New York Yankees, MLB radical realignment plan

The What If Game

Major League Baseball has tried to address these issues piecemeal, with some success. But at some point in the distant future, it might be time to contemplate a more radical solution: Follow the model of the English Premier Soccer League.

Before I go into detail about how this would work and why; I now must give a couple of notes, breaking the process down.

While I did think of this independently while in England 20 years ago, I am neither the first person to think of it nor the first to expound on it. And although the mere idea can seem ridiculous on its face, it would not be the first time an idea is considered as such in the game.

For instance, had I told the local Cincinnati boys in 1850 that one day we would build a mound in the middle of the infield for the pitcher, they might have been stunned. That will never work, they might have said because it would create havoc on balls hit up the middle.

Or what if I told them that one day players would make more money and be more respected than the President? And that one day stadiums big enough to hold 50,000 people would be jammed to watch this simple game currently played on dirt lots?

Don’t you think that would have sounded beyond implausible?

It Just Keeps Going

How about I go to New York in 1866 and tell baseball people there that one day, African-Americans will be informally banned from baseball, then go on to form their money-making baseball league, but then be allowed back in, and all by the late 1940’s?

What if I appeared at a game in 1900 and told them that day games would become the exception, and playing at night the rule? Or that games would go from their usual 90 minutes to over three hours? How the hell can a game go on for three hours? And why would people watch?

Or that a player will one day be somewhat celebrated for hitting .203 and 41 home runs, as Texas Rangers Joey Gallo was last year?

How about I go up to the Red Sox in 1918 and tell them that they would be better off converting their ace and World Series hero, Babe Ruth, into a full-time position player, as the New York Yankees did? Since when is hitting more important than pitching?

Or if I told Ty Cobb that he would be the last great player of his kind and that from now on home runs were going to eclipse stealing bases in importance?

Okay, I would never really stand in front of Cobb and tell him something likely to piss the man off, but you get the point: It would be wrong to dismiss ideas because they seem to take the game so far from what it is. The only real matter of import is, does the game need a change and will it work?

This plan could. Although it will never actually be the plan for the New York Yankees, it still could work.