The Ups and Downs of MLB: The Case for Promotion and Relegation
The need for promotion and relegation in Major League Baseball
As we now head into the World Series, the excitement of this season is ever increasing. The action in the Wild Cards, respective Division Series, and Championship Series has been wonderful. Prior to that, the playoff races were excellent, and as a Giants fan being tailed by the Dodgers for so long, I was excited but on edge for weeks (I regularly woke up at 3am to check the final score).
This kind of climax to a season is so exciting. It is how sport should be, and MLB has certainly delivered here.
Or has it?
Yes, we can point to a fantastic American League Wild Card race, that really has been fun. The AL East was a good title race and to watch the Giants and Dodgers go toe-to-toe, both far exceeding 100 wins, has been amazing. To see a 100+ winner play a one-and-done Wild Card game is excruciating.
There has been some great ball played this year, and it has been a wonderful season when you look at the top teams and division races. But look a little deeper, scratch under the surface, look beyond the powerhouse teams, and you’ll see there has been a lot of meaningless baseball this year.
In this article, we take a look at the ups and downs of MLB, in particular the “meaningless” baseball played throughout the years, and my proposal to improve the game by introducing promotion and relegation in this game.
Could promotion and relegation open up more opportunities for non MLB cliubs?
“Meaningless” Baseball this Year
The American League East is an example of this “meaningless” baseball played this year. Four of the five teams have been involved right to the last game of the season in playing for postseason places (which is incredible when you consider a 162-game season), but the 5th team, the Baltimore Orioles, have been woeful. They have won only 52 games, which means they have lost 110. Their season was effectively over in June, and they knew way before the All-Star Break that they would not be playing postseason baseball. Not only were they out of the division race, it was clear they were out of the Wild Card race.
This is demoralising for players, fans, and professionals alike. They had to go through the motions for about 80 games, underlined by a three-game set they played against the Blue Jays in September where they conceded 44 runs. You can’t concede 44 runs in three games, how is this good for the game? How is this good for player development? How is this good for baseball? The Blue Jays can’t have enjoyed this- it’s pointless and embarrassing.
Sadly, this isn’t the only example this year that we have seen. The Arizona Diamondbacks also lost 110 games and with the strength of their division were 55 games behind the division winner (55!!- that’s more games behind the Giants than they actually won). They knew their season was over in early June given the relentless winning of the Giants, Dodgers, and Padres (until the wheels came spinning off for San Diego).
The American League Central has also been poor. Although the White Sox have been good, they’ll be disappointed that they haven’t won 100 games given the strength of the division. The Twins, Royals, and Tigers have played a lot of insignificant games between them. I’ll concede that the Royals and Tigers are showing signs of improvement, but there has been a lot of dead baseball.
The Texas Rangers in the AL West have also lost over 100 games, as have the Pittsburgh Pirates in the NL Central.
The Effect of Playing “Dead Baseball”
When these teams are out of a race by the All Star break, the games they play only have significance for the opposition, which is bad for sport and bad for the team, who have nothing to play for. But there were lots of occasions where both teams had nothing to play for in August and September. They ended up playing baseball with very little significance, and very little attraction for fans.
While these games are still competitive, the very essence of the game is harmed. It’s dead baseball. I see very little benefit here, especially when the worse you are, the better the prize in terms of higher draft picks. This is a very backward system and we should not reward incompetence.
Promotion and Relegation
So, what’s the solution to this problem? Bring in promotion and relegation! We need teams to have to be playing for something to the end, meaning bad teams can play to avoid relegation. Let’s face it, some of the most exciting football matches and seasons have been because of tight relegation battles, and watching teams fight to the end is fun to watch.
At the moment, we are looking at some meaningless baseball from June/July time, and this is not good for fans, sponsors, players, or player development. It has to change to bring in a competitive edge, right to the very end.
I think promotion and relegation in baseball should look something like this:
Expand the number of MLB teams to 32 (therefore introducing two more franchises)
Keep the AL/NL split (and, as a side point, please don’t bring in the DH to the NL. Please don’t!)
