So, it looks like Major League Baseball is taking cues from the recent labor disputes between the NFL, NBA, and their respective unions. Baseball is close to announcing a new CBA between their owners and players that would ensure at least two decades of continuous operation since their last work stoppage. And in doing so, several interesting rule changes will go into effect.
I. Both the AL and NL will consist of fifteen teams, each consisting of three 5-team divisions.
It has been reported that the Houston Astros will move from the NL Central to the AL West. One of the stipulations of their pending sale was that the prospective owner Jim Crane would allow the team to move to the AL in return for a discount of $70M on the purchase price. With this assurance in place, the commissioner and other parties involved in the negotiations moved forward with the equal 15/15 split to ensure a more even playing field for teams in each respective division and league.
One result of the move is that there will be a need for inter-league games to be played on virtually every day of the season. Since each league will have an odd number of teams, at least one NL team will face one AL team during each series. This has led to much confusion about the amount of inter-league games and the impact on the designated hitter for teams in the AL, since more inter-league games for AL teams would diminish the importance of the DH.
Looking at the current way inter-league games are scheduled, each team in the AL plays 18 games against NL competition. However, since the NL has two additional teams at the moment, there are either twelve teams that play 15 games and four that play 18 games, or one that plays 12, ten that play 15, and five that play 18. So, all AL teams are playing six 3-game series while NL teams are playing between four and six series.
Based on 54 3-game series being played by each team (27 home/27 away), that means teams that play six inter-league series play 1/9th of their games against the opposite league. With each league at fifteen teams, only two of the thirty teams would have to play against the opposite league at any given time, meaning a minimum of 1/15th of the teams would be playing inter-league games at any given moment. So, each team would have to play one inter-league series for every fifteen series that they played. Overall this leads to between three and four series per team at a minimum to allow for teams to be playing without more than a day break.
Due to this, the number of inter-league games per team should not increase dramatically, if at all, due to the shift of the Astros to the AL. More than likely it will allow each team to play the same number of inter-league games, while potentially making teams within a division capable of playing almost identical schedules to other teams within the same division.
This example will explain how the scheduling might work:
| Games played vs Division | Games played vs League | Inter-league Games played |
| 21 gms x 4 teams = 84 gms | 6 gms x 10 teams = 60 gms | 3 gms x 6 teams = 18 gms |
Let’s take the NY Mets and use them as an example. Here is how their schedule might look:
| Opponent | Total Home Games Played | Total Away Games Played |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 12 or 9 | 9 or 12 |
| Atlanta Braves | 12 or 9 | 9 or 12 |
| Miami Marlins | 9 or 12 | 12 or 9 |
| Washington Nationals | 9 or 12 | 12 or 9 |
| Chicago Cubs | 3 | 3 |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 3 | 3 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 3 | 3 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 3 | 3 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 3 | 3 |
| San Francisco Giants | 3 | 3 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 3 | 3 |
| San Diego Padres | 3 | 3 |
| Colorado Rockies | 3 | 3 |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | 3 | 3 |
| New York Yankees | 0 or 3 | 3 or 0 |
| AL opponent (NYY if E) | 3 or 0 | 0 or 3 |
| AL opponent | 3 | 0 |
| AL opponent | 3 | 0 |
| AL opponent | 0 | 3 |
| AL opponent | 0 | 3 |
The only differences in schedule would result in whether each team played 12 or 9 home games against a divisional opponent and the three games against the one inter-league rival, in this case the New York Yankees. This is just one example of how the schedule COULD work and in no way means that it will actually break up this way.
II. There will be an additional two teams that make the play-offs as wild cards, one each in the AL and NL.
The addition of a second wild card team in each league would result in the three divisional winners receiving a “bye” while the two wild cards would play a one game play-off to determine who would advance to play the division winner with the best record. Unlike the current set up, division winners could play the wild card team in the divisional series even if they were from the same division, instead of the wild card playing the team with the best record from another division.
This would put a major emphasis on winning your division, and since each team would be playing almost identical schedules with the other members of its division, it would be much more fair to each team. The wild card winners would also be put at a slight disadvantage going into the play-offs since they would most likely need to use their best pitcher in the one game play-off to advance to play the team with the best record.
Overall, I like both moves, as it makes the schedule much more fair amongst divisional opponents, along with putting a higher value on winning your division and being a strong team the entire season.
There are other interesting topics being discussed, including free agent compensation and draft pick signing bonuses. Once the CBA has been ratified and each issue has been resolved we will go back and look at the effect of each on the game.
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