Would You Switch Divisions with the Nationals?

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

43 minutes ago, mdbdotcom said:

Mets announcers shoving the '69 WS in our faces 19 times every year? No thanks.

But going up against a Mets organization that can't keep tripping over it's own two feet? Sign me up. 

[ExileAngelos]

Nine guys take the field. Nine guys hit.  That is real baseball.  

[mdbdotcom]

2 minutes ago, ExileAngelos said:

Nine guys take the field. Nine guys hit.  That is real baseball.  

O's baseball. Nine guys take the field. Six guys hit.

 

[DrungoHazewood]

10 minutes ago, Redskins Rick said:

While I totally agree with you about watching the pitcher bad.

I would rather have the pitcher bat, then to have 2 sets of rules, 1 for each league. You should have the set of rules for the same game, regardless of league. IMO

Why?  I liked it better when there were more differences between leagues, when they had totally different league offices, totally different umpiring crews, even different baseballs.  There were a few years in the early 20th century where foul balls were strikes in the AL but not in the NL (or was it vice versa?).  

I think trying different things in each league is a great idea.  If you like it, maybe expand to both leagues.  If not, do away with it.  Or we could just let the NL be the league that hasn't changed a single rule since 1904, and try to sell that as a feature.  While the AL can exist in 2020.

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.

[DrungoHazewood]

4 minutes ago, ExileAngelos said:

Nine guys take the field. Nine guys hit.  That is real baseball.  

When they were setting all this up pitchers hit almost as well as everyone else.  Guy Hecker won a batting title as a pitcher in 1886.  Today it's a massive stretch to say the NL has nine players hitting.  You have eight major league hitters and a guy who swings like he's your 56-year-old half-drunk Uncle Charlie.

It's not real baseball when you intentionally walk Cesar Izturis to get to an even worse hitter to auto-kill the rally.

[tntoriole]

No, I prefer defeating the Yankees and Red Sox rather than fleeing.  

The original Orioles were purchased in 1901 and left the National League, went to NY and became the Highlanders then later renamed Yankees in 1913 in the new upstart AL.  We are to the Yankees what the St. Louis Browns are to us. 

I remember something also about that Babe guy, born right next to Camden Yards, then he first went to that Red Sox team, then sold to the Yankees where he was pretty good.  Oh, except for the Curse of the Bambino left behind on the Red Sox for 86 years.

Then there was the young guy we had on shortstop for all those years who broke that unbreakable record by the Yankee guy who Gary Cooper played in the movie.

 We would be tempting all the cosmic baseball gods with such a move.   Nay, nay...a thousand times nay. 

[DrungoHazewood]

1 minute ago, tntoriole said:

The original Orioles were purchased in 1901 and left the National League, went to NY and became the Highlanders then later renamed Yankees in 1913 in the new upstart AL.  We are to the Yankees what the St. Louis Browns are to us. 

There's some truth there, but the Orioles really disbanded after 1902.  In mid-season John McGraw left the team and took most of the players with him.  Wilbert Robinson was left with a pieced-together squad of donated players to finish out the schedule.  It's probably a little more accurate to say the 1903 Yanks were like an expansion team, more than a continuation of the Orioles.  A few years ago Baseball Reference stopped including the 1901-02 Orioles in the Yanks' history.

[Tony-OH]

Not unless the NL adopted the DH. Not a fan of watching an automatic out every 9 batters while the 8th batter gets pitched around with two outs.

Other than that, I like the idea of changing divisions yearly based on records. I also feel like they need to go back to a balanced schedule for fairness due to the wild cards.

[tntoriole]

Just now, DrungoHazewood said:

There's some truth there, but the Orioles really disbanded after 1902.  In mid-season John McGraw left the team and took most of the players with him.  Wilbert Robinson was left with a pieced-together squad of donated players to finish out the schedule.  It's probably a little more accurate to say the 1903 Yanks were like an expansion team, more than a continuation of the Orioles.  A few years ago Baseball Reference stopped including the 1901-02 Orioles in the Yanks' history.

Yes, the team was going to go somewhere after the McGraw and Johnson blowup, but the AL franchise officially was still in Baltimore.  And our karmic forces also include the fact that the Babe was part of our replacement IL team too...no, we risk much by stirring up the Ghosts of the Bambino, Ban Johnson and John McGraw by switching leagues...

