In the same way that stars align in order to form famous constellations, teams general locations near each other are coordinated by their respective leagues in order to build divisions. Through these alignments, certain teams like the Saint Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs, have been granted the opportunities to play each other so much and form a historic rivalry. In terms of the National Hockey League, let's just say that if the Central Division in the Western Conference was altered. Then the rivalry between the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings looses some value because they are not competing for a division crown. If a league such as the National Hockey League or Major League Baseball decided that their current system did not work, they would change it. So the question becomes, should either the NHL or MLB decide to scrap their current formations and re-align their leagues?
Let us take a look at the NHL first.
Recently, the NHL moved the Atlanta Thrashers all the way up to Winnipeg Canada, and have revived the Winnipeg Jets franchise. Although this is good news for Hockey, the Jets are still in the Southeast Division despite being geographically above hockey towns such as New York, Detroit, Minnesota, and Boston. A Canadian team should not have to travel that far just to play a division game. The amount of traveling the Jets would have to do and the limited rest they would get would be an unfair advantage for the rest of the league. Such a competitive disadvantage for one team has to be addressed, and the only way for the NHL to do so is through realignment. And just shifting the Jets to say the Northwest division would break the neat and tidy five teams to a division theme the NHL has going on. There is allegedly interest in making four divisions with eight teams in two of them and seven in the other two. It would be different, but give it about a season and everyone would be used to it.
So should the NHL realign the Entire League? : YES
Now, let's change gears to the issue of realignment in Major League Baseball.
As the running theme seems to be for this summer in sports, the Collective Bargaining Agreement that Major League Baseball has is set to expire on December 1st of this year. And one of the big issues that sits firmly on the negotiating table is the issue of realignment. One of the reported ideas for realignment is that Baseball would split the 30 teams into two leagues, or conferences of 15 teams. But the new fun wrinkle in this system would be that Baseball would add a second Wild Card Team. So the number of teams that make the playoffs would go from eight to ten. Adding more playoff teams is an interesting idea, but ten teams would not work because two teams would have to sit around and wait. It's not like football where it's one game, loser goes home. Baseball prides itself on series, and since baseball is all about timing and momentum, it would be in fact worse for the higher seeds to sit and wait while other teams get into a groove in the playoffs. There are potential realignment ideas that could work for baseball, but the league's reported plan is not one of them.
So, should Baseball realign under THIS proposed plan?: NO
Realignment has such a huge impact on a sport that a commissioner and his brain trust would need months of discussion before setting a plan into motion. But hopefully, the adjustments that will be made will make everyone who loves their sports happy.
