November 18, 2011

Milddlebrooks, Britton, Lin Added To 40-Man; Two More Wild Cards Added To Playoffs; Astros to AL West in 2013

Will Middlebrooks (3B), Drake Britton (LHP), and Che-Hsuan Lin (OF) have been added to the Red Sox's 40-man roster, protecting them from the upcoming Rule 5 draft. The 40-man roster still has two empty spots.

The Houston Astros will move to the American League West in 2013. With 15 teams in each league, there will be a significant increase in interleague games (up from the current 18 to perhaps 30).

MLB will add an additional wild card team in each league for 2013 (or perhaps 2012; it has not been decided). Each league's two wild cards would likely meet in a one-game playoff, with the victor joining the three division winners in the playoffs. A Globe poll asks if fans are in favour of the additional wild card?
No, the original wild card was bad enough         61.21%  (2,749 votes)
Yes, it's time to open up the playoffs even more  38.79%  (1,742 votes)
Meanwhile, Bud Selig continues to insist fans everywhere totally love what he has done to the game.

13 comments:

9casey said...

Those are the same fans you called stupid to posts ago......

laura k said...

there will be a significant increase in interleague games

ARGHHHH

Amy said...

Uch, more change. Can't we go back to the good old days? Oh, wait, what were those?

I hated the DH, the wild card, the division of the leagues, etc., when each was adopted. Somehow I adapted. I guess we will all adapt to these changes also.

But yeah, I still think interleague play is stupid and annoying. Why have two leagues if they are just going to play each other anyway during the season? Though I suppose the same could be said for divisions: why play teams in another division if the rankings in the end look only at the division (except for the wild card)?

allan said...

Those are the same fans you called stupid to posts ago....

They clearly saw my remarks and have begun to educate themselves! So far, so good.

(Or Selig is such a dolt, even idiots can see he's doing stupid stuff.)

laura k said...

I have no issue with change. I don't dislike things merely because they are new or different. I hate interleague play, and I don't think we need more than one wild card. This is not in the best interests of baseball, although it must be in the best interests of telecom providers, and their interests always come first.

laura k said...

(Or Selig is such a dolt, even idiots can see he's doing stupid stuff.)

Or sometimes you agree with people, and sometimes you disagree with them.

allan said...

Most times I disagree.

Jim said...

In a competently-run multi-billion dollar business, you would expect more inter-league play would result in finally addressing the different rule in each league. That would be the DH. Just make it uniform, one way or another.
The "don't-hold-your-breath" comments may now commence.

Zenslinger said...

I am not sure why realignment means that we have to play more interleague games.

As for the Wild Card -- in a sense it decreases its importance if they just play one game against each other. Now there's little difference between winning the division and the WC. Then there will be a much greater advantage to winning the division.

allan said...

Because with the Astros moving, there will be an uneven amount of teams in each league (15), so we will have interleague throughout the year.

It is probably impossible to arrange the schedule with the current # of interleague games without some pointless trips back and forth across the contry for 3 games, and such. We already have too much of that crazy shit.

Jere said...

Since zen just brought it up...I just did a post about this. I had been thinking IL play all year long meant more IL games, but it doesn't have to (and could mean less if they wanted to). Like I said in my post, though, I could have effed up the math so let me know your thoughts.

Rob said...

Each team should be given a trophy at the end of the season. WE ARE ALL WINNERS!

laura k said...

In a competently-run multi-billion dollar business, you would expect more inter-league play would result in finally addressing the different rule in each league. That would be the DH. Just make it uniform, one way or another.

The "don't-hold-your-breath" comments may now commence.


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