Agree 100 percent, and I say that as a lifelong fan of AL teams.
I agree. It's not that I think they're entitled to be in any particular league, but they were moved for a stupid reason. The franchise was created in the NL, and there was no respectable reason to move them. I think they moved them to balance out the move of the Brewers to the NL. And of course, they moved the Brewers to the NL, because Selig didn't want his team having to compete with the Cleveland Indians who were dominant at the time. It tampered with the integrity of the game, and it was woefully short-sighted. The Indians were tough at the time, but the Cardinals and Cubs are much tougher competitors most of the time.
Hell yes. It was a cheap, stupid gimmick.
It is appropriate in tie situations but that's it.
You probably overstate your case a little, but yes, they have gotten screwed.
in general, if it was up to me, I'd get rid of the DH, enforce a real strike zone (shoulders to the knees), raise the pitcher's mound to 1968 levels, require all outfield walls to be green, and go back to 2 divisions with only one playoff series (and a tiebreaker game if necessary to decide the division champions). And interleague play is the dumbest thing the league has ever done. AL players should play NL players twice - in the All Star Game and in the World Series. One other thing, GET RID OF THE UNBALANCED SCHEDULE. When you play 16 games, it's a necessity. When you play 162, it's not. Dump it.
Though I wouldn't enforce it by rules, we should also bring back the 4-man rotation (and therefore 40 starts and 300 innings for the guys at the top of the rotation) and dump the stupid-*** "closer." Your top relief pitcher should come in with the game on the line and lock the game down. He shouldn't come in with nobody on in the 9th inning, face the bottom of the order, and scarf up an easy save. Think Goose Gossage or Rollie Fingers, not Mariano Rivera or Trevor Hoffman. There's nothing wrong with Rivera or Hoffman, but they racked up a ton of cheap saves.
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