What if there had always been two divisions....

by thegashousegang on Nov 26, 2008 9:54 AM EST

in each league since 1901? Well, Brandon Isleib on the Hard Ball Times has tackled this question in two articles on the site. He works on the scheduling splits and projects the winners for each year in each division. I found the two articles interesting and hope you do too.

To read them go here and then read this page. It is interesting to see how the Pirates did in a two division set up.

A big thank you to my friend Steve who sent these links to me for we have had some great conversations today about them. Your thoughts?

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of the managing editor (Charlie) or SB Nation. FanPosts are written by Bucs Dugout readers.

Tweet Comment 3 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

I think that in his biography of John MGraw, Charles Alexander noted that the 12-team NL of the 1890’s fit into East Coast and West-of-the-Alleghenies divisions, but that no one seems to have thought of doing it.

by Arnold Rothstein on Nov 26, 2008 10:59 AM EST reply actions

starting in 1892 the NL divisions would've looked like this....

East West
Boston Beaneaters Cleveland Spiders
Brooklyn Bridegrooms Cincinnati Reds
Philadelphia Phillies Pittsburgh Pirates
New York Giants Chicago Colts
Washington Nationals Louisville Colonels
Baltimore Orioles St. Louis Browns

Funny they didn’t think of a two division set-up, for they sure did think of a split season in 1892. When I look back on 1892, funny only two cities are no longer in MLB (although the teams may be different ones from the originals and they may be in a different league), Brooklyn and Louisville. While the Brooklyn team lives on in LA, the Colonels are long dead. A interesting concept and I wonder why they didn’t think of it…..

People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.-Rogers Hornsby

by thegashousegang on Nov 26, 2008 11:22 AM EST reply actions