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Baseball Divisions

Date: September 5, 2015

Question: 

Why are there divisions in baseball?

Answer:

Until 1969 there were only the National League and the American League and the only postseason was the World Series.  

They added divisions so there could be more teams involved in the "postseason".  First, the two leagues were divided into East and West.  They played one round of playoffs and the winners went to the World Series.  

Then there was more expansion (oh yeah, in 1969 they added two expansion teams in each league) so now they have three divisions in each league and two rounds of playoffs before the World Series.



Update: just last night listening to the Cardinals game the broadcasters were talking about this very question in regards to the post season.  Currently, the Cardinals, Pirates, and Cubs have the best records in baseball.  They are all in the National League Central Division.  This means two of the best teams won't even make it to the National League Division Series of the post season.

One of the broadcasters thought it may be more reasonable in the future to set it up like a basketball bracket.  1st vs last. 2nd vs 2nd to last. Etc.

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