The Sports Fix: College Football, Part 2 of 2

PART 2: THE BOWL SYSTEM

You have already seen my idea for re-alignment for Division 1 college sports, now it is time for me to fix the broken post-season that we have in College Football.  Let me first say that I didn’t mind the BCS.  I didn’t like some of the factors that went into the computers that spit out the match-ups, but most years, they did get it right.  To me it doesn’t matter if you have the BCS with 2 teams, or a playoff with 4, 8, 12 or 16 teams, those games will always be exciting have people watching.  It is the bowl system that needs fixed. So how do we fix it you ask?

A Bowl Draft.

Let’s be honest, who doesn’t like a draft?  Well it can work for college football and the bowl system too. 

Hear me out now. I think we all realize that despite being entertaining, the post-season in college football right now consists of 3 important games, the two semifinals and the national championship game.  Then they also give us 37 absolutely meaningless games.  With my 12-team playoff (See Sports Fix College Football Part 1) that becomes 11 meaningful games.  However, you still have the meaningless bowl games.  The 1^st thing that I would do is cut down the number of bowl games.  If we cut that number down to 30 (still too many in my mind) it still gives the networks and fans just about the same amount of games we currently have in the post-season, but gets rid of the low-level bowls that nobody watches or cares about.

With 12 teams going to the playoff and 30 bowls, we need to have 72 teams eligible for post-season play out of the 130 FBS teams.  Right now, 78 of 128 get into the post-season. As you can see it really only eliminates 6 teams from the postseason every year, and to be honest, they probably didn’t deserve a spot anyway if they were in that bottom 6.

I would then have the College Football Playoff Committee rank all bowl eligible teams, not just the Top 25.  After that we would use those rankings to pair up the teams for each bowl.  The catch is, we allow each bowl to draft their ideal match-ups.  So here is how it would work.

THE BASICS:

1) The College Football Playoff Sites are obviously protected games and will select their teams before the draft starts.

2) Using bowl payouts, we create our draft order. 2 of the current “New Year’s 6 Bowls” would be used as semifinal sites for the playoff, so only 4 of them would be in the draft each year.  Those remaining 4 bowls would always have the top 4 draft spots, on a rotating cycle.  Those games would also always be played on New Year’s Day (unless it fell on a Sunday, then they would be played either New Year’s Eve or January 2^nd).  After that, the Citrus bowl is the bowl with the highest payout, therefore they have the 5^th selection.  We continue this order through all the bowl games.  Based on the 2016 bowl season and payouts, this year the draft order would look like this:

1. Rose Bowl

2. Sugar Bowl

3. Orange Bowl

4. Cotton Bowl

5. Citrus Bowl ($8.5M)

6. Alamo Bowl ($7.65M)

7. Outback Bowl ($7M)

8. Cactus Bowl ($6.65M)

9. Texas Bowl ($6M)

10. Holiday Bowl ($5.65M)

11. Music City Bowl ($5.5M)

12. Tax Slayer Bowl ($5. 5M)

13. Russell Athletic Bowl ($4.55M)

14. Foster Farms Bowl ($4.425M)

15. Sun Bowl ($4.3M)

16. Pinstripe Bowl ($4M)

17. Belk Bowl ($3.4M)

18. Liberty Bowl ($2.875M)

19. Las Vegas Bowl ($2.7M)

20. Cure Bowl ($2.7M)

21. Independence Bowl ($2.4M)

22. Quick Lane Bowl ($2.4M)

23. Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl ($2.2M)

24. Miami Beach Bowl ($2M)

25. Military Bowl ($2M)

26. Birmingham Bowl ($2M)

27. Dollar General Bowl ($1.5M)

28. Armed Forces Bowl ($1.35M)

29. Hawaii Bowl ($1.3M)

30. Poinsettia Bowl ($1.225M)

31. St. Petersburg ($1.075M)

32. New Orleans Bowl ($1M)

33. New Mexico Bowl ($912,500)

34. Bahamas Bowl ($900,000)

35. Boca Raton Bowl ($800,000)

36. Famous Idaho Potato Bowl ($650,000)

37. Arizona Bowl (TBA)

REMINDER, we would only be using 30 bowls, so 7 of these bowls would be eliminated. This is what the bowl payouts are for this year, just to give you an idea of what each bowl is working with right now.

THE DRAFT:

The way the draft would work is simple. There would be absolutely no conference affiliations with any bowls. There would be no automatic bids for any conference. As mentioned before, 12 teams would automatically be placed in the playoff.  After that, it is a free for all, minus a few simple rules.

* Bowls will select in order, with a pool of 10 teams to pick. For instance, this year with the 1^st pick, the Rose Bowl would be able to pick any 2 teams that finished 13-22 in the final committee rankings. (Remember the #1-12 are off the board and in the playoff.)  Next pick would be the Sugar Bowl and 2 more teams would open up for their selection, teams #23-24. And so on and so forth, until all the bowls are filled.

* No team can drop more than 5 bowl games. Meaning every team must be selected within five games of becoming available. This rewards teams for successful seasons despite how unattractive they might be as a bowl team. It would also prevent teams with great history and huge fan bases being selected to bowls they don’t deserve.

Think about what this type of format would do for the college football post-season.

First, ESPN could/would sell the hell out of the live draft. They did a 4-hour show on the unveiling of the 4 Playoff teams on Sunday, can you imagine what they would able to do if they also had a Bowl Draft immediately after their playoff unveil?  Imagine a greenroom with 72 different head coaches and AD’s, to go along with a “war room” for the bowls and the committee members.  Each bowl representative comes on stage to make their pick, followed by the coaches and AD’s from each school come on stage, shake hands, have a quick photo-op.  Rece Davis, David Pollack, Desmond Howard and Kirk Herbstreit then talk about that bowl, give some story lines and talk about each team in the game for a few minutes, maybe even interview the coach or AD from the schools. Then while all that is happening, 2 more bowl teams are unveiled, which means 2 more fan bases are not pulled in to the intrigue of the broadcast.  Everybody wins. The schools get some press, the bowls gets their individual time in the national spotlight, the coaches get a little face time and the network gets millions of eyeballs on their broadcast.

