The Evolution of the 1893 National League Batting Title

Earlier I was going through some back emails, and came across a question from the Horsehide Trivia listserv: "Who was the first player to lead the majors in batting average in consecutive seasons after the pitcher’s mound was created and set at its current distance?" The first thought that came to mind was Hugh Duffy, as I had just had his player record open in Total Baseball and noticed that he had led the National League (the only league at the time) in batting in 1893 and 1894. Yet Duffy was not the correct answer, once the other hints were taken into account - Jesse Burkett was, who led in 1895 and 1896. Confused by this discrepancy, I dove into Duffy's Baseball Reference page, and began to unearth a statistical story spanning some 130 years.

Let's start at the beginning.

Hugh Duffy
(credit: Society for American Baseball Research)

In 1893, Billy Hamilton was the National League's leading batsman when he was diagnosed with typhoid fever in August. His season abruptly ended, having played just 82 games. His absence helped sink his Philadelphia team's chances of winning the pennant. They slid from second to finish in fourth place, 14 games behind the Boston Beaneaters, who were led by the "Heavenly Twins" of Hugh Duffy and Tommy McCarthy.

The season ended on Saturday, September 30. A week later, on October 7, The Sporting News published its tabulations of the batting averages for the league season. The publication listed the top three averages as Hamilton .407, Duffy .374, and Ed Delahanty (Hamilton's Philadelphia teammate) .370. The paper declared that "Hamilton of Philadelphia Leads the League in Batting" with the "largest percentage achieved in many years."

A week later, National League President Nick Young released the official league statistics, which were published in The Sporting Life, followed by The Sporting News the following week. This official record showed a very different leaderboard. Jake Stenzel led at .409, Hamilton was second at .395, and Sam Thompson (another Phillie) third at .377. Duffy was listed lower on the list, at "just" .359.

Spalding's Baseball Guide 1894 contained the "full official league record for 1893". It prefaced the batting record by noting, "It will be seen that the batting average record, given below, places Stenzel of the Pittsburgh club as the leading batter of the season, simply because he has the highest base hit percentage." The guide then published a near identical list as that previously seen in The Sporting News and The Sporting Life, with a major adjustment near the top: Duffy was now listed at .378, ahead of Thompson for third place. The correction of a mathematical error evidently resulted in Duffy's adjusted average - his total of 203 hits and 537 at bats were unchanged from the previous listing.

John Thorn explains what happened to the title from there: "The early record tomes, the Spalding Record Book and the Sporting News Record Book, placed Jake Stenzel (NL) in the lead for 1893 and Nap Lajoie (AL) on top in 1905. Both Stenzel and Lajoie were the leaders during the life of the Spalding volumes, 1908–1924, and in the Sporting News volume from its debut in 1921 until 1929, when Hugh Duffy replaced Stenzel, and 1930, when Elmer Flick supplanted Lajoie. The reasoning behind the Sporting News switches was that both Stenzel and Lajoie failed to meet the unwritten criterion of a representative number of games — Stenzel had played in only 60 games and Lajoie in 65, not even half of their club’s scheduled games. Otherwise the early record books’ leaders were those endorsed by the leagues."

The arrival of baseball encyclopedias in the latter half of the 20th century led to a divergence in the records. The 1969 Macmillan Baseball Encyclopedia's recompiled record lists Hamilton as the league leader at .380, followed by Thompson at .370, Delahanty at .368, and Duffy at .363. Stenzel was excluded with too few games, but Hamilton still met the "Big Mac" playing time standard it applied for the 1876-1919 period: "games played equal to at least 60 percent of games the team scheduled". (David Nemec's Great Encyclopedia of Nineteenth Century Major League Baseball has the same top four, though using a standard of 350 at bats, which Hamilton barely crossed.)

Meanwhile, as mentioned above, Total Baseball still treated Duffy as the leader. According to John Thorn, "Billy Hamilton’s average was higher than Duffy’s, and he would have met modern criteria for plate appearances. The NL, however, honored Duffy because he appeared in at least 100 games, which was expected of the leading players of that day. The title is thus accorded to him." Evidently Total Baseball was simply going off of the previous official record given by the National League, and not the recompiled record, because otherwise - by Thorn's stated standard - Thompson would have been credited with the title. (Curiously, on the 1893 leaderboard Duffy's average is listed as .362, though as .363 on his player record.)

The ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia - the spiritual successor of Total Baseball - doesn't seem to know what to do. Its top four is Thompson .370, Hamilton .380, Delahanty .368, and Duffy .363 - yet Duffy is the only player given the "black ink" treatment on his player record.

Even today, there are at least three different "official" batting titlists for 1893. Baseball Reference credits Hamilton's .380 based on the recompiled record and the modern playing time standard. However, Duffy is still also given credit. As the site explains on a page called Major League Batting Champion as Recognized at End of Year: "The Batting Titles listed are those players recognized by their leagues at the completion of the season as having the highest batting average in the league. Subsequent statistical research and rules changes may mean that we list a different batter as having the highest batting average for that season. When applicable we will give 'black ink' measurement credit to both the league batting champ and the player we believe had the highest batting average."

Meanwhile, over at Baseball Almanac, in what it describes as "the official list of batting title holders", Sam Thompson is given the title at .370.

Given all of this, what is to be learned here? In a sport that has been obsessed with statistics since its inception, reconciling of inconsistencies, reevaluation of omissions, and correction of errors find themselves just as much a part of the story. Because of this reality, the way we treat the statistical record has constantly changed throughout history. To use an analogy from constitutional law: should we take an "originalist" view that the record should reflect what the statistics were at the time they were recorded, or should we treat the record book as a "living document", constantly evolving as new data is uncovered and corrections made? 

