We should move to the NL East

[eddie83]

1 minute ago, Rich Mac said:

Just one more reason why the unbalanced schedule is ridiculous. Teams competing for the same playoff spots are sometimes playing far different schedules. 

If MLB can't find a balanced schedule with its current alignment, it needs to realign.

Impacts travel though. Drawbacks to everything. More trips in your time zone or more trips out west. 

[Rich Mac]

1 minute ago, eddie83 said:

Impacts travel though. Drawbacks to everything. More trips in your time zone or more trips out west. 

I'm not sure what you mean though. Everyone will eventually be travelling to all the same places with a balanced schedule. 

[thezeroes]

17 minutes ago, Rich Mac said:

I'm not sure what you mean though. Everyone will eventually be travelling to all the same places with a balanced schedule. 

Not sure you can have a balanced schedule with having the Inter-League Games.  The three five team divisions with two leagues is problematic.  You could always leave the team with the worst record in each league as an exhibition game or MiLB team and go with 14 teams in each league to make a balanced schedule and do away with the Inter-League games.

[FanSince88]

3 hours ago, Frobby said:

As I posted in the Nats thread today, this season the Nats will have played only 49 games all year against teams with a winning record.    Here's how their season ends: 13 games against Atlanta, NY Mets, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.    Tough life.

That's awful.  At some point the MLB needs to step in.  The other divisions have it so much easier than us.  It's almost like a different level of play.  

[ORIOLE33]

Are people really crying about the Nats? My question is why. I do believe that every team in the same division should play the same inter league schedule. MLB needs to do away with these natural rivals. We get the Nats while the Yankees get the Mets, Sox gets the Phillies and the Rays get the Marlins. That's ridiculous.

[eddie83]

2 hours ago, Rich Mac said:

I'm not sure what you mean though. Everyone will eventually be travelling to all the same places with a balanced schedule. 

Right but it increases travel. Now only one trip to Seattle, Oakland and Anaheim. Balanced schedule would be 2. I know it impacts all teams but fans as well. More time games out west equals lower TV ratings those games. 

[eddie83]

1 hour ago, thezeroes said:

Not sure you can have a balanced schedule with having the Inter-League Games.  The three five team divisions with two leagues is problematic.  You could always leave the team with the worst record in each league as an exhibition game or MiLB team and go with 14 teams in each league to make a balanced schedule and do away with the Inter-League games.

This format isn't going away. Look at the AL this year. All these teams fighting for the second WC spot. It isn't a fair fight but at least now you can still be a 3rd place team and make the playoffs. 

[thezeroes]

55 minutes ago, eddie83 said:

This format isn't going away. Look at the AL this year. All these teams fighting for the second WC spot. It isn't a fair fight but at least now you can still be a 3rd place team and make the playoffs. 

That I agree with.

The format and the poor play of certain teams in the NL East has more to do with the overall structure of those teams.  The Phillies and the Braves are both in a rebuild.  The Mets and Miami have possibly worse ownership/front office than do the Orioles.  That would leave only the Nats as a viable team of MLB upper caliber.  That is not the Nats fault but a sign of the times that the NL East is playing in.

On the other side of the ledger, a team such as the Brewers or Cardinals would be tied or ahead of Minnesota for the last wild card in the AL but are fighting just to get the last spot in the NL.  Colorado is fighting to stay in it with the same record as the NYY while Arizona has a record that would lead the AL East.   

[Rich Mac]

1 hour ago, eddie83 said:

Right but it increases travel. Now only one trip to Seattle, Oakland and Anaheim. Balanced schedule would be 2. I know it impacts all teams but fans as well. More time games out west equals lower TV ratings those games. 

If it is a problem then the league should consider realignment. Possibly on an East/West basis. Then you can minimize cross-country traveling.

If it went back to the old way of never facing the other league until the World Series then you would essentially eliminate long travel and awkwardly timed games. If you still want interleague then you could just face the other league's teams for one series each. 

Either way, it's far more balanced than the current mess we have.

[mdbdotcom]

The problem isn't the division, it's the yard. Ya gotta pay Fenway money to get a starter to pitch half his games in OPACY. Which brings us to the other problem. Money. We don't pay the good free agent pitchers. 