Another benefit to this system is you don’t have repetition. Bowl attendances have been way down the past few years and a big reason is fans don’t want to go back to the same bowls every few years.  With the current conference tie-ins teams are limited to a very small group of potential bowl sites. So even if you go to a different bowl every year within your conference affiliation, after about 8 years you are repeating your bowl site.  This way you have the potential of 30 different sites, not 8 or 9.

This format also helps other conferences get a chance to play each other. For instance, the Big Ten has nine bowl affiliations this year, none of which includes the Big XII.  The same goes for the PAC 12 and SEC.  With all of their bowls, they never have it set that those 2 prestigious conferences play each other in bowl games.  It could also give teams from the AAC, C-USA, MAC and MWC a chance to play a Power 5 conference team.  Most of those conferences have affiliations with each other and don’t get a chance to face a Power 5 team in bowl season.

THE MONEY:

First things first, a 12-team playoff will bring in more television revenue than the current 37 meaningless bowls do COMBINED!  People might complain that this is taking money away from teams/conferences since the bowl contracts with conferences all but guarantee a certain amount of money that every conference knows that they will receive come bowl season. I disagree. In this system, the bowl payouts would go up, which would create a larger pot for the teams and conference.  The reason the payouts would go up is because the more a bowl is willing to pay the better draft pick that bowl has to pick the best match-up possible.  If you want to get better teams to your bowl game, you up your payout.

Payouts would have to be submitted before the season starts in a blind bid, the draft order would then be announced closer to the end of the season. If the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl wanted to make a splash next year to celebrate the 20th year of the bowl, they could make a larger bid than they might normally, and get a match-up between top 15-20 teams instead of teams between 50-60.

One last detail I would change is the bowl payouts. Instead of each team splitting the pot and putting on an exhibition for the fans, I would have the result of the game determine the payout. Winning team takes two-thirds and the losing team gets one-third.  Make the games matter.

I know that this does not fix all the problems in the college football post-season, but I think it does make bowl season better. I know as a fan of college football I get sick of the same match-ups in all the big games.  The chances of playing in the Cotton Bowl or Rose Bowl are currently non-existent if you are an ACC team.  The only bowl a PAC12 team can get on or around New Year’s Day is now the Rose Bowl.  The Outback Bowl, Citrus Bowl and Tax Slayer Bowl are games for only the Big Ten, ACC and SEC, sorry PAC12 and Big XII.  This should not be the case and it wouldn’t be under this new system.

Change is good.

Change is needed.

If you missed The Sports Fix: College Football Part 1, check it out HERE!

The Sports Fix: College Football, Part 1 of 2

PART 1: Re-Alignment

With all the recent controversy regarding the Final 4 from the College Football Playoff Committee, it got me thinking that there has to be a better way to have college football to crown a national champion.  I don’t have a problem with a selection committee making the tough decisions on how to select 4 teams out of 128 division 1 teams.  I don’t have a problem only 4 teams being selected for the playoff, when there are 5 Power Conferences in FBS.  (And for the record, I didn’t have a problem with the 4 teams the committee selected this year for the playoff.)  Where I do have a problem, is the idea that winning your conference championship should matter.

The College Football Selection Committee has “Championships Won” listed as one of their main criteria when selecting teams for the playoff.  By doing this they are completely ignoring, the fact that conference championships are nothing more than a title.  It no longer actually tells who the best team in that conference actually is.  Why you ask?  The conferences are TOO BIG!

The biggest argument when the playoff was announced on Sunday was that Penn State was left out despite winning the toughest conference in football this season.  (I am still not sold on the Big Ten being the best conference, we will learn a lot more from the bowl games and the playoff.) The argument was that either Washington or Ohio State should have been bumped for Penn State.  Ohio State became the 1^st non-conference champion to make the playoff in its 3-year history.

Again, let me say…  The conferences are TOO BIG!!!  There is no denying that Penn State won the Big Ten East division over Ohio State and Michigan, the issue that I have with that title is that Penn State, Ohio State and Michigan didn’t all play the same conference schedule.  Declaring one team a champion, when not all teams are playing on an even playing field makes no sense.  In the Big Ten each team plays the 6 teams in their division and 3 crossover games.  This year Ohio State played at Wisconsin and home against Nebraska and Northwestern, those teams finished 1^st, 2^nd and 5^th in the B1G West.  Michigan also played Wisconsin at home as well as at Iowa and a home game vs Illinois, those teams finished 1^st, 3^rd and 6^th in the B1G West.  Penn State on the other hand played home against Iowa and Minnesota and on the road against Purdue, those teams finished 3^rd, 4^th and 7^th in the Big Ten.  So Ohio State went on the road to Madison and beat Wisconsin, the same team that Penn State needed the largest comeback for in conference championship game history, to beat on a neutral field, while Penn State got the 3^rd and 4^th place teams (Iowa/Minn) at home at their lone road crossover game was Purdue, arguably one of the worst 5 Major Conference teams in the nation.  That is a good way to decide a “Champion”?

This year there was 4 conference championship games from the Power 5 Conferences and you could make the argument that none of the four featured the 2 best teams from their conference.

In the ACC, Clemson faced Virginia Tech. Clemson was ranked #3 in the nation and was an obvious choice to be in the game, but VT was 9-3 and ranked 23^rd.  Meanwhile, Florida State and Louisville, ranked 12^th and 13^th respectively, were left at home watching. Louisville even finished with a better ACC record that VT while playing in the more difficult division.

 

In the Big Ten, we discussed that Penn State won, due to uneven scheduling and beating Ohio State head-to-head, but wouldn’t you don’t you think that Ohio State, who beat Wisconsin on the Badgers home field would be a better match-up if we are trying to find out who the best team is?  After all, the Buckeyes lost to Penn State in State College, this game would have been on a neutral field.

The PAC 12 Championship game featured their two highest ranked teams in Washington (4) and Colorado (8) while USC (11) sat at home.  Seems fine, but USC also was responsible for the only losses that either of those teams had in conference play, beating both of them.