Have 16 American League teams and 16 National League teams
Split each league into two divisions of 8, with a division 1 and division 2 (so 4 divisions in total)
The bottom 2 in division 1 are relegated, the top two in each division 2 go up
The playoffs consist only of the top 5 in each division 1, and I would propose 4th and 5th play a 3-game Wild Card series, the winner of that then plays the division winner, whilst 2nd plays 3rd. Those winners then play each other in the Championship Series, and the winners of those matches from each league compete for the World Series
Therefore, those in division 2 in either league have no chance to play in the World Series. They have to earn their place in division 1 in order to have that chance
I would suggest that of the 162 games, teams play each other in their respective division 12 times each (therefore 7 x 12 = 84), they then play each of the teams in the opposing leagues respective division 8 times, so all AL division 1 teams play all NL division 1 teams and division 2 plays all division 2 (so 8 x 8 = 64). Keep the AL vs NL rival games and play that 4 times, and the remaining 10 are against your same league but from the different division- but you earn the strength of these games, so the top two in division 1 play the bottom 2 in division 2 from the previous year, and so on. This also encourages the bottom teams to improve to reduce the strength of their schedule for the next year
Finally, to stop the nonsense of people suggesting that teams would rather lose at the end of the season so they get the top draft pick, you make the 3rd place team in division 2 having the top pick, so you are trying to win to get a higher pick, rather than lose to get a higher pick
Of the two third placed teams from the AL and NL, whoever has the better record, gets the top pick, then the 4th placed teams get the next picks (better record gets the 3rd pick), then the 5th, etc. You finish the division 2 draft order with the 2nd then 1st placed teams. Once all 16 division 2 teams are ordered, you then start at the 8th placed teams in division 1 and work your way up to the eventual league winners. It’s only when you get to the first placed teams of the AL and NL that you swap who picks first, with the team with the best record that picks second. This means that you are always trying to win to get a higher pick
The Positives of Promotion and Relegation for Major League Baseball
The biggest positive of this proposed promotion and relegation is that you play more teams that are similar to you in terms of ability, making closer, more competitive games throughout the season. Take the Orioles, they were getting whacked regularly by Tampa Bay, the Yankees, Boston, and the Blue Jays- that helps no one. With this change, they now get to play more games against teams like the Pirates, D-Backs, and Rangers. This means that the other AL East teams don’t play weak opposition- and we have top level, competitive baseball to the end.
It will also lead to the very best players wanting to play for relevant teams and wanting to play for division 1 teams, so they have a chance of World Series success and can play elite baseball in every game against the elite players. We lose a few players to teams that will never compete, chasing the money, but this will encourage those players to want to play the best level they can and try and bag the biggest prize.
Sport is entertainment and sport is also for the fans. I can’t imagine that the Orioles fans are happy watching them getting humiliated on a regular basis, and the attendance figures bear this out. This harms the enjoyment of the fans, and income. This should lead to more wins for the poorer sides (poor ability, not finance), thus leading to more enjoyment for fans, and a chance to be playing for something for longer.
On the flip side, fans of the Yankees (for example) will not enjoy those hammerings of the Orioles. It might be fun for the odd game, but you want to see competitive baseball. It should, also, lead to less wins for the top sides, as they are playing better teams day-in, day-out, which should also lead to tighter title races, with more teams in the mix. More interest, more enjoyment, more fun.
By having two divisions and playing regularly against more closely aligned abilities will help those teams improve. Just sticking with the Orioles example, if you are done by June, then motivation and development will take a hit. If you have more relevant games you will likely see more step-by-step improvement.
At this juncture, I cannot see a way that the Orioles (or D-Backs or Rangers, for example) are going to be competitive in the near future- 5 years would be generous. There needs to be gradual improvement, in my opinion. Evolution, not revolution. Revolution is no good for farm systems and future proofing.
This change will also help eradicate this absurd position at the trade deadline where teams jettison their best players, like the Cubs and Nationals did this year as more teams will still be in with a shout to make the postseason, or trying to avoid relegation or get promoted, and therefore want to hang onto their best players and/or add to their roster to increase their chances.
It is conceivable that all 16 division 1 teams would have something to play for right up to the end, and would certainly still be fighting one way or the other at the trade deadline. Likewise, most division 2 teams would have an eye on promotion at the deadline. This would make the deadline more exciting- and it would introduce more gambles.
On deadline day (which is at the end of July), or during the week before, the Cubs traded away Rizzo, Baez, Bryant, Kimbrel, Tepera, Marisnick, Chafin, and Pederson- and the return they got was modest.
They got Nick Madrigal and a host of prospects, but only a couple of elite players. They traded away the core of their 2016 World Series team for a mediocre return. Trade the ones that won’t sign if you must, but the Cubs still had an outside chance to make the play-offs and they just threw in the towel so early.
In my mind, this is a huge risk and could lose fans. Bryant, for one, is someone you could build a team around. Respect him and give him a proper send-off.
I am delighted as a Giants fan that we got him, and I hope he re-signs, but if this was the other way around and the Giants dismissed Belt, Crawford, and Posey I would be devastated, no matter the strength of the haul.
Heroes are heroes, and they should be treated as such. This doesn’t mean to say they have tenure, but a wholesale change like this feels like a kick to the fanbase too, and also admitting defeat far too early.
The Cubs are not in a strong division- trade a couple away for sure, but you could add a couple of prospects and some free agency in the winter, and you are back on top again. The Nationals also played this game, trading away Scherzer, Turner, Harrison, Lester, Gomes, Hand, Schwarber, and Hudson. Some of these make sense to me, others seem like poor decision-making.
Negatives of Promotion and Relegation for MLB
One drawback of my revamping proposal is that we would lose the geography to the current division play, and you lose out on some of those geographical rivalries.
However, travel and scheduling are so easy now that playing east or west coast really doesn’t matter, and not playing an historic rival for a few years will only build the tension and excitement for when those games finally naturally come around.
Conclusion
Traditionalists may not like my proposal but I think there is plenty of merit in the change. There have been structural changes over the last 150 years and this would just be another one. I see this idea as bringing plenty of positives, not least in trying to reduce (but not eliminate) the number of meaningless matches in MLB.
Relegation is not a position anyone wants to be in, but there is a place for it in sport- it generates competition and we need to bring it to MLB.
