The Pittsburgh Pirates have not won a division title since 1992. 

Few things in sports can be as frustrating as a team with owners who seemingly refuse to put a winning product on the field. Baseball’s Pittsburgh Pirates, for example, have not won a division title since 1992, and have put together a division finish higher than fourth in only six of the seasons since. 

Owners have little incentive to improve the team because they still profit even when their franchise performs abysmally. One solution to the incentive problem would be to institute a system of promotion and relegation to Major League Baseball.

Promotion and relegation are already a part of European football. At the end of each season, the best teams in a given league move up a level, while the worst teams move down. 

Adopting this system would incentivize competition. Pirates owner Robert Nutting would need to produce a competitive team, lest he spend next season in AAA. 

This system could offer mid-sized cities, such as Norfolk or Oklahoma City, opportunities to host a Major League Baseball team if their respective AAA teams win their league championships, just as the Tide and Dodgers did last season.

For this system to work, the minor leagues need to become independent and have separate drafts. This would eliminate the possibility of a franchise having two teams in a league. Imagine both the Chicago and Iowa Cubs in the same division!

Independent leagues eliminate the possibility of conflicts of interest between a franchise’s MLB team and its AAA team. The MLB team need not sabotage its AAA team to retain its status.

Stadiums would need to expand to accommodate larger crowds. The average AAA stadium holds about 10,000 people, well under the average capacity of 42,000 in an MLB stadium.

Without the guarantee of Major League statuses and revenues, the prospect of relegation would prompt much-needed competition among teams. Promotion and relegation offer fans a reason to maintain interest in their team. If a team is not in contention for a championship, it may be in danger of demotion. Fans will finally have a reason to follow their teams into the final weeks of the season.

Recently, baseball has moved away from rigid traditionalism and embraced new changes. Promotion and relegation are just the shake-up it needs to become more competitive and exciting for the fans.