And finally, the SEC championship game featured Alabama, obviously and an 8-3 Florida team that lost the week before by 18 points.  Florida, like Penn State made their conference championship game with the help of a weak crossover schedule in the SEC.  The Gators lost to Tennessee, the team that finished 2^nd in the SEC East, but still won the division because while Tennessee played #8 Texas A&M and #1 Alabama in back-to-back weeks as their crossover games, Florida played Arkansas and LSU.  Alabama beat Florida by 38 in the conference championship game and it could have been much worse.

As a matter of fact, the only conference that actually had their 2 best teams playing against each other was the Big XII, and that wasn’t an official championship game, although because how the season played out, the winner of that game was the Big XII Champion.  Interestingly, the Big XII is the only Power 5 Conference without a championship game because their conference is, get this, too SMALL!

My resolution, as I’m sure you could guess, is contracting the conferences.  Currently we have 10 conferences with 128 teams in FBS. Right now, half of those teams are in the Power 5 Conferences, ACC (14), Big Ten (14), Big XII (10), PAC 12 (12), SEC (14).  With 60 teams residing in the Group of 5 conferences, while the remaining 4 teams sit as current independents.

If we are shrinking the conferences it also allows us to re-align to bring back geographical rivals and limit travel between schools.  In my format, we have 10-team conferences.  With 130 schools, adding UAB who will start their football program back up in 2017 and Coastal Carolina, who is moving from FCS to FBS status in 2017, that gives us a perfect number.  130 teams in 13 conferences.  80 Power Conference Schools (up from 64) and 50 (Minor Conference Schools).   All teams will be affiliated with a conference, sorry Notre Dame.

While shrinking the conferences (and growing some), we obviously have to re-align.  I chose to do the conferences primarily based on geography, but keeping in mind the historical value of both the conferences as well as the many rivalries that schools have developed over the years.  It is not perfect, as you can’t please everybody, but here is what I came up with.

80 POWER CONFERENCE SCHOOLS

8 10-TEAM CONFERENCES

ACC

1. Clemson Tigers
2. Duke Blue Devils
3. Florida State Seminoles
4. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
5. Miami Hurricanes
6. North Carolina Tar Heels
7. North Carolina State Wolfpack
8. Virginia Cavaliers
9. Virginia Tech Hokies
10. Wake Forest Demon Deacons

CONCEPT:
Original ACC, with the addition of Miami and Virginia Tech and without Maryland.  Every team has at least one regional rival.

FURTHEST TRAVEL:
Miami to Virginia, 858 miles

BIG EAST

1. Boston College Eagles
2. Connecticut Huskies
3. Maryland Terrapins
4. Navy Midshipmen
5. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
6. Penn State Nittany Lions
7. Pitt Panthers
8. Rutgers Scarlet Knights
9. Syracuse Orange
10. West Virginia Mountaineers

CONCEPT:
Mid-Atlantic teams and old rivals. Notre Dame added due to their history with BC, Navy, Pitt, Penn State & Syracuse.

FURTHEST TRAVEL:
Boston College to Notre Dame, 776 miles

BIG TEN

1. Indiana Hoosiers
2. Illinois Fighting Illini
3. Iowa Hawkeyes
4. Michigan Wolverines
5. Michigan State Spartans
6. Minnesota Golden Gophers
7. Northwestern Wildcats
8. Ohio State Buckeyes
9. Purdue Boilermakers
10. Wisconsin Badgers

CONCEPT:
Plain and simple, the original Big Ten.

FURTHEST TRAVEL:
Ohio State to Wisconsin, 622 miles

CENTRAL

1. Alabama Birmingham Blazers
2. Central Florida Knights
3. Cincinnati Bearcats
4. East Carolina Pirates
5. Louisville Cardinals
6. Marshall Thundering Herd
7. Memphis Tigers
8. South Florida Bulls
9. Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles
10. Vanderbilt Commodores

CONCEPT:
All the leftovers of the good but not great programs East of the Mississippi.

FURTHEST TRAVEL:
Cincinnati to South Florida, 780 miles

MIDWEST

1. Boise State Broncos
2. BYU Cougars
3. Colorado Buffaloes
4. Colorado State Rams
5. Iowa State Cyclones
6. Kansas Jayhawks
7. Kansas State Wildcats
8. Missouri Tigers
9. Nebraska Cornhuskers
10. Utah Utes

CONCEPT:
The remaining misfits left out of the other Power conferences. All west of the Mississippi.

FURTHEST TRAVEL:
Boise State to Missouri, 1278 miles

PAC-10

1. Arizona Wildcats
2. Arizona State Sun Devils
3. California Golden Bears
4. Oregon Ducks
5. Oregon State Beavers
6. Stanford Cardinal
7. UCLA Bruins
8. USC Trojans
9. Washington Huskies
10. Washington State Cougars

CONCEPT:
The original PAC-10. It was a perfect set-up before with natural rivalries, now it is back to its original state.

FURTHEST TRAVEL:
Arizona to Washington, 1220 miles

SEC

1. Alabama Crimson Tide
2. Auburn Tigers
3. Florida Gators
4. Georgia Bulldogs
5. Kentucky Wildcats
6. LSU Tigers
7. Mississippi Rebels
8. Mississippi State Bulldogs
9. South Carolina Gamecocks
10. Tennessee Volunteers

CONCEPT:
The SEC with a more regional approach, by getting rid of teams on the outskirts like Vanderbilt and Arkansas.

FURTHEST TRAVEL:
Kentucky to LSU, 651 miles

SOUTH WEST

1. Arkansas Razorbacks
2. Baylor Bears
3. Houston Cougars
4. Oklahoma Sooners
5. Oklahoma State Cowboys
6. SMU Mustangs
7. TCU Horned Frogs
8. Texas Longhorns
9. Texas A&M Aggies
10. Texas Tech Red Raiders

CONCEPT:
A Mix of the old SWC and the Big 8, basically taking Texas and Oklahoma with the addition of Arkansas, which borders both states, and has had rivalries with these schools in the past.

