-=> Terry May took a called strike three for saying to Paige Miller <=-
 TM>> But what if you're the White Sox and your "natural rival" is the Cubs,
 TM>>  who are having a horrible year, and Kansas City's "natural rival" is
 TM>> the Cardinals, who are having a fantastic year?  Do you think that's
 TM>> fair to the Royals and their playoff chances?
 PM> 
 PM> I don't think this is a valid objection. You could make the same point
 PM> about leaving the leagues alone. Some years, you are going to be in a
 PM> tough division, and a very good record will not be good enough for
 PM> first place. Other years, you will be in a very weak division and you
 PM> could get into the playoffs with a record barely over .500.
 PM> Restructuring neither accentuates nor alleviates this problem.
 TM> Bad, bad analogy.  If you're in a tough division, that means the rest
 TM> of your division is also in a tough division, so you have no
 TM> disadvantage.  Because of the moronic balanced schedule, you're not
 TM> even at a disadvantage for the wildcard, because the other divisions
 TM> have the same schedule you do.
Yes, I had forgotten about the balanced schedule. Interleague play
unbalances the schedule to a certain extent (although over 3 years, I
assume that the schedule does indeed balance out, if that matters...)
Anyway, to rephrase my point, any time you unbalance the schedule, as
interleague play does, some teams will play a weaker schedule and some
teams will play a stronger schedule. There is no way around this. If, as
MLB wants us to believe, there are other advantages to inter-league play,
you have to accept this unfairness in the scheduling, and there is no
restructuring of the divisions that will prevent this unfairness.
... Yukon Fred's Pizzeria and Gator Pit
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