Quote:
Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis
Should just eliminate divisions and just do an Eastern/Western conference with 16 teams in each. Eliminates cheap paths to the playoffs via bad divisions, and yeah the East will likely be stronger than the West, but it won't be NBA levels of unbalanced.
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The problem with that is there aren't enough teams in the West. Some pretty far East teams would have to be in the West, which would make their travel way worse. Eg, if you assume the expansion teams are in the east then all 3 Chicago area teams need to be in the west, putting them opposite from teams like the Reds and Tigers that they are in divisions with now (and very close to).
Even if you assume both expansions are west (say Austin and Salt Lake) you still need one Chicago area team in the West - and the Brewers are going to hate not being in the same conference as the Cubs/White Sox.
I think it only works if you put both expansions in the west and then move the White Sox west (eg Portland) as well. Otherwise there are multiple central teams that will be way worse off.