I need help aligning my teams

[Germaniac]

I have set up my Fictional Major League Baseball the following way:

I use all current ML teams (Brewers are in AL, Astros in NL) and added the following teams:
Brooklyn Dodgers
Montreal Expos
Philadelphia Athletics
St. Louis Browns

Three seasons ago I expanded the league with
Boston Braves
New York Giants
Kansas City Athletics
Seattle Pilots

So I have 4 subleagues with 5 teams each - the schedule ist not a problem, I created one myself.

However I'm not really satisfied with the alignment, so do you guys have any thoughts on this or ideas to make it better?
Since I'm managing the Brewers I may be biased to move a certain team in or out of "my" division.

Thanks in advance for your input

[Cobby]

That's an interesting idea to keep both the modern teams and the historical teams from which some them originated. It makes me tempted to propose keeping the modern teams in the same divisions as their derivatives. But. Otherwise, here's my shot at it - keeping all the teams in their original leagues:

OK, for the AL, the problems are figuring which team to add to the AL west since there are only four west coast teams; secondly, what to do with Tamp Bay that is all by itself in the southeast and how to get the Yankees and Red Sox back together. My solution is to add Minnesota to the AL west (it doesn't really want to be there, but it's just about as close to Seattle as Dallas is to Los Angeles). Then we can put Tampa Bay in the central - it's geographically closer to those cities (Dallas, Kansas City and St. Louis) that anywhere else. Also Dallas is basically a plains city and fits just fine with Kansas City. Then we can get New York and Boston back together and have a nice cohesive great lakes division.

AL East
Boston Red Sox
New York Yankees
Philadelphia Athletics
Baltimore Orioles
Washington Senators

AL Lakes
Toronto Blue Jays
Cleveland Indians
Detroit Tigers
Chicago White Sox
Milwaukee Brewers

AL Central (or Plains)
St. Louis Browns
Kansas City Royals
Kansas City Athletics
Texas Rangers
Tampa Bay Rays

AL West
Seattle Mariners
Seattle Pilots
Oakland A's
Los Angeles Angels
Minnesota Twins

For the NL, the issues are once again getting New York and Boston in the same division; what to do about Montreal: it goes into the east to make a nice compact NE division, then Philadelphia has to leave. And getting Colorado into the west and Houston out - much closer geographically.

Always trade-offs, but here's what I would do:

NL East (or NE)
Montreal Expos
Boston Braves
New York Mets
New York Giants
Brooklyn Dodgers

NL Central
Chicago Cubs
St. Louis Cardinals
Milwaukee Braves
Cincinnati Reds
Pittsburgh Pirates

NL South (or SE)
Atlanta Braves
Miami Marlins
Houston Astros
Washington Nationals
Philadelphia Phillies

NL West
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants
Arizona Diamondbacks
Colorado Rockies

[Germaniac]

Thanks for your input. I also put up this question in the "General Discussions"-board because I think not all fictional guys go there all that much and the guys over there probably don't look here.

Your idea is very similar with CD's and both are much better than my setup.

fnz put it right, because of the addition of several "pre-60's-teams" the league is overloaded on the eastern side.

I think I will use CD's alignment but eventually I might do what The Game said and go with a two division-setup.

Thanks again for your help

[stevem810]

My quick take is they look great.

One change, I'd flip the Tigers with the Browns. Tigers are more north and the teams in that division are good Detroit rivalries.

St. Louis with the two KC teams makes a nice fit, too.

[MikeS369]

AL Eastern

WAS Senators
BAL Orioles
NY Yankees
TB Rays
PHI Athletics

AL Northern

MIL Brewers
TOR Blue Jays
DET Tigers
MIN Twins
BOS Red Sox

AL Central

CLE Indians
KC Royals
CHI White Sox
STL Browns
PIT Pirates

AL Western

LA Angels
COL Rockies
SEA Mariners
OAK A's
TX Rangers

NL Eastern

WAS Nationals
PHI Phillies
NY Mets
MIA Marlins
ATL Braves

NL Northern

MON Expos
MiL Braves
BOS Braves
BRO Dodgers
NY Giants

NL Central

STL Cardinals
CHI Cubs
CIN Reds
HOU Astros
KC Athletics

NL Western

SEA Pilots
LA Dodgers
SD Padres
SF Giants
ARI Diamondbacks

[italyprof]

Originally Posted by Cobby

That's an interesting idea to keep both the modern teams and the historical teams from which some them originated. It makes me tempted to propose keeping the modern teams in the same divisions as their derivatives. But. Otherwise, here's my shot at it - keeping all the teams in their original leagues:

OK, for the AL, the problems are figuring which team to add to the AL west since there are only four west coast teams; secondly, what to do with Tamp Bay that is all by itself in the southeast and how to get the Yankees and Red Sox back together. My solution is to add Minnesota to the AL west (it doesn't really want to be there, but it's just about as close to Seattle as Dallas is to Los Angeles). Then we can put Tampa Bay in the central - it's geographically closer to those cities (Dallas, Kansas City and St. Louis) that anywhere else. Also Dallas is basically a plains city and fits just fine with Kansas City. Then we can get New York and Boston back together and have a nice cohesive great lakes division.

AL East
Boston Red Sox
New York Yankees
Philadelphia Athletics
Baltimore Orioles
Washington Senators

AL Lakes
Toronto Blue Jays
Cleveland Indians
Detroit Tigers
Chicago White Sox
Milwaukee Brewers

AL Central (or Plains)
St. Louis Browns
Kansas City Royals
Kansas City Athletics
Texas Rangers
Tampa Bay Rays

AL West
Seattle Mariners
Seattle Pilots
Oakland A's
Los Angeles Angels
Minnesota Twins

For the NL, the issues are once again getting New York and Boston in the same division; what to do about Montreal: it goes into the east to make a nice compact NE division, then Philadelphia has to leave. And getting Colorado into the west and Houston out - much closer geographically.

Always trade-offs, but here's what I would do:

NL East (or NE)
Montreal Expos
Boston Braves
New York Mets
New York Giants
Brooklyn Dodgers

NL Central
Chicago Cubs
St. Louis Cardinals
Milwaukee Braves
Cincinnati Reds
Pittsburgh Pirates

NL South (or SE)
Atlanta Braves
Miami Marlins
Houston Astros
Washington Nationals
Philadelphia Phillies

NL West
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants
Arizona Diamondbacks
Colorado Rockies

Great work. I like that AL essentially has North division (Lakes) and the NL has a South division. It gives both leagues some character and personality.