How the MLB Could Borrow a Page from Soccer's World Cup

If you are like me, you are patiently waiting out the snoozefest that is the end of this baseball season before the playoffs start.

There are no more division races that are remotely interesting (Detroit-Minnesota backing into a playoff spot does not count).

If you are a fan of a particular team, you may be keeping an eye open to see if your team can hold on to a .500 record (you go, Mariners!), or you may be trying to measure the difference it makes in one's career to go from the AL to the NL (I see you there, Mr. Holliday).

Either way, the experiment known as the "wild card" has shown that a single extra playoff spot does not necessarily translate into September excitement. That is why I have come up a novel approach for fixing baseball and all that ails it.

Agree or disagree, one must admit baseball cannot afford any more Septembers like this.

1. Get rid of the DH

Let's face it, we probably wouldn't have heard Big Papi's name leaked because he would have been retired by now.

The DH slows the game down. AL games last too long, and the pitchers are rubber-armed by the playoffs, meaning that the crappy teams that make the playoffs in the NL have a better shot in the World Series.

Different rules never made sense and never will. Let's get back to playing baseball.

2. Every year, realign the divisions

This is going to tick off the purists, but hear me out. What if baseball realigned every year so that teams see different opponents more often?

Do it like they do the World Cup draw. Based on last year's standings, the top six teams get a place in different divisions. Then the six next best teams are drawn randomly into slot two of each division, and then the next six in slot three, and so on.

This means that the Yankees and Red Sox wouldn't be in the same division. Instead of having to beat both of these behemoths, Toronto would only have to beat one, if any. 

Yes, this would spell spell the end of the "traditional rivalry," but you'd be surprised how fast new rivalries appear in their place. Also, it would mean the end of interleague play in order to make the schedule work. It would still be an unbalanced schedule, but there would be no more ties to NL or AL scheduling.

An example of what the divisions look like could be as such:

Div. 1: 1. LAA; 2. TOR; 3. STL; 4. ATL; 5. SF

Div. 2: 1. TB; 2. HOU; 3. FLA; 4. DET; 5. BAL

Div. 3: 1. CHC; 2. MIN; 3. LAD; 4. CIN; 5. PIT

Div. 4: 1. BOS; 2. CHW; 3. ARI; 4. COL; 5. SD

Div. 5: 1. PHI; 2. NYY; 3. CLE; 4. KC; 5. SEA

Div. 6: 1. MIL; 2. NYM; 3. TEX; 4. OAK; 5. WAS

As you can see, only Division Two would be considered weak, and with this particular competition, the Rays would probably have a much better record. Division Five, meanwhile, would be the "group of death" (to borrow another World Cup term).

Another benefit would be the idea of trading a player out of your league would no longer apply, as he could possibly end up in your division the next season to torture you accordingly.

I realize that this idea is a little ahead of its time, but I believe it's time for baseball to start thinking outside the batter's box to give people in non-traditional markets something to look forward to.

And wouldn't you watch the draw for the new divisions each year when it airs on ESPN? I know I would be glued to the box.