Comments on: Once again, we see baseball’s incessant Midwest bias

By: Kevin S.

Kevin S. — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 02:29:48 +0000

Obviously the Twins’ have a contract with AirTran for the upcoming season…

By: natstowngreg

natstowngreg — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 00:56:58 +0000

And this a problem how?

By: meteor32

meteor32 — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 22:00:24 +0000

Texas isn’t in the Midwest.

By: tjwilliams

tjwilliams — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 21:23:22 +0000

If every one of Seattle’s road trips was a six game stretch at Oakland, they’d still have 21,600 miles (or 1000 less than Chicago). They could fix the discrepancy, but it would require longer longer road trips which teams already complain about.

By: tjwilliams

tjwilliams — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 21:18:34 +0000

Teams in the central time zone playing west-coast teams see 9:00 (local) starts. It’s not a big deal when you’re in the Central or East and only play out there 10 or 12 times a year, but the Texas teams will have 30 or so late games every year.

By: clydeserra

clydeserra — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 20:42:55 +0000

Baseball games dont start at 9. Regular season the latest is 735.

I sure do love the 10 AM starts, though.

By: JB (the original)

JB (the original) — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 19:28:51 +0000

C’mon, Mpls/St.Paul is a Delta “fortress” hub—all outbound flights go through Atlanta already….

By: stex52

stex52 — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 18:04:32 +0000

You just put the jinx on. Now we’ll have a reprise of the New Madrid quake (1811) and we’ll lose the Cards, Reds, and both Chicago teams.

By: natstowngreg

natstowngreg — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 17:27:57 +0000

Patience. Just wait for The Great Earthquake to hit. The West Coast slides into the Pacific, travel problems solved. Not to mention, it would solve the A’s relocation issue, and allow Bud to contract each league to 12 teams.

By: kevinbnyc

kevinbnyc — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 17:07:22 +0000

The White Sox do have to use Chicago area airports to get places, so while the distance they travel will be the smallest, their total travel time including flight delays should be the highest.

By: gloccamorra

gloccamorra — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 16:53:35 +0000

Seattle has ALWAYS done the most traveling – they’re all by their lonesome in the Pacific northwest, with the nearest team – Oakland – over 800 miles away. Their closest competitor for frequent flier miles – Miami – has fewer only because their division doesn’t have a team in Texas.

What this argues for is a split into three geographical 10-team leagues, with two 5-team divisions each. Have each team play a balanced schedule of 16 against the other league teams, and 18 with selected “other league” teams during a mid-year interleague period. Since one league would be aced out the the World Series, end the AL-NL dichotomy and have a round-robin playoff system where the two “best” teams meet, regardless of league.

By: Kevin Gillman

Kevin Gillman — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 16:49:10 +0000

Bobby V will also somehow blame all of this on Joe Madden.

By: muir6

muir6 — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 16:49:07 +0000

Somebody send this idiot a map

By: steve7921

steve7921 — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 16:41:53 +0000

Bobby V will point this out when it comes to evaluate their Red Sox season…

By: heyblueyoustink

heyblueyoustink — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 16:39:40 +0000

Why never any emphasis on the Canadian bias? I mean, duh, we all know it’s there. Was getting so bad they had to remove the Expos once upon a time to even things out.

By: expodis

expodis — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 16:36:17 +0000

So like, my Twins need flights that have layovers in Atlanta to even things out?

By: needtoplay

needtoplay — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 16:15:51 +0000

Now my turn to be a jacka55…. and I know yours was a bit tongue-in-cheek. But… since the Central Divisions of both leagues are kinda, ya know, centrally located in the middle of the country, that might make their total mileage somewhat less…. I’m just sayin’. A trip to either coast, for them, is about half what it is for one of the Eastern or Western Division teams, if my map-math is right.

But… I could be mistaken.

But regardless…. that IS some disparity between Seattle and Chicago. Hope they are keeping track of their frequent flyer miles !!

By: stex52

stex52 — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 16:10:04 +0000

And next year the Astros get to share with the Rangers the joy of being midwest teams in a west coast division. I hate the mileage for them. I hate the 9:00 game starts for me.