Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 10, 1993 TAG: 9309100095
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BOSTON LENGTH: Medium
The proposal, passed 27-1 over the objection of the Texas Rangers, is subject to the approval of the Major League Baseball Players Association, which said Thursday it expected to accept the changes.
The new divisions would look like this next year, although the divisions for Atlanta, Florida and Pittsburgh are not yet certain:
American League East - Baltimore, Boston, Detroit, New York Yankees and Toronto.
AL Central - Chicago White Sox, Cleveland, Kansas City, Milwaukee and Minnesota.
AL West - California, Oakland, Seattle and Texas.
National League East - Montreal, New York Mets and Philadelphia.
NL Central - Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati, Houston and St. Louis.
NL West - Colorado, Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco.
Atlanta, Florida, Pittsburgh will be split among the NL East or NL Central.
The new arrangement gives major-league baseball a look similar to the NFL, which has six divisions, and the NBA and NHL, which have four divisions each.
"Our surveys have shown it will enhance fan interest in the waning days of the season, really months," said John Harrington of the Boston Red Sox, who formulated the plan in his role as chairman of the schedule-format committee.
The Marlins eliminated the final opposition in the NL when they agreed, if necessary, to move from the East Division to the Central. The Braves had wanted to be in the East and shift Pittsburgh to the Central, the reverse of the plan Harrington proposed.
Under the adopted resolution, the NL will determine the divisions of those three teams within seven days. The three teams waived their right to veto realignment.
"Obviously, there are disagreements but they'll be taken care of," NL President Bill White said.
On the final day of the owners' quarterly meetings, clubs also approved a $255 million, six-year contract with ESPN and a $50.5 million, six-year contract with CBS Radio.
The realignment, if approved by the players' union, would give baseball a drastically different look from the two-division format in place since 1969.
The owners voted in June to expand the playoffs but keep the current two-division setup. That proposal was derailed in August month by the players' union, which said it preferred a three-division plan.
"I can't promise it'll be completely smooth sailing, but I look forward to getting it done," union head Donald Fehr said in a telephone news conference from New York.
George W. Bush, the Rangers' general partner, was the only negative voice. He said he was speaking for baseball's purists.
"I made my arguments and went down in flames," Bush said. "History will prove me right."
The new playoffs would add four best-of-five series, with the second-place team having the best record as the wild-card in each league. The wild-card teams would play the division winner with the best record in its league, unless it was a team in its division. In that case, the wild-card team would play the division winner with the second-best record. First-round winners would advance to the best-of-seven League Championship Series, and the pennant winners would go to the World Series, which would remain best-of-seven.
The 162-game schedule would remain balanced at least through 1997, with teams playing opponents 12 or 13 times each.
"The balanced schedule was a very, very important part of this," said Milwaukee Brewers President Bud Selig, chairman of baseball's ruling executive council.
Teams in the East and Central would play about 50 games against their division rivals and West teams would play about 40. Currently, teams play 78 games within their division and 84 games outside their division.
"Having more games with the Dodgers would be to our advantage," said Peter Magowan, head of the group that purchased the Giants earlier this year, "but I think it was the right thing for clubs wanting an unbalanced schedule to go along with clubs wanting a balanced schedule."
West Coast clubs feared attendance would drop if they had only one series instead of two against East Coast teams.
"You've got to look at the whole thing as good for baseball," New York Mets co-owner Fred Wilpon said.
Under the scheduling arrangement used in recent years, the season would start April 3 in 1994 and Game 7 of the World Series - if necessary - would be Oct. 30. In 1996, the season would either begin in March or Game 7 of the World Series would be scheduled for Nov. 3.
by CNB