The Milwaukee Brewers' move from the AL to the NL

[Omniscient]

@kunilou

Tradition played a big part. Kaycee had always been an AL town, even back when it was the AAA farm club for the Yankees.

Also, there can be such a thing as too much rivalry. Put the Royals and the Cardinals in the same division and it’s likely the Royals would always be the weaker team.

Broadcast revenues were another issue. The Royals already have enough trouble getting affiliates in Missouri (against the Cardinals) and Iowa (where the Cubs dominate). Put them in the NL Central and it’s possible their geographic fan base would shrink even more.

I was envisioning them being aligned in the NL West, not the Central.

[cmkeller]

And North Carolina or Tennessee are the best places for an Eastern team, given that both locations have teams in all three other Major League North American sports. (granted, they’re not in the same city in each state, but the fan base can be statewide).

[Kent_Clark]

@Omniscient

I was envisioning them being aligned in the NL West, not the Central.

Aside from the football-generated rivalry with Denver, putting KC in the NL West would mean a whole bunch of road games not starting until 9:00 p.m. West coast games screw up ratings for cities in the Eastern and Central time zones. Goes back to broadcast revenues again.

[zamboniracer]

@Wee Bairn

The imbalance is ludicrous…

The imbalance isn’t really historically ludicrous. The leagues were unbalanced the other way from 1977 to the 1990s, with the AL having 14 teams and the NL 12, and nobody was too bothered by it that I can recall.

Interleague play, now that’s ludicrous!

…I can’t believe there hasn’t been more of an uproar about- Seattle for example only has to be better than three other teams to secure a playoff spot, while St. Louis has to be better than five.

That is an excellent point. The teams in the current AL west do have much bigger chance at the postseason than then NL Central teams do. If more people understood statistics, as baseball fans claim to, there would be an outcry.

[Freddy_the_Pig]

@zamboniracer

The imbalance isn’t really historically ludicrous. The leagues were unbalanced the other way from 1977 to the 1990s, with the AL having 14 teams and the NL 12, and nobody was too bothered by it that I can recall.

Right, but the divisional imbalance, which is more important, wasn’t as great. The largest division contained only 16.67% more teams than the smallest. Now, the largest division contains 50% more teams than the smallest.

@zamboniracer

That is an excellent point. The teams in the current AL west do have much bigger chance at the postseason than then NL Central teams do. If more people understood statistics, as baseball fans claim to, there would be an outcry.

The problem is, the teams and fans affected can’t raise an outcry without sounding like whiners.

So, I raise it on their behalf. I hate the Cubs, but I still think it’s wrong that they have to beat five teams to finish in first place and the Angels only three.