Reclaiming Baseball, our National Pasttime (Without Cheating)

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Time and time again, we've learned that lesson. Enron. Obama. Spoiler Alert! The scene in Armageddon when Bruce Willis sacrifices himself to save the planet. Sometimes things work out, and sometimes they don't.

In 1994, baseball was in danger of collapsing. The game was in teeters, fans were becoming disenchanted. It was a desperate time, and it called for desperate measures. What the game needed was a home run chase, and 4 years later it got its wish. It saved the game and made millions if not billions of dollars. Over the short term, it was a perfect fix, but over the long term it looks pretty foolish. Corked bats, live baseballs, PED's. The chase was on, and the MLB administration, led by our favorite commissioner, Bud Selig, turned a blind eye. Forget the records, I can sum up the era in two words. Brady. Anderson.

How to deal with those players is another blog post for another day. Here, I'm only interested in introducing an idea to reclaim the game and reintroduce integrity. This plan will stimulate the game in ways that PED's never could. The best part? Its legal.

I propose introducing a promotion/relegation system to baseball. We would keep the leagues, levels, and divisions. However, no teams would be allowed to be affiliated to other teams. I propose that the worst team in each combined division (worst NL east OR AL east team) would be relegated. The best team in the combined divisions of the minors would be promoted to take their place. Everything else would stay exactly the same as it is right now.

Effects: The effects of this are amazing. Minor league teams become important, and revenue goes up. Teams like the Indianapolis Indians have a new lease on life. More fans will go to games and be excited when then get a chance to go to the majors by winning. People would be spared the tragedy of the Pirates and Royals. I think this would reinvigorate the game.

Welcome

Hello! I have been encouraged to create a general blog describing my thoughts. Things will range from Sports to Politics to Vacation Destinations to Cars. I will try to write about ideas rather than experiences, but I cannot promise this will always be the case. I will begin with a blog about baseball...