If you are a Red Sox fan, the proposal might make you shudder. The same could occur in other cities where there is a certain something about existing within a division. The rumored proposal would do away with those, creating two 15-team leagues.
Boston is one of a handful of cities that defines its existence by what it loves and who it hates. It is provincial to a fault, and that desire to identify with all that the city is about, and all it needs to defend, extends to its closest rivals. When said rivals are grouped in one small subset, there is pride not only in winning the wars with your neighbors, but also in taking a collective stance against the rest of baseball.
Who doesn't love comparing the divisions each spring and summer? Who doesn't spend time each morning monitoring multiple races around the game, seeing how the fights compare with one another?
There is a certain cache in saying you played, survived or thrived in the AL East. Remember when John Lackey struggled in his first year with the Red Sox? Conventional wisdom was that he was playing with the big dogs now. Tough beans, John. You'll have to adjust. Kind of made locals feel a sense of pride, knowing their team thrived in a division that ate up others.
Remember when the divisions split from four to six in 1994 and there was still one stretch in which 10 out of 14 AL World Series representatives came from the AL East? Kind of makes one walk a bit taller knowing their team came from a place of such dominance.
Sure, the old-timers will tell you that the divisions themselves are radical and changed the game they love. However, they've existed for over 40 years and there are few fans that can identify with the Red Sox as just one of the masses lined up top to bottom on the broadsheets. And when four divisions became six, the AL East didn't suffer. Cleveland and Milwaukee went elsewhere, and eventually Detroit was replaced by Tampa Bay. And still you had solid rivalries within the group, as well as that collective sense of pride when compared with teams out west or in the central part of the country.
The AL East. Just brings with it a certain something. Am I crazy?
We see the same act in other sports. There's a dose of pride for AFC North teams who see their division as the toughest in the game. The NFC North had that same reputation when it was formerly known as the Central, or the Black and Blue division. The Celtics have dominated the Atlantic over the years. It's been a crappy division of late, but it's been theirs. The NHL lost its lovely names of days gone by (Wales and Campbell conferences, Adams, Patrick, Smythe and Norris divisions … good stuff), but the Big Bad Bruins certainly take pride in reserving their biggest and baddest for those in the Northeast Division (Vancouver might disagree).
In each of these sports there have been changes, teams jumping from league to league, divisions added, names of conferences altered, etc. But each has maintained a division to some degree, usually keeping traditional rivals or geographic neighbors in each other's pocket and aside one another in the standings.
Just grouping them in one large mass takes away a little something, even if it adds balance and, perhaps, a more interesting playoff race.
In a 15-team, division-less league, the Red Sox and Yankees will have every opportunity to remain at or near the top. Their competitive advantages will not necessarily be compromised. They may even be given a boost due to the constant presence of interleague games, in which they almost always do well.
However, something will be lost. It may not be recognizable immediately, but when it is game No. 113 and you're looking at the same 15-team list, you might long for some sense of division.
Red Sox manager Terry Francona indicated this week that he sees merit in the realignment proposal. He should. It has the potential to be very good for the game as a whole. His team and its fans, however, will lose one bragging point. They would no longer be able to count themselves as one of the beasts of the East, nor would they be able to stick their chest out when discussing which grouping is greatest. It may be minor, but it counts for something.
If baseball does realign and remove divisions, will it take away from the game?
