Thursday, September 07, 2006

A Challenge

Here's the challenge...and do it honestly...no looking at other web sites or books to figure it out...otherwise, it isn't a challenge at all...

Go back before the realignments to the magical year of 1986 and try to write out which teams were in which division...don't worry about the order of finish...

I've been really tempted to go to ESPN or some web site to figure it out, but I am having a ton of trouble with the NL EAST. For some reason, every time (in my mind) belongs in the West...

Post your answers in the comments...That's where I will put mine...

7 comments:

  1. My AL for that year...

    East
    Baltimore
    Boston
    New York
    Toronto
    Detroit
    Cleveland
    Milwaukee

    Not sure about Milwaukee and Cleveland, but my West looks like this...

    West
    Oakland
    California
    Seattle
    Texas
    Kansas City
    Minnesota
    Chicago

    And I feel pretty certain about that...Originally I had Milwaukee out there, but that was just too many teams...

    Thoughts? Does this look right?

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  2. I couldn't do this without resorting to looking it up somewhere. Except, of course, for the obvious ones, many that there are. I just wanted you to know I'm remaining honest. And still, at my blog, optimistic. But that's me. Visit early, and often. And thanks...I can't wait to see some more of the guesses.

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  3. Looks right to me - the NL was even screwier with ATL in the West along with Cincy and Hou, but Stl and Chicago were in the East - a lot of that had to do with WGN wanting their games to be on earlier and being in the east meant more 7:05 games (6:05 in Chi).

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  4. NL???

    East
    Mets
    Expos
    Cards
    Cubs
    Pirates
    Phillies

    West
    Dodgers
    Padres
    Braves
    Houston
    Cincinnati
    Giants

    That's it...I guess...

    This brings me to my next question...

    Did realignment and hurt the smaller market teams like KC? They used to be a contender year in and out...Sure ownership plays a role, but having a small market team like KC play a bunch of their games against non-coast teams probably takes away fans...This happened with the Pirates, too, I bet. I mean, they still play those teams, but with less frequency now because of their divisions and unbalanced schedule. I used to love seeing the Royals with Brett, and the Pirates with Parker, Stargell, etc...even the Bonds and Bonilla days...

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  5. I don't think it was the realignment that hurt them as much as who drastically the economics of the game changed - starting around 1990 when the Yanks signed their first MSG deal ($50MM per year) and continuing with increases in corporate sponsorships, ticket prices and luxury boxes.

    If you go back 12 years, the disparities between top and bottom payrolss were percentages, now they are levels of magnitude. Teams like KC used to be able to keep their stars (Brett) or even SD could keep Gwynn, but now it is almost impossible.

    If anythying the realignment was a result of the changing economics to allow the middle market, middle america teams a better chance to compete - it kept the Uber-teams in the east (sorry, TB, Montreal) and created middle market divisions in the Central. And it has kind of worked - with the exception of Pittsburgh, every single team has at least been in the playoffs (or the races) at some point since 1995.

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  6. Money money money had more to do with the Royals demise than anything else. Bye...take care

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  7. interesting question... It may be that their fall had more to do with lack of revenue generation, but their plight (being stuck in it) has a lot to do with lossing one solid revenue generation (playing good teams). I watched Pittsburgh Vs. Cubs this week in Chicago and it was a BAD game. Fans started to leave in the 5th inning. There is now doubt if it had been the Cardinals the stands would have stayed fuller.

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