FURTHEST TRAVEL:
Houston to Oklahoma State, 451 miles

50 MINOR CONFERENCE SCHOOLS

5 10-TEAM CONFERENCES

BIG SOUTH

1. Arkansas State Red Wolves
2. Louisiana Tech Bulldogs
3. Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns
4. Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks
5. North Texas Mean Green
6. Rice Owls
7. Texas State Bobcats
8. Tulane Green Wave
9. UTEP Miners
10. UTSA Roadrunners

CONCEPT:
Pretty much the same footprint as the SOUTH WEST CONFERENCE, but with the smaller programs.

FURTHEST TRAVEL:
Tulane to UTEP, 977 miles

COASTAL

1. Appalachian State Mountaineers
2. Coastal Carolina Chanticleers
3. Charlotte 49ers
4. Florida Atlantic Owls
5. Florida International Panthers
6. Georgia Southern Eagles
7. Georgia State Panthers
8. Old Dominion Monarchs
9. South Alabama Jaguars
10. Troy Trojans

CONCEPT:
From Virginia all the way to Florida, with a touch of Alabama. Lots of natural rivalries based on locale.

FURTHEST TRAVEL:
Old Dominion to South Alabama, 800 miles

GREAT LAKES

1. Akron Zips
2. Army Black Knights
3. Bowling Green Falcons
4. Buffalo Bulls
5. Kent State Golden Flashes
6. Massachusetts Minutemen
7. Miami (OH) Red Hawks
8. Ohio Bobcats
9. Temple Owls
10. Toledo Rockets

CONCEPT:
The remaining Northeast schools from New England, hugging the Great Lakes to Ohio.

FURTHEST TRAVEL:
Miami (OH) to UMASS, 667 miles

MID AMERICAN

1. Air Force Falcons
2. Ball State Cardinals
3. Central Michigan Chippewas
4. Eastern Michigan Eagles
5. Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders
6. Northern Illinois Huskies
7. Tulsa Golden Tornadoes
8. Western Kentucky Hilltoppers
9. Western Michigan Broncos
10. Wyoming Cowboys

CONCEPT:
The Western teams from the current MAC, mixed with some other Midwest schools that fit demographically.

FURTHEST TRAVEL:
Eastern Michigan to Wyoming, 1131 miles

WESTERN

1. Fresno State Bulldogs
2. Hawaii Rainbow Warriors
3. Idaho Vandals
4. Nevada Wolf Pack
5. New Mexico Lobos
6. New Mexico State Aggies
7. San Diego State Aztecs
8. San Jose State Spartans
9. UNLV Rebels
10. Utah State Aggies

CONCEPT:
The smaller western programs. Lots of teams from the current MWC.

FURTHEST TRAVEL:
Idaho to New Mexico State, 1137 miles

Obviously, this re-alignment would not please everybody, but with my mandated scheduling rules, it allows and even encourages teams to schedule game against former conference foes that may no longer be.  Here is how scheduling would work.

SCHEDULING:
Each school would play 12 regular season games and have 1 BYE week.

Each school would play their entire conference (9 games).

Each school would play 3 non-conference games.
* Power Conference schools cannot play any FCS teams as part of their non-conference schedule.
* All Power Conference teams must schedule at least 1 games against another Power Conference opponent.
* Scheduling FCS schools for Minor Conferences schools is not mandatory, but permitted.
* Limit of 1 FCS school per season for Minor Conference schools.
* Minor Conference schools must schedule at least 1 game against a Power Conference opponent if they want to be eligible for post season play.

PRESEASON:
Power Conference schools CAN play FCS teams as a preseason game.  These games are optional and must be played the Saturday before the season starts.  These games count as preseason camp, so teams do not get extra time in camp if they play a preseason game.  Ticket prices from these games are dictated by the home teams, however the FCS school gets an even 50/50 split of ALL revenue intake from that game.

PLAYOFF:
12-team playoff.
8 Power Conference champions get automatic bids, 4 at-large bids (Top ranked Minor Conference winner is guaranteed a playoff spot.)
Selection committee seeds the playoff brackets and selects the remaining 3 at-large teams.
Top 4 teams get BYES

SCHEDULE LAYOUT: (1^st Saturday of the season would always be over Labor Day weekend)
13 Week regular season, no conference championship games.
WEEK 14 – Playoffs/Bowl Selection Show + Army vs Navy (No other games)
WEEK 15 – OPENING ROUND PLAYOFF GAMES (4 games) (At HOME of better seeded team)
WEEK 16 – Lower Tier Bowls + 2^nd ROUND PLAYOFF GAMES (4 games) (4 regional sites)
WEEK 17 – Mid Tier Bowls + SEMIFINALS (2 games)
WEEK 18 – Top Tier Bowls
WEEK 19 – NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

With this schedule, the season would still end on the exact same date that it is currently scheduled to end on with the 4-Team Playoff.

Part 2 of my College Football Fix: The Bowl System will be coming later this week.

The Sports Fix: Major League Baseball

I love baseball, it is by far my favorite professional sport to watch as both a casual observer and as a crazy fan that studies every pitch or sequence, breaking down the never-ending mind games and strategy that going on during the games.   That being said, baseball does have its flaws, so today I am here to fix them.

The four issues that I want to address about Major League Baseball are the scheduling, Interleague play, the designated hitter and expansion.  I think there should be something done about a salary cap and revenue sharing as well, but that is for another time and another place.  We will knock off the last three first, and leave the biggest issue in my mind, scheduling, for last.

DESIGNATED HITTER:
This will be short and sweet; the designated hitter is no more.  There is no sense to have half the teams in baseball playing by one set of rules, while the other half plays by different rules.  This doesn’t happen in any other sport, and shouldn’t be happening in baseball.

The push back from the player’s union would be that we are cutting a job from the league.  In response to that I would expand rosters to 26, but in doing that I would also add that at no time can any roster have more than 13 pitchers on their roster at one time.  This roster expansion is created to add a bat that can be used in pinch-hitting situation and to replace the bat lost by the DH, not to booster the bullpens.

