not be permitted to attach sponsors’ names to the names of the leagues, or to give them names that do not correspond to their position within that league’s ladder.