WILD CARD MADNESS

   Personally speaking, I would like to see the Wild Cards eliminated in Major League Baseball because the Wild Card is nothing more than a reward system for mediocrity.

   Teams work hard all year to win their division titles, but then they can run the risk of losing it all in a one game playoff to a lesser team, a team whose only hope of going to the prom is by coming in the back door.

   To remedy this situation of Wild Card Madness, I have taken the liberty to add two franchises, one in each league, bringing the total to sixteen teams in each league, and then dividing the sixteen teams into four divisions with four teams in each division. I have added one American League team in Oklahoma City and one National League team in Salt Lake City.
   Here is how my new alignment looks on paper:

AMERICAN LEAGUE                                     NATIONAL LEAGUE

Eastern Division                                                 Eastern Division

Toronto                                                               Miami                   

Boston                                                                 Atlanta

New York                                                            Washington

Baltimore                                                             New York

Central Division                                                  Central Division

Cleveland                                                             Pittsburgh

Chicago                                                                Philadelphia                                                                Detroit                                                                 Cincinnati

Tampa Bay                                                         Chicago

Midwest Division                                                Midwest Division

Minnesota                                                            St. Louis

Kansas City                                                          Arizona

Oklahoma City                                                     Milwaukee

Houston                                                                Colorado

Western Division                                                Western Division

Texas                                                                   San Diego

Anaheim                                                              Los Angeles

Oakland                                                               Salt Lake City

Seattle                                                                  San Francisco                                                                

Playoff Schedules:

Division Championships:  best of three games

League Championships:  best of five games

World Series Championship:  best of seven games

    This playoff schedule will be for fifteen games and the baseball season should be over by mid-October, at a time when most people have turned their attention to football and basketball.
    This alignment would eliminate Wild Card Madness and second-place teams would go home for the winter; for baseball should never be a place for losers to finish first.