INTERLEAGUE PLAY:
In my mind Interleague play in baseball has run its course.  Sure, there are some heated rivalries in places like northern California, Chicago, New York and even in the DC-Baltimore region, but for everyone one of those series, we have places like Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Texas that have no natural rival.  In those cities, Interleague play is nothing special.  It is just another series.  Maybe the worst part about Interleague play is how the uneven scheduling effects the standings and playoff races.  You don’t think the St. Louis Cardinals, who finished 1 GB of the Giants in the wild card race this year, would have rather played the A’s as their natural rival than the defending World Series Champion Royals?  Yes, it is cool to get to see the Yankees and Red Sox come to your city every few years if you live in an NL town, or the Cubs and Dodgers if you live in an AL town, but are those few instances worth having to sit through a random series with the Marlins or Twins?  Probably not.  I liked it when guys like Greg Maddux pitched in the World Series against Derek Jeter and it was the 1^st time that those two halls of famers ever met in a game.  That doesn’t happen anymore.  Interleague was fun while it lasted and will be missed by some, but not by most.  It is no longer.

EXPANSION:
With no Interleague play, 15 team leagues don’t work.  Now we either re-align or we expand.  I vote for expansion (with maybe a little re-alignment too.)  We are expanding to 32 teams, which gives us 16 teams per league.  Now, do we have four 8-team division or do we go with eight 4-team divisions?  After that we need to decide which two cities should be getting MLB teams.  I considered returning a team to Montreal, but opted for two US cities.  Our two newest cities are Portland, OR and Charlotte, NC.    I also considered Austin and Indianapolis, but finalized on these two.  The reasoning was somewhat simple, both cities already support professional sports teams.  They both also have had very successful minor league teams over the years, which shows that there is a baseball fan base in those cities. Finally, and maybe most importantly, these are the two biggest TV markets in the US that don’t already have teams.

Now the tough part, breaking up the current division formats and recreating a better one.  For logistics stake, we put Portland in the American League and Charlotte in the National League.  I really wanted to 4 divisions of 8 teams in each division, but I think that makes the playoff situation a little more difficult.  I also factored in that with larger divisions, the playoff races aren’t as exciting and fewer teams are in contention longer in the season than with 8 divisions of 4 teams.  We will now have 8 divisions of 4 teams in each division (4 divisions in each league).  We are dividing up the divisions geographically.  Each league will have an EAST, WEST, SOUTH and CENTRAL division.  

Here are the divisions:
AMERICAN LEAGUE-

EAST                                                      WEST                                     SOUTH                                                  CENTRAL
Baltimore                                             LA                                           Arizona (flipped from NL)                  Chicago
Boston                                                  Oakland                                 Houston                                               Cleveland
New York                                             Portland                                 Kansas City                                          Detroit
Toronto                                                Seattle                                   Texas                                                      Minnesota

NATIONAL LEAGUE-

EAST                                                      WEST                                     SOUTH                                                  CENTRAL

New York                                              Colorado                               Atlanta                                                  Chicago

Philadelphia                                         LA                                           Charlotte                                              Cincinnati

Pittsburgh                                            San Diego                              Miami                                                   Milwaukee

Washington                                         San Francisco                       Tampa Bay (flipped from AL)            St. Louis

SCHEDULING:
In my mind baseball needs more days off and fewer games.  Not a ton fewer, but fewer.  This year in MLB teams played 162 games in 181 days.  My schedule is for 156 games in 175 games.  6 fewer games and still done with 19 scheduled off days.  However, my schedule includes 6 scheduled double headers.  Every teams will play will play host to their 3 division opponents in a scheduled double header throughout the season.  These double headers can be scheduled however the home team would like (Classic, Day-Night, Twi-Night).  Every teams will be able to expand their roster by 1 the day of a double header and each team will have a scheduled day off following all scheduled double headers.  This creates 6 more off days during the season for the players.

The season will always begin on the 2^nd Sunday of April.  For the 1^st week of the season, all games will be played in either a domed stadium or a warm weather climate.  For the final weekend of the season, all teams will play against teams from their division.  In September, with expanded rosters, each team will only be allowed to declare 26 players eligible for a given game (27 if playing a doubleheader).

The actual scheduling of the games will be simple.  Each team will play 48 division games, playing each opponent 16 times each (8 away, 8 home).  All divisional series will be 4-game series.  Each team will play 108 out of division games, playing each opponent 9 times each.  All non-division series will be 3-game series.

PLAYOFF SCHEDLING-

There will still be 5 playoff teams from each league making the playoffs, 4 division winners and 1 wildcard winner.  The difference in that we will no longer have a “Wild Card” game, but a “Play-In” game.  With only 1 wild card winner, it doesn’t make sense to call it a wild card game and take away from a team that won their division.  Instead the wild card winner, will play on the road at the division winner with the worst record.  Those teams will play 1 game to advance into the MLB Postseason.  The division winner with the best record hosts the winner of the Play-In game, while the other 2 division winners also play, with home field for the series decided by season record (tiebreaker would be head-to-head record).

An important change to the postseason scheduling that I am making, is doing away with travel days in the middle of the series.  This changes the structure of a series too much and allows pitcher dominant teams to rely on one or two pitchers to carry them to a series victory.  By limiting the extra off days in the middle of postseason series, it forces teams to play more like they did in the regular season, which is how they got to the postseason in the first place.  The only off days in any series (both best of 5 series and best of 7) will come after Game 4.  This also avoids the postseason carrying on into November like it is scheduled to this year if it returns to Cleveland for Games 6 and 7.

Sadly, most of these changes will probably never happen, but in my mind, they should.  Anyway, enjoy the rest of the World Series.

Time To Trade

The Pirates are currently 5 games under .500.  They are sitting 5.5 GB of the 2^nd Wild Card and that could move to 6 if the Mets win tonight in Atlanta.  They have played 73 games to this point, leaving 89 games in the season, 16 games until the All-Star Break and 30 until the trade deadline.

That last number is key, the Trade Deadline.