”The Orioles name has a rich history in Baltimore, having been used by a National League team in the 1890s. In 1901, Baltimore and John McGraw were awarded an expansion franchise in the growing American League, naming the team the Orioles. After a battle with Ban Johnson, the Head of the American League in 1902, McGraw took many of the top players including Walter Scott "Steve" Brodie, Dan McGann, Roger Bresnahan, and Joe McGinnity to the New York Giants. As an affront to Johnson, McGraw kept the black and orange colors while going to the New York Giants, which San Francisco wears to this day. In 1903, the franchise—the remaining players, assets and debts, the corporation—was transferred to New York where they were nicknamed the Highlanders until circa 1912, by which time Yanks or Yankees had taken over as their popular moniker. As a member of the high-minor league level International League, the Orioles competed at what is now known as the AAA level from 1903 to 1953; the IL Orioles' most famous player was a local Baltimore product, hard-hitting left-handed pitcher Babe Ruth. ”

Wikipedia

Jan. 9, 1903: Frank Farrell and Bill Devery purchase the Baltimore franchise of the American League for $18,000 and then move the team to Manhattan.

Yankees.com official history media site. 

 

 

[Tony-OH]

27 minutes ago, ExileAngelos said:

Nine guys take the field. Nine guys hit.  That is real baseball.  

Funny, the National League is the only baseball league that does this. So i guess the AL, Japanese League, KBO, Mexican League, College, High School and every other major league out there is not playing real baseball? Or did the game transform for the better?

[Redskins Rick]

24 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.

Sorry, thats is where I am. I like consistency and a level playing field.

But, its all good, we all have different likes and dislikes.

 

[forphase1]

Yes, but only if the NL adopted the DH.  I agree with others in this thread of my extreme dislike of the pitcher hitting.  It's hard for me to watch NL baseball because of it to be honest.

[TonySoprano]

1 hour ago, DrungoHazewood said:

I'm sure I could grow to hate Philly and Mets and Nats fans as much as I dislike Red Sox and Yanks fans.  

In my scenario, the Nats would be in the A.L. East.  You can still hate their fans if you choose, as I will always hate NY and Pink Hat Nation. 

I considered another scenario where the Rays would trade places with the Nats instead, but where's the fun in that?  For years, we've read how the Nats have it so much easier, and despite that, still several would rather leave things be.  That's one thing I admired about Buck, he never looked for pity to have to face NY or Boston 19X each.

[Larry18]

The Terps moved out of the ACC and I hate it.

[DrungoHazewood]

2 hours ago, tntoriole said:

Yes, the team was going to go somewhere after the McGraw and Johnson blowup, but the AL franchise officially was still in Baltimore.  And our karmic forces also include the fact that the Babe was part of our replacement IL team too...no, we risk much by stirring up the Ghosts of the Bambino, Ban Johnson and John McGraw by switching leagues...

”The Orioles name has a rich history in Baltimore, having been used by a National League team in the 1890s. In 1901, Baltimore and John McGraw were awarded an expansion franchise in the growing American League, naming the team the Orioles. After a battle with Ban Johnson, the Head of the American League in 1902, McGraw took many of the top players including Walter Scott "Steve" Brodie, Dan McGann, Roger Bresnahan, and Joe McGinnity to the New York Giants. As an affront to Johnson, McGraw kept the black and orange colors while going to the New York Giants, which San Francisco wears to this day. In 1903, the franchise—the remaining players, assets and debts, the corporation—was transferred to New York where they were nicknamed the Highlanders until circa 1912, by which time Yanks or Yankees had taken over as their popular moniker. As a member of the high-minor league level International League, the Orioles competed at what is now known as the AAA level from 1903 to 1953; the IL Orioles' most famous player was a local Baltimore product, hard-hitting left-handed pitcher Babe Ruth. ”

Wikipedia

Jan. 9, 1903: Frank Farrell and Bill Devery purchase the Baltimore franchise of the American League for $18,000 and then move the team to Manhattan.

Yankees.com official history media site. 

 

 

Here's the rationale from when the '01-02 Orioles history was removed from the Yanks on bb-ref.