MLB Realignment: Baseball Already Provides Equality-Why Change It For the Few?

As a follow up to the radical realignment post this morning, I wanted to compare Major League Baseball to the NFL and NBA over the last 10 years.

Since the year 2000, here are all the teams that have competed for an NBA Championship:

Los Angeles Lakers (Five times), San Antonio Spurs (Three times), Detroit Pistons (Twice), New Jersey Nets (Twice), Philadelphia 76ers, Miami Heat, Dallas Mavericks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston Celtics, Orlando Magic.

That is a total of 10 teams since the year 2000. The NBA has not played their finals yet for 2009/2010, so two more teams could be added to that list, but I doubt it.

Since the year 2000, here are all the teams that have competed for a Super Bowl:

New England Patriots (Four times), Indianapolis Colts (Twice), New York Giants (Twice), Pittsburgh Steelers (Twice), Baltimore Ravens, St. Louis Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Oakland Raiders, Carolina Panthers, Philadelphia Eagles, Seattle Seahawks, Chicago Bears, Arizona Cardinals, New Orleans Saints.

That is a total of 14 teams that have competed for a Super Bowl since the year 2000.

Since the year 2000, here are all the teams that have competed for a World Series Championship:

New York Yankees (Four times), Boston Red Sox (Twice), Philadelphia Phillies (Twice), St. Louis Cardinals (Twice), New York Mets, Arizona Diamondbacks, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, San Francisco Giants, Florida Marlins, Chicago White Sox, Houston Astros, Detroit Tigers, Colorado Rockies, Tampa Bay Rays.

That is a total of 14 teams that have competed for a World Series Championship since the year 2000.

So let me understand this—Major League Baseball is going to move heaven and earth for two teams (Yankees and Red Sox) that haven’t played each other in the playoffs in five years and for a league that has been more competitive than the NBA and equally competitive as the NFL, which is the standard barer for competitive balance?

While the economics in baseball aren’t perfect, the strides baseball has made over the past 15 years are working. A salary cap or radical realignment won’t mean that all of a sudden things are perfect.

Like in any business, smart people make things better, not making changes to mask the real problem.

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