The Pirates have to decide whether they are going to be buyers or sellers at this deadline.  Since the Wild Card expanded to 2 teams, no team in the National League got into the Wild Card with less than 88 wins.  Over those same 4 years the 2^nd Wild Card averaged 90.75 wins to gain a berth in the postseason.

The Pirates are currently 34-39.  That means they would have to go 54-35 in their final 89 games to get to that magic number of 88 wins.  Add 3 more wins if you are going based on the average. 57-32! Now ask yourself, have you seen anything at all from this team so far this season that make you believe that they can play at a .640 clip the rest of the way this year?

I’ll answer that for you, NO!

But if you would like to hold out hope, that is fine. Let’s give the team until the All-Star Break and see where they stand.  They have 16 games to play before the break, of those 16 games 13 are against teams with a better record than them.  To have any realistic chance of reaching 90 wins, or even 88, reaching .500 by the All-Star Break should be the goal.  That means going 11-5 in the next 16 games.  Those next 16 games include 4 against the Dodgers (currently in position for the top Wild Card spot), a 9 game road trip which includes 5 on the west coast and 4 in St. Louis, and they finish against the Cubs, who have beaten the Pirates 8 out of 9 times this season.  How’s that 11-5 run look now?

It is officially time to lower the Jolly Roger and raise the White Flag on the 2016 Pirate baseball season.

The Pirates are only 1 of 3 teams that can make the claim of reaching the postseason each of the last 3 years.  And that came off of a 21-year hiatus.  Now is not the time to live in the recent past, but to look towards the future.  The Pirates have a bright future, with plenty of young talent in the organization and most of their starting line-up locked up long term.  So why not sell off valuable pieces to help the future?

The Pirates have plenty of pieces that would be valuable to a team in the race in September.  SO who are they?

First and foremost, Mark Melancon.  It is well known that the Pirates shopped around Melancon last off season, knowing that he was going into his final year of arbitration.  He is a free agent after this season and it seems like the Pirates have zero interest in paying him this winter.  What team doesn’t need bullpen help in October?  You’d have to think that other than the Yankees Aroldis Chapman, Melancon would be the best reliever available come July.  He would get a big return.

Another pitcher is next, Francisco Liriano.  Before you laugh at the thought of anyone giving the Pirates more than a bucket of Double Bubble for the struggling lefty, realize this, he is a proven commodity and a lefty.  He also has another year of control on his contract, making him more valuable to the team that gets him. And apparently at least one team has shown interest in him.  (Rotoworld blurb from Wednesday: http://www.rotoworld.com/headlines/mlb/505192/Orioles-showing-interest-in-Francisco-Liriano )  Liriano would also get a nice return, not as much as Melancon, but something worthwhile.

Neftali Feliz is another rental player that the Pirates would be able to get a decent return on.  As said with Melancon, teams are always looking for another arm for the postseason.  He is another guy that has done it in big games and still can be dominant at times.  He, like Melancon is also a free agent after this season, so why not try to get something in return for him?

The final 3 guys on the list are 3 bats, Matt Joyce, Sean Rodriguez and David Freese.  All 3 of these guys can be upgrades for teams that are looking for some versatility or some pop off the bench.  You aren’t going to get much return for these 3, but you will get something.  Again, all 3 of these guys are free agents to be, so why not get something in return for them while you can?

I would encourage Neal Huntington and the Pirates to try their best at moving all 6 of these players before the deadline.  They aren’t part of the future but can help the team be better in the future. 

I would also encourage Huntington to use the time after these trades to let the young guys in the system get their feet wet.  If you are trading Joyce, Rodriguez and Freese, bring up Josh Bell and Alen Hanson and play them.  Bell should be the everyday 1^st baseman, with John Jaso available to give him a day off here and there.  Hanson takes the role of Rodriguez and is capable of playing behind both Mercer and Harrison, which should get him on the field 3 or 4 games a week, plus pinch hit opportunities.

Moving Melancon means finding a new closer.  Tony Watson, here is your chance to prove yourself.  You want the closer role in 2017 win the job in August and September of this season.  If Watson isn’t the man, priority #1 in the offseason is already upgrading the bullpen, but not it is finding a closer to lead the way.

Liriano leaves a spot open in the rotation.  Hopefully by the time these trades are made the Juan Nicasio and Jeff Locke experiences are over too.  Bring up Tyler Glasnow and Chad Kuhl and let them learn on the job this season.  It is better they take their poundings in meaningless games against Major League hitters in August and September of a throw away season, then bringing them up next year and have them learn on the fly when the season could mean something.

The future is now with this organization.  If the Pirates want to be serious contenders next season, it starts now.

College Football Chaos is coming... Hopefully

Why was there such surprise from college football fans when the 1^st College Football Playoff Rankings were released a few weeks back? You didn’t think a 1-loss Alabama team should be in the playoff ahead of 8 other undefeated teams?  What about Notre Dame and their resume that lacks a big win?

Guess what, it doesn’t matter what you think.  ESPN runs the College Football Playoffs.  They pick the teams and given the chance, they are picking big names like Alabama and Notre Dame.  Look at last year, #3 TCU beats Iowa State 55-3 the final week of the season and they DROP 3 spots in the standings to make room for Ohio State, who jumped up from #5 (outside the playoff) to #4 (in the playoff).  Who do you think gets more eyes on the television, Urban Meyer and Ohio State or TCU?  Who has a bigger fan base?  Who has a rich football tradition and who is still somewhat new to the national picture in college football?

Yes, Ohio State won the national championship, I realize that. But does that justify them even getting into the playoff?  TCU then went on to beat the #9 team in the nation 42-3 in their bowl game.  How do we know they don’t do the same thing to Alabama in the Playoff Semifinal?  That #9 team that TCU beat was Mississippi.  The same Mississippi team that handed Alabama their only regular season loss last season.  Last year it was Ohio State, this year it is Notre Dame.

Notre Dame brings eyes to the television.  ESPN knows this.  That is why if Notre Dame wins their last 2 games, they will be in the playoff, deserving or not.

