First, as a Houston, Texan for three years, it is tough to watch the Astros team on the field with the Braves right now. I lived in H-Town when Houston went to the World Series in 2005 and attended two playoff games against the Braves (including the 58-inning games - thanks, Kyle Farnsworth). It is a great baseball city. It is a great professional sports town in every way, but especially baseball. I had no idea how much the city loved the 'Stros until I got there, but the franchise owns the city. It must be killing them to be so hapless.
Now, to the prospective changes to the divisions, leagues and playoffs. I love 95% of it.
Let's start with the 5% I don't love - I will miss the division rivalries with the Phillies and Mets that have developed over the years. That is the same reason I didn't like the move to three divisions - I hated losing meaningful games with the Dodgers and Giants.
Now we have way too many divisional games. It feels like the Braves are playing the Marlins every third series. In turn, it feels like the Cubs, Reds and Pirates are on another planet as little as Atlanta sees them. Getting rid of the divisional games would remedy today's scheduling problems.
What about adding a 5th wildcard team? Again, I love it. The wildcard has been a winner - more playoff games, good teams getting into the playoffs despite playing in tough divisions, etc. The Braves can hopefully compete with the loaded Phillies, but if the Phils run off with the division then Atlanta can still get to the post-season via the wildcard (like last year). It makes for a more interesting regular season when there is a real chance multiple teams can get to the post-season.
I think about Toronto Blue Jay fans - imagine playing in the same division as the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees. It must feel like the up-coming season is over as soon as free agency begins in the off-season. Tampa Bay found a way to break up the BoSox/Yanks monopoly once, but otherwise those two have had a stranglehold on the division and usually the wildcard. The new proposal means the Torontos and Baltimores of the world have a real chance to get to the post-season.
Will the post-season be diluted with good, but not great teams? I don't think so. Right now, you're adding either Cleveland or Detroit and St. Louis. Those aren't bad teams at all. We aren't talking about the Seattle Seahawks or Indiana Pacers here.
I'm guessing the two wildcard teams would play a one-game or three-game series to meet the league champion. Then it goes 5 games to 7 games in the league championship series to 7 in the World Series. I think a one-game playoff between wildcard winners is perfect. You are in, but you are also one game from elimination. You would also be down your best pitcher going into the a series with the champions (a nice advantage the league champion has earned). I think you give home field advantage to the wildcard with the better record who then hosts the league champion for the opening game of the series. The next four games would be in the champ's ballpark. That eases travel, give the champs a great advantage and gets the playoffs going quickly even while expanding it.
Finally, what about realignment? The report is Houston to the American League. This works, though I don't know why Arizona wouldn't be considered as well. Houston has more history in the N.L., but Arizona has actually won a World Series for the National League. You could also move Milwaukee back to the A.L., but my understanding is that Bud Selig won't let that happen. I'm guessing the impending sale of the Astros is the key - they can make moving leagues part of the sale agreement so that there is no hassle on the ownership side of the transaction.
So Houston moves, you get a decent rivalry with the Rangers (nobody in Texas cares about that rivalry right now, but it might take going forward). Each league would have five "west" teams if you consider Houston to be west. It works for me.
This seems like a no-brainer. More playoffs, no divisions, even leagues - I like it all. Now to just get rid of the DH...
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