What the H happened to the NL Central?

NL CENTRAL RECAP

Remember a week ago, the fun of the trade deadline. We were able to watch the Pirates actually acquiring players. A time so strange that Jim Rome invited Andrew McCutchen on his show to enlighten his “clones” on the phenomenon. We watched the Cubs keep promising young talent, and build for the future. We watched Astros giving players away and paying teams to do so…you are welcome, Philly. We watched the Cardinals turn into Sybil and go from “you will obey the all knowing Tony La Russa” (the Rasmus trade), to “our starting pitching needs an upgrade, we need an inconsistent Edwin Jackson who’s contract is up at the end of the year”, to “let’s play Ryan Theriot /Brendon Ryan musical chairs”, to crying “we need another bat and will reach for anyone (Rafael Furcal)”. Seriously, the Cardinals took a page from the prom playbook and put on as many moves as they could possible to land the big score. We watched the Reds sit on their thumbs, and move only struggling fan favorite, inexpensive Johnny Gomes for prospects (potentially to make room for Michael Bourn, but the deal fell through …your welcome, Atlanta), and the Reds went on a downward spiral. Finally, we watched the Brew Crew executives taping their fingers on their desks like a Bond villain after changing the KROD contract giving them two amazing closers.

FLASH FORWARD ONE WEEK…

The Brewers are on top of the division, the St. Lunitics are trailing by 3 games, then the once hopeful Pirates are 8 back and the underperforming Red Legs are 9 games back after dropping the previous series to the depleted Astros (25.5 games behind), and losing the second in a row to the confused Cubbies (14.5 games back). The cream is rising to the top and the moves made at the deadline make more sense. The Brew Crew made one major move to bring in KROD, which was a bit puzzling because they had good talent in Axford but it appears it is a case of the rich getting richer and the young closer having a support system for a playoff run.

It appears the Cardinals freaked out that someone other than the Mighty La Russa could possibly be on top of the NL Central and went anti-Jockety (former Cards GM who finds and grows talent rather than making drastic short-term moves) and acquired anyone who knew where St. Louis was on a map. That is, unless your name was Colby Rasmus. I happened to be driving through St. Louis the day that Edwin Jackson made his premier in a Cards uniform and caught the pre-game radio call-in show. The fans were panicked, drunk, and acted like the world was ending. Even though that is the job of a sports fan, it seemed odd that a town so rich in baseball fortitude would be screaming “the sky is falling, the sky is falling!” At any rate, the broadcast also offered an interview with Colby Rasmus’s father, who was accused of coaching his son and offending baseball legend and completely arrogant (I bat pitchers in the 8 spot and somehow everyone is ok with it) Tony LaRussa, who shipped him out for a bag of baseballs and 15% off of a Moon’s Over My Hammy at any Toronto area Denny’s…and Edwin Jackson. Senior Rasmus pled his case that he was in fact encouraging his son, who hit a slump at the end of last year, during batting practices, but offered nothing in the way of correcting mechanics. The Cards also picked up outfielder Corey Patterson in the deal, for the potential of that working out for them you can call the Chicago Cubs or Cincinnati Reds. Is it just me or has Patterson just taken the Jim Edmond’s title of NL Central town bicycle?


Then there is the rest of the pack. Are they out of it? Not mathematically, but we have reached the part of the season where teams either lustfully chase after the top of the division like Ducky in ‘Pretty in Pink’ or their own reality comes crashing down and they shut it down for this year and prepare for next season. The Pirates went all out so they are going to make a likely embarrassing “the little engine that could” effort to overtake both the Cards and Brewers. The Reds are only a game behind the Pirates, but are in 4th in the division and have played with as much emotion this season as Ben Affleck in Gilgi. The Red Legs are also bringing up AAA players to fill in for injuries/get experience for the future. I believe that is the white flag. The Cubs are seemingly lost, but playing good baseball at the moment. Finally, the most exciting thing in Houston may be the prospect of being moved to the AL in baseballs potential re-alignment that seems to be on the horizon. At least these clubs can find peace in at least one regard made famous by the Chicago-land area, “there’s always next year”.

MLB CALLING FOR A CHIROPRACTOR

Well, maybe not a chiropractor, but they are contemplating a re-alignment. By now, most readers have likely caught wind of the up-for-debate topic of re-alignment in the MLB. For those who may not have, let me give a brief recap. The NL has 16 teams (2 divisions with 5 teams, 1 with 6) and the AL has 14 teams (2 divisions with 5 teams, 1 with 4). Suddenly the smartest people in the sport realize that 16 = 14 is somewhat in proportionate and they consider a new concept called “re-alignment”.

Upon hearing this story, I thought to myself “how the hell did we just realize this?”

Anyway, there seem to be two ideas in general that have come from discussions on re-alignment. The first, take the Houston Astros from the NL Central and put them in the AL West. This creates a “natural rivalry” with the Texas Rangers, takes a team from a division of 6, places them in a division of 4 and evens out all of baseball. Two leagues have 15 teams, all divisions have 5 teams.

Let’s play “what if”. If the aforementioned happens, there is a sort of potential scheduling complication. We have an odd number of teams in each league, which means on any given night, one team in each league will not have a divisional opponent. So the somewhat obvious solution: if the Chicago Cubs (NL) and Toronto Blue Jays (AL) have no league opponent to play on a given 3 day stretch (due to other teams being locked into another series), why not play each other? That is ok, if you are willing to support interleague play every night for one team in each division.

The second thought “Why don’t we have the best 5 teams in each league in the playoffs” Good question, hypothetical and potentially hallucinated voice in my head put into print. It sounds like you are hinting at splitting MLB into two equal leagues (15 and 15 or 14 and 14) and forgetting about the divisions within the leagues, then taking the best 5 records and they are in the playoffs. This is not the first time this would be done in the MLB (see 1969). However, we kind of have this in the NBA…and personally, I don’t really like it. As a Reds fan, I love the Reds/Cards rivalry because the value is that much higher than a Reds/Rockies series. On the same token, Yanks/Soxs (everyone’s favorite/least favorite two teams) would be equally diminished. In baseball, some games just mean more. It’s true, honestly and statistically. I say we hold on to that. Besides, finding a storyline for 162 games a year in a world without extra valued games would be brutal as a viewer. “These two teams used to be in the same division and would not even shake hands when on the same all-star team. Now, they square off again. Let’s see if the same intensity resonates”. Set the DVR, I want to watch the last 2 innings.

Another consideration: “I don’t like interleague play, and the league is too diluted” Solution: get rid of a team from each league (I’m not naming names) and move the Astros. Now we have 14 and 14 and interleague play resumes as normal. This could work, except it would be difficult to cut two teams and two markets from a financial perspective just to better the game from a quality standpoint, at least I would think. The game may be better off, but money is money and I think the suits like their gold-plated toilets.

It’s going to be interesting to see what happens, but the most likely scenario is Houston to the AL and everything else stays the same, with some considerations for scheduling (likely an expansion of interleague play). As a fan of the NL and more specifically the NL Central I think it is a way of having the most difficult division in baseball served some justice. (Seriously, no DH and you compete with 6 teams. Great year last year Rangers, you had to hold off 3 teams with a DH to win the division. Try holding off 5 with your pitcher hitting every game!)