That is also why I am hoping for mass chaos over the final few weeks of the season.  Consider these possibilities, this is what I’m rooting for.

IN THE ACC:
Clemson wins their final 2 regular season game. Finish regular season 12-0
North Carolina wins last 2 games of regular season. Finish regular season 11-1
NORTH CAROLINA WIN ACC CHAMPIONSHIP.
Both teams finish 12-1.

IN THE B1G:
Iowa wins out in regular season, finishes 12-0.
Michigan State wins out in the regular season to finish 11-1.
Ohio State loses to Michigan State, but beats Michigan. Finishes 11-1
MICHIGAN STATE BEATS IOWA IN B1G CHAMPIONSHIP.
All 3 teams from Big Ten have 1 loss. 2 coming in the final 3 weeks.

OR

Iowa wins out, going 12-0
Ohio State loses both of their final 2 games, finishing at 10-2
Michigan wins their fins 2 games, finishing 10-2
Michigan State beats Ohio State, but loses to Penn State
MICHIGAN BEATS IOWA IN B1G CHAMPIONSHIP.
2-loss Michigan gets bid over 1-loss Iowa?

OR

Iowa loses to Nebraska, finishes 11-1
Ohio State wins out. Finishes 12-0
IOWA BEATS OHIO STATE.
Both tied at 12-1

IN THE SEC:
Florida loses to Florida State, finishes the season 10-2.
Alabama wins out, going 11-1
FLORIDA BEATS ALABAMA.
Both teams from SEC have 2 losses

OR

Florida loses to Florida State, finishes the season 10-2.
Alabama loses to Auburn, finishes 10-2.
BEST 2 SEC TEAMS WITH 2-losses BEFORE THE SEC CHAMPIONSHIP

OR

Florida wins out, goes 11-1.
Alabama loses to Auburn, finishes 10-2.
Mississippi wins out and finishes 9-3.
Arkansas loses 1 of their last 2, finishes 7-5.
MISSISSIPPI BEATS FLORIDA
SEC Champ has 3 loses.

IN THE BIG XII & PAC-12
In both of these conferences there are still so many possibilities, I just checked out some of the extremes.

In the PAC-12, there are only 5 teams that can possibly play in the conference title game.  2 of the teams already have 2 losses, the other 3, each have 3 losses.  We could conceivably have conference champion that have 3 or 4 losses.

Stanford could finish 8-4, win the title game and finish at 9-4
USC could end up the same, 8-4 in the regular season, but a 9-4 conference champion.
Oregon, Utah and UCLA could all finish 9-3, meaning a 3-loss conference champion.

The Big XII at least has a possible playoff team remaining, but they also backloaded their schedule so that every team that has a chance has to play a brutal schedule down the stretch.

Here is what the Big XII schedule looks like the final 3 weeks.
#6 Oklahoma State – vs #10 Baylor, vs #7 Oklahoma
#7 Oklahoma – vs #18 TCU, @ #6Oklahoma
#10 Baylor - @ #6 Oklahoma, @ #18 TCU, vs Texas
#18 TCU - @ #7 Oklahoma, vs #10 Baylor
Sure Oklahoma State could run the table and be undefeated after this stretch and play their way into the playoff.  Or all 4 teams could end the season 10-2 in a 4-way tie.  Nice job Big XII!

We didn’t even mention Notre Dame yet.  With 2 games left, the Irish still leave plenty of questions, a lot of which sit with their opponents and schedule this season.
Notre Dame could still lose to Boston College today or Stanford next week.  But even if they win out, who is their best win (Temple, USC, Stanford, Pitt, Navy)? Tough to find one in that group.  Even worse would be for Notre Dame to win out, but Clemson loses once or maybe even twice.  They have hung their hat on having the best loss.  Well if Clemson suddenly isn’t #1, then what does Notre Dame have going for them?

What if Notre Dame wins out AND Oklahoma State wins out?  Who does the committee take, an undefeated Big XII champ or a 1-loss Independent team?

Oh yeah… What about Houston, they are still undefeated too. If chaos ensues, does a 2-loss Power 5 team get in over an undefeated Houston team? A Houston team that would have 2 wins over Power 5 schools and 2 wins over ranked opponents and the same “best win” as Notre Dame (Navy).

Lots of question still to be answered over the last 3 weeks.  I don’t know what will happen, nobody does, but I do know who I will be rooting for. 

LET’S GO CHAOS!

Pirates Scheduling News

The Pirates made 2 scheduling announcements today.  The 1^st announcement, that Major League Baseball has selected the Pirates and Cardinals to officially open the season, moving the game from its originally scheduled date of Monday April 4^th, to an ESPN Broadcast Sunday afternoon game.  Typically, ESPN kicks off the season with a Sunday night game, but this game will be a 1:05 1^st pitch to kick off the season.  With the season opener moving up 1 day, the rest of the series adjusts as well.  The series was originally scheduled Monday, Wednesday, Thursday.  This now changes to playing Sunday, OFF DAY Monday, play Tuesday and Wednesday, OFF DAY Thursday.  The Pirates then travel and play in Cincinnati for a weekend series beginning Friday.

Obviously, this is a huge honor and recognition for the Pirates to be selected for this game, but the 1^st thing that I thought of was how this allows Hurdle to set up his rotation.  If the Pirates would elect to, and I don’t see why they wouldn’t, they don’t need to throw their #5 starter until GAME 8 of the season. Considering the large question marks regarding the Pirates starting pitching staff for the 2016 season, I think this could be very beneficial.  This also allows the Pirates to throw Cole 3 times in the teams 1^st 9 games.  I know that people may complain about pushing him too much early in the season, but he is the ace of your staff and he would still be going on full rest for all of these starts.  The way the Pirates have started off the last 2 seasons, I would say it would be a good idea to push Cole to make these starts.  The Pirates were 21-26 in April over the last 2 years, which is 5 games UNDER .500.  They were a combined 63 games OVER .500 after April in those 2 seasons.  For whatever reason, the Pirates get off to slow starts, this may be something that helps to avoid that again in 2016.

