Sunday, October 22, 2017

2017 Baseball Promotion and Relegation

If Major League Baseball had promotion and relegation like professional soccer (outside of North America, that is)...

* American League East: Down, Baltimore Orioles; Up, Durham Bulls, winners of the International League South Division. Therefore: Boston Red Sox, Durham Bulls, New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays, Toronto Blue Jays.

* American League Central: Down, Detroit Tigers; up, Memphis Redbirds, winners of the Pacific Coast League American Southern Division. Therefore: Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Royals, Memphis Redbirds, Minnesota Twins.

* American League West: Down, Oakland Athletics; up, Reno Aces, winners of the Pacific Coast League Pacific Northern Division, and the 1st-place Triple-A team with the 6th-best record, therefore I presume it would win a Playoff for the last available spot with the 1st-place Triple-A team with the 7th-best record, the El Paso Chihuahuas, winners of the Pacific Coast League Pacific Southern Division. Therefore: Houston Astros, Los Angeles Angels, Reno Aces, Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers.

* National League East: Down, Philadelphia Phillies; Up, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, winners of the International League American Northern Division. Therefore: Atlanta Braves, Miami Marlins, New York Mets, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, Washington Nationals.

* National League Central: Down, Cincinnati Reds; up, Indianapolis Indians, winners of the International League West Division. Therefore: Chicago Cubs, Indianapolis Indians, Milwaukee Brewers, Pittsburgh Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals.

* National League West: Down, San Francisco Giants down; up, Colorado Springs Sky Sox, winners of the Pacific Coast League American Northern Division. Therefore: Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies, Colorado Springs Sky Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres.

To simplify things, where I could avoid it, I put a promoted Triple-A team in a Division so it would not be a Division opponent of its major league "parent club." This is why promotion and relegation couldn't work in baseball: The farm system.

Anyway, regardless of whether I put Scranton or Durham in the AL East, it would be in the same Division as its parent club. So, screw Tampa Bay. And, regardless of whether I put Indianapolis or in the AL Central or Memphis in the NL Central, it would be in the same Division as its parent club. So, I decided to not have 2 teams named Indians in the AL Central.

Colorado (Denver) vs. Colorado Springs would be an interesting rivalry, and, keep in mind, the Sky Sox are a Milwaukee Brewers farm team, not a Rockies farm team.

An oddity: In each Division, it's one of the Original 16. And 2 of them (the Phillies and the Giants) have won a World Series since 2008, and all of them have at least made the Playoffs since 2013.

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