[Frobby]

17 hours ago, joelala said:

Our division is not the reason for our pitching woes.  See: Tampa Bay.  They have far less money than we do, and they have been capable of finding good pitchers.  It's not the division, its our development of pitchers. 

I agree wholeheartedly.   

[Going Underground]

15 hours ago, ORIOLE33 said:

Are people really crying about the Nats? My question is why. I do believe that every team in the same division should play the same inter league schedule. MLB needs to do away with these natural rivals. We get the Nats while the Yankees get the Mets, Sox gets the Phillies and the Rays get the Marlins. That's ridiculous.

The Nationals were horrible a few years back.The Phillies were the best team in the NL East Changes over the years. The Orioles don't want to lose the extra revenue from the Red Sox or Yankees.Attendance wise or more expensive tickets with variable pricing.

[TonySoprano]

Under Buck, the O's currently have the following breakdown in their W/L

2010-17	W	L	P
BOS	75	59	0.560
NYY	66	71	0.482
TBR	71	62	0.534
TOR	70	67	0.511
TOT	282	259	0.521

VS the A.L. Central 140-122 .534
VS the A.L. West 122-120 .504
VS the N.L. 76-57 .567

The team has a winning record over 3 of the 4 teams in the division since Buck began.  If you start the count 2012-present, it gets even better in the division;  the Orioles have a winning record against everyone.

2012-17	W	L	P
BOS	64	46	0.582
NYY	58	55	0.513
TBR	57	49	0.538
TOR	61	52	0.540
TOT	240	202	0.543

  In short, under Buck, the O's have been very competitive in the division and despite being outspent by the RedSox, the O's have the edge.  Against NYY, it took this year for Buck to have an overall losing record against them.    As to the rest of the league, since 2010, the Orioles have a winning record versus 8 out of 10 teams.  None of this screams a move to the National League in my opinion.  What is most surprising of all, the American League team the Orioles have the worst record against is.......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Houston Astros 13-20 .394.

[foxfield]

6 minutes ago, TonySoprano said:

Under Buck, the O's currently have the following breakdown in their W/L

2010-17	W	L	P
BOS	75	59	0.560
NYY	66	71	0.482
TBR	71	62	0.534
TOR	70	67	0.511
TOT	282	259	0.521

VS the A.L. Central 140-122 .534
VS the A.L. West 122-120 .504
VS the N.L. 76-57 .567

The team has a winning record over 3 of the 4 teams in the division since Buck began.  If you start the count 2012-present, it gets even better in the division;  the Orioles have a winning record against everyone.

2012-17	W	L	P
BOS	64	46	0.582
NYY	58	55	0.513
TBR	57	49	0.538
TOR	61	52	0.540
TOT	240	202	0.543

  In short, under Buck, the O's have been very competitive in the division and despite being outspent by the RedSox, the O's have the edge.  Against NYY, it took this year for Buck to have an overall losing record against them.    As to the rest of the league, since 2010, the Orioles have a winning record versus 8 out of 10 teams.  None of this screams a move to the National League in my opinion.  What is most surprising of all, the American League team the Orioles have the worst record against is.......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Houston Astros 13-20 .394.

See bold...refer to OP

 

 

I would never want to leave the AL East...but...

[TonySoprano]

54 minutes ago, foxfield said:

See bold...refer to OP

 

 

I would never want to leave the AL East...but...

but.... 1)N.L. smaller sample size and 2) along those lines, it's identical to the overall record vs. BOS.*

*correction to my previous numbers
VS the A.L. Central 140-122 .534
VS the A.L. West 123-119 .508
VS the N.L. 75-59 .560

FWIW the N.L. breakdown
 

2010-17	W	L	P
ATL	6	3	0.667
MIA	1	2	0.333
NYM	1	6	0.143
PHI	5	2	0.714
WAS	22	12	0.647
CHC	0	6	0.000
CIN	7	2	0.778
MIL	1	5	0.167
PIT	9	3	0.750
STL	4	5	0.444
ARI	3	3	0.500
COL	3	3	0.500
LAD	4	2	0.667
SDP	5	3	0.625
SFG	4	2	0.667
TOT	75	59	0.560