Major League Baseball has another proposal out for how they would start the Major League Baseball season. This one to me looks like the one that is the answer. I may have said this before, but that is out of desperation to have sports back. Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported the story and he’s been on top of this as the first to break the Spring Training location idea earlier this month. Nightengale has come under the fire on this site for some odd Brewers takes in the past, but credit where credit is due on this story. Let’s look at the Milwaukee Brewers division and break down the good and the bad of it.

Central Division featuring the Milwaukee Brewers: Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds, Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Cardinals, Kansas City Royals, Detroit Tigers, Atlanta Braves, and Minnesota Twins. Here’s the rest of the divisions if you’re curious.

Abolishes NL and AL: 3 divisions, 10-team plan, teams ONLY play within divisions. Talk about crosstown rivalries 👀 pic.twitter.com/P5PbhDnC7a

— Starting 9 (@Starting9) April 28, 2020

At first glance, the Brewers do get the advantage of playing multiple games against the Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers. Both teams were projected to be among the worst in Major League Baseball. In the Spring Training proposal, neither the Cubs or Cardinals were in the same division. While this might make things more difficult, it is good to have those rivalries stay intact. That matters to me, and baseball could get a huge lift in rivalry-like games regularly with these 10 teams. Further, I like that we could start up the Chicago White Sox-Brewers rivalry. For those who are too young to remember, these two teams fucking hated each other in the 80s and 90s. Brewers also had a good rivalry with the Indians thanks to Albert Belle running over Fernando Vina.

The disadvantage sticks out like a sore thumb and it’s the Atlanta Braves. They’re projected to be among one of the best teams in baseball, and now, they play in a division with all NL and AL Central teams. To make the 10 division model work and limit travel, Pittsburgh got replaced for Atlanta. That’s a major bummer. Having Pittsburgh, Detroit, and Kansas City in the same division would favor the Brewers greatly. Instead, they have five teams that feel playoff-ready to me. This is a slight disadvantage but having to play Yasmani Grandal regularly stinks too.

It is unknown at this time how baseball would do the playoffs. Trying to figure it out is pretty difficult, but my first guess would be a 16-team playoff like the NBA and NHL. With a shortened season, I could see the league expanding the playoffs with a 3-5-7 format. Personally, 10 teams seemed too hard to figure out, and giving teams a bye in baseball doesn’t seem beneficial. There are still many questions to be answered, but with baseball not beginning until late June, we have time.

I’m fired up over the fact that all sports seem to have a pathway back and we can start that part of our lives again.

Charlie.