Tradition, Tigers realignment winners

Sporting News, The, Oct 27, 1997 by Peter Schmuck

Baseball's radical realignment turned out to be not so radical after all. Instead of overturning baseball tradition and shuffling the American and National leagues into a new-age jumble, the ruling elite wisely acquiesced to a chorus of criticism and adopted a conservative plan that does not seriously impact the integrity of the original league structure.

The plan agreed upon last week requires only one existing franchise (the Royals or Brewers) to change leagues and one other to change divisions. The new Tampa Bay franchise drops into the American League East and the Tigers move into the AL. Central.

No big deal, or is it? The conservative realignment fails to accomplish several of the goals originally outlined by the owners. They wanted to realign the divisions by time zones to make the schedule more attractive for prime-time television but will be unable to address the time-zone problem under the new plan or move to an unbalanced, regionalized schedule any time soon.

The 1998 format will look very much like the 1997 format, except there will be six teams in the N.L. Central and five teams in; the N.L. West. It might seem a little strange to have one four-team division, four five-team divisions and one six-team division, but it's not as strange as the plan that would have broken up the National League into four four-team divisions, while the A L. remained in a 5-5-4 format.

The long-term impact will be far more subtle. The radical plan would have rearranged the leagues so dramatically that fans would have had to acclimate themselves to new rivalries and viewing patterns, and the television networks would have had to explain to the plan's proud-but-misguided architects that they still don't want a game between the Royals and Twins--even if it has been redesignated as an exciting interleague matchup--going head-to-head with Home Improvement.

The impact could be huge for the team that changes leagues, whether it turns out to be the Royals or Brewers. Both clubs could use a boost at the gate, and the novelty of an entirely new schedule won't hurt. The Royals have until next week to decide whether to make the switch or interim commissioner Bud Selig will realize his dream of playing in the same league with the Cubs.

It also makes sense for the Tigers, who will turn the A.L. Central into the game's tightest geographical division and may derive a competitive benefit from their new surroundings.

Detroit appears to be enjoying an organizational renaissance, which was reflected by a dramatic improvement in its win-loss record from 1996 to '97. More progress is expected next season, but the team figured to remain at a large economic disadvantage to the big-spending Orioles and Yankees and possibly the rebuilding Red Sox and Blue Jays.

The A.L. Central includes only one team--the division champion Indians--considered a large-revenue club. The White Sox are in a large market but have downscaled their payroll, and the Twins and Brewers are in the bottom third of the game's revenue producers.

That creates the possibility that the Tigers will be a legitimate contender two years ahead of general manager Randy Smith's schedule. The Indians figure to be the class of the division again, but they didn't exactly assert themselves during the regular season this year.

Conversely, the arrival of the expansion Devil Rays probably will further entrench the status quo in the East, where Baltimore figures to push its payroll past $60 million and Yankees owner George Steinbrenner has never been afraid to spend what it takes to compete. It was a two-team race last year and could be again if Toronto doesn't step up with some serious money this winter to punch up its offensive attack and solidify its pitching staff.

Peter Schmuck covers baseball for the Baltimore Sun. E-mail him at schmuck@sportingnews.com and see his responses at www.sportingnews.com and on our AOL site.