Another small benefit from this scheduling means that the team could elect to carry an extra bat for the 1^st 7 games of the season.  Being that the Pirates play in Detroit for games 7-8, I’m guessing that they will opt to keep an extra bat, since they will need a DH.

As for the 2^nd announcement made today, the Pirates will be playing in Puerto Rico this season.   The Pirates and Marlins are scheduled to play a 4-game series in Miami from May 30^th to June 2^nd.  Major League Baseball, assuming with the Miami Marlins, moved the 1^st 2 games of that series to Puerto Rico.  The move was to celebrate Roberto Clemente, as all of Major League Baseball will celebrate Roberto Clemente Day on May 31^st.

My only hope is that the celebration of Roberto Clemente Day is kicked off by Major League Baseball announcing the retirement of the number 21 league wide. It would be long overdue.

Playoff Preview

The good news about the 1^st CFB Playoff rankings that were unveiled earlier this week is that there is still plenty of time for all of these rankings to work themselves out.  Of course there has been a lot of 2^nd guessing, 1-loss Alabama and Notre Dame teams ahead of 8 undefeated teams, 2 SEC schools but no PAC-12 or Big XII teams are two of the more common complaints.  But as I said, luckily it will all play out on the field. 

We are going to breakdown the rankings and figure out what exactly we can expect as the season continues.

1) CLEMSON TIGERS (8-0, 5-0 ACC)
Next Game: SAT vs #16 Florida State
Best Win: vs #5 Notre Dame 24-22
Worst Loss: N/A
Biggest Remaining Challenge: #16 Florida State this week
Clemson has been probably the most consistent team both week to week and unit to unit on the field.  The Clemson D is one of the top in the nation and the O can also put up points with the best of them.

2) LSU TIGERS (7-0, 4-0 SEC)
Next Game: SAT @ #4 Alabama
Best Win: vs #10 Florida 35-28
Worst Loss: N/A
Biggest Remaining Challenge: #4 Alabama this week
LSU has done it with a power running game and a stingy defense all season.  Saturday in Tuscaloosa will be the Tigers biggest challenge to date.  A win against Alabama will put them in the driver’s seat in the SEC West.

3) OHIO STATE BUCKEYES (8-0, 4-0 Big Ten)
Next Game: SAT vs Minnesota
Best Win: @ Virginia Tech 42-24
Worst Loss: N/A
Biggest Remaining Challenge: vs #7 Michigan State 11/21
Ohio State is the Florida State of this season.  They have not been very impressive, but they keep winning.  Like FSU last year, they probably don’t deserve to be in the rankings, but as long as they win, the defending champion will have a spot reserved in the playoff.

4) ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE (7-1, 4-1 SEC)
Next Game: SAT vs #2 LSU
Best Win: @ #19 Texas A&M 41-23
Worst Loss: vs #18 Mississippi 43-37
Biggest Remaining Challenge: vs #2 LSU this week
Alabama is a very good team that is not deserving of this ranking.  If they beat LSU on Saturday, then you put them here, but their bad home loss weighs more for me than their handful of good but not great wins.

5) NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH (7-1)
Next Game: SAT @ Pitt
Best Win: @ #22 Temple 24-20
Worst Loss: @ #1 Clemson 24-22
Biggest Remaining Challenge: @ #11 Stanford 11/28
Notre Dame is not the best 1-loss team.  They will get a chance to earn that title the last game of the season against Stanford.  ND always puts together a tough schedule, but this year none of their opponents lived up to expectations, making it tough to get a good read on the Irish.

6) BAYLOR BEARS (7-0, 4-0 Big XII)
Next Game: THUR @ Kansas State
Best Win: @ Texas Tech 63-35
Worst Loss: N/A
Biggest Remaining Challenge: @ #8 TCU 11/27
Baylor has pounded everyone they have faced, but unfortunately they have played nobody.  Their 3-game stretch in Mid-November will be a make or break stretch for the Bears.

7) MICHIGAN STATE SPARTANS (8-0, 4-0 Big Ten)
Next Game: SAT @ Nebraska
Best Win: @ #17 Michigan 27-23
Worst Loss: N/A
Biggest Remaining Challenge: @ #3 Ohio State 11/21
Michigan State has been tried and tested, but just keeps winning.  In my eyes they have been the best team in the Big Ten.  When they face Ohio State in Columbus in 3 weeks it will not only be for the Big Ten East, but also likely a playoff spot.

8) TCU HORNED FROGS (8-0, 5-0 Big XII)
Next Game: SAT @ #14 Oklahoma State
Best Win: vs Texas 50-7
Worst Loss: N/A
Biggest Remaining Challenge: vs #6 Baylor 11/27
TCU has not been as dominant as Baylor in their wins over bad opponents.  The Big XII back loading the conference schedule is not doing anyone any favors.  TCU finishes with 3 Top 15 opponents in their final 4 games.

9) IOWA HAWKEYES (8-0, 4-0 Big Ten)
Next Game: SAT @ Indiana
Best Win: @ Wisconsin 10-6
Worst Loss: N/A
Biggest Remaining Challenge: Big Ten Championship Game 12/5
Iowa should be the overwhelming favorite to win the rest of their games.  If that happens, does an undefeated Iowa team from a very weak Big Ten West make the playoffs?

10) FLORIDA GATORS (7-1, 5-1 SEC)
Next Game: SAT vs Vanderbilt
Best Win: vs #18 Mississippi 38-10
Worst Loss: @ #2 LSU 35-28
Biggest Remaining Challenge: vs #16 Florida State 11/28
Florida finally has an explosive offense to go with a tough defense.  The Gators have already clinched a spot in the SEC Title game against most likely the winner of ALA/LSU this week.  That could give them a chance for a rematch against LSU.

At this time last year, Ohio State was ranked #16, so there is still a lot of time for change in these rankings.  Some other teams to keep an eye on outside of the Top 10 are Stanford and Oklahoma.  Stanford still has 2 or 3 games to help their cause and Oklahoma still has games against 3 undefeated teams to state their case.