Realignment in Baseball?

So there's been some talk for about the last week or so about a potential realignment in major league baseball's future. Instead of having the National League and American League continuing to be unbalanced (the NL currently has 16 teams to the AL's 14), each league would be comprised of 15 teams. Now, I'm not a huge fan of this, especially since the team that's been mentioned the most frequently with regards to this realignment is the Houston Astros. First of all, I don't like American League baseball. I mean, it's baseball, and I still like that aspect of it, but I've never been a huge fan of the designated hitter and I don't like 4 hour 9 inning games. I like the National League where pitchers hit for themselves. It adds a whole different element to the game. You see a lot of small ball (bunts, steals), pitchers can't throw at hitters without fear of repercussions, and everyone has to field a position- you can't hide players like David Ortiz (no range) or Johnny Damon (no arm). I just think it's a purer form of the game.

Now ironically, Houston might actually be better suited for AL play right now given that they're stuck with Carlos Lee's giant contract and his defensive liabilities, but that's another story entirely. Bottom line, I don't want to see Houston go to the dark side. They've been a National League team for almost 50 years, and while they're a bad team right now (25-45 entering play tonight), they've got a good history in the NL. 6 division titles in the last 25 years and a pair of wild card berths. And while they're about to get new ownership, how do you sell this as a benefit to the ballclub? The last team that switched leagues (the Brewers) were previously owned by the current commissioner so that was a little easier to sell.

Not to mention, if you do 15 team leagues, how does that work? You either have one team in each league off every day or you have interleague play every day. And then on top of that I've heard talk of them eliminating the divisions all together? That's a horrible idea! Divisions and division rivalries are what make the game great for the fans. Fans want to see Redsox-Yankees 18 times and they want it to mean something. They want to see Cubs-Cardinals and Dodgers-Giants. Don't take that away from the fans. Along those lines, I GUESS I can see the benefit to moving Houston into the AL West. You have a nice natural rivalry with the Rangers, but otherwise...

I dunno. I just don't like it. Change for the sake of change isn't something I'm crazy about. But let's say this whole unbalanced schedule is a real problem that requires a solution. How do you create a balanced 162 game schedule with 30 teams? Maybe you can't. But maybe it doesn't matter. The NFL doesn't have a balanced schedule. Neither does the NHL. Or the NBA. To make it really work, how about 2 more teams to bring the total to 32 and then 4 4-team divisions in each league? Play every team in your league 10 times. That's 150 games. Then play one division a year for interleague play. 4 3-games series gives you the remaining twelve games. Presto. The only problem is, how/where do you support two more teams? With the game growing internationally, it's not a stretch to think we couldn't find the players. What we really need is for Cubans to be allowed to play here. Maybe a franchise in San Antonio? Charleston? Portland? Vancouver? Salt Lake City? Oklahoma City? New Orleans? There are plenty of options. But is that a simpler solution than booting the Astros to the AL? Probably not. I'll keep thinking about it, and if I can come up with a better idea, you'll see it posted. In the meantime, I'll just keep hoping the Astros stay a National League team. Unless they get rid of the designated hitter...