Let's Talk Baseball: Bold Proposal August Standings

Following are the current standings (as of 9/1/10, morning EDT) for my bold proposal for baseball realignment. The basic idea is two divisions, upper and lower, determined by last year's final standings. The bottom three of the First Division are relegated for next year. The top two of the Second are promoted, along with the winner of a playoff between the next four.


First Division

1. Yankees (unchanged from July)
2. Rays (unchanged)
3. Braves (+1)
4. Twins (+3)
5. Rangers (-2)
5. Red Sox (+1)
5. Phillies (-4)
8. Giants (-3)
9. Cardinals (-2)
10. Rockies (unchanged)
11.Dodgers (-1)
12. Marlins (unchanged)
13. Tigers (unchanged)
14. Angels (unchanged)
15. Cubs (unchanged)
16. Mariners (unchanged)


Second Division

1. Reds (+2)
2. Padres (-1)
3. White Sox (-1)
4. Blue Jays (unchanged)
5. A's (+1)
6. Mets (-1)
7. Brewers (unchanged)
8. Astros (+1)
9. Nationals (-1)
10. Royals (unchanged)
11. Diamondbacks (+1)
12. Indians (-1)
13. Orioles (+1)
14. Pirates (-1)


Biggest rise: Twins

Greatest fall: Phillies

Naturally, the big excitement for me is seeing Baltimore out of the league cellar. Interesting, too, that this month, the first division is the more static of the two: the opposite of last month.

We still have two real-world division leaders in the second division: Reds and Padres. As I've said before, I'll consider the experiment a failure if one of my second division teams wins the World Series.