Whatever your view, one thing is for certain: statistics will always be an integral part of baseball as long as the game is still played.

References:

Kerr, Roy. Sliding Billy Hamilton. 2009

The Sporting News, October 7, 1893

The Sporting Life, October 14, 1893

The Sporting News, October 21, 1893

Spalding's Baseball Guide and Official League Book 1894

The Baseball Encyclopedia (1st Edition)

Total Baseball (8th Edition)

The Great Encyclopedia of Nineteenth Century Major League Baseball (2nd edition)

The ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia (5th Edition)

www.baseball-almanac.com

www.baseball-reference.com

A Retroactive 6-Team MLB Postseason (1969-1993)

Major League Baseball has traditionally had the smallest postseason field of the four major North American sports leagues. However, in recent years MLB has started following in the footsteps of its competitors. 2022 marked the first season of a revised postseason format, in which six teams made the postseason for both the National and American Leagues - up from five in previous years and four from 1994-2011. These six teams are comprised of three division winners (receiving the top three seeds) and three wild card teams. The top two division winners receive a bye to the best-of-five League Division Series, while the the other four teams play in a best-of-three Wild Card Series.

Image credit: CBS Sports

I thought it would be an interesting exercise to explore what an expanded postseason format would have looked like historically in MLB. Specifically, I wanted to look at the era from 1969 to 1993, during which both the AL and NL had two divisions. In that period, the winners of the two divisions played in a League Championship Series, initially best-of-five, then best-of-seven from 1985 onward. 

Under my hypothetical six-team format, the two division winners would have advanced automatically to a best-of-five League Division Series, while four wild card teams would have played each other in a best-of-three Wild Card Series. This marks a key departure from today's format in two respects: no division winner has to play a Wild Card Series, and it is guaranteed that the team with the second-best record in a league would not have to play the team with the best record prior to the LCS, regardless of if they are a wild card team or division winner. 

Before I share what this would have looked like for each season, I want to make a few observations. First, one key advantage of this format would have been that it ensures that the team with the second-best record would have had an opportunity to reach the World Series via the postseason. In many seasons from 1969-1993, a team with the second-best record lost their own division race, while a team with an inferior record won the opposite division. Notably, twice a team won 100+ regular season games but failed to make the postseason - the Baltimore Orioles in 1980 and the San Francisco Giants in 1993.

Another observation is that while there may be concerns about the quality of teams reaching the postseason in an expanded format, the reality is that upwards of 97% of teams that hypothetically would have made the postseason would have had a .500 or better win percentage. Only 7 out of 300 teams would have made it in with a losing record. Considering that both leagues had at least 12 teams throughout it stands to reason that a format sending the top-half of the league to the postseason would generally result in teams with winning records making it in. Indeed the expansion of the American League to 14 teams in 1977 would have all but guaranteed this, with only one losing team potentially making the postseason in 17 seasons. Conversly, there still exists the possibility that teams with winning records would still miss the postseason, more so in the American League after the 1977 expansion. Those teams are also noted below.

Lastly, a note that this exercise cannot account for every change that this format would have potentially induced - particularly personnel decisions or managerial strategies for teams that would have now found themselves in playoff races they were not in otherwise. I do try to account for obvious changes that can be easily accounted for. Most notably, the absence of playoffs to decide division winners or wild cards in the new format is reflected through the use of tiebreaker criteria. This results, for instance, in the Los Angeles Dodgers winning the NL West over the Houston Astros in 1980 via a head-to-head record tiebreaker as opposed to a one-game playoff.

Without further ado, here are hypothetical postseason matchups for 1969-1993:

1969

NL Wild Card Series

#3 Chicago Cubs (93-69) vs #6 Pittsburgh Pirates (88-74)

#4 San Francisco Giants (90-72) vs #5 Cincinnati Reds (89-73)

NL Division Series

#1 New York Mets (100-62) vs #4 San Francisco/#5 Cincinnati

#2 Atlanta Braves (93-69) vs #3 Chicago/#6 Pittsburgh

AL Wild Card Series

#3 Detroit Tigers (90-72) vs #6 Washington Senators (86-76)

#4 Oakland Athletics (88-74) vs #5 Boston Red Sox (87-75)

AL Division Series

#1 Baltimore Orioles (109-53) vs #4 Oakland/#5 Boston

#2 Minnesota Twins (97-65) vs #3 Detroit/#6 Washington

Other winning teams: St. Louis Cardinals (87-75), Los Angeles Dodgers (85-77)

1970 

NL Wild Card Series

#3 Los Angeles Dodgers (87-74) vs #6 New York Mets (83-79)

#4 San Francisco Giants (86-76) vs. #5 Chicago Cubs (84-78)

NL Division Series

#1 Cincinnati Reds (102-60) vs #4 San Francisco/#5 Chicago

#2 Pittsburgh Pirates (89-73) vs #3 Los Angeles/#6 New York

AL Wild Card

#3 New York Yankees (93-69) vs #6 California Angels (86-76)

#4 Oakland Athletics (89-73) vs #5 Boston Red Sox (87-75)

AL Division Series

#1 Baltimore Orioles (108-54) vs #4 Oakland/#5 Boston

#2 Minnesota Twins (98-64) vs #3 New York/#6 California

1971

NL Wild Card Series

#3 St. Louis Cardinals (90-72) vs #6 New York Mets (83-79)

#4 Los Angeles Dodgers (89-73) vs #5 Chicago Cubs (83-79)

NL Division Series

#1 Pittsburgh Pirates (97-65) vs #4 Los Angeles/#5 Chicago

#2 San Francisco Giants (90-72) vs #3 St. Louis/#6 New York

AL Wild Card Series

#3 Detroit Tigers (91-71) vs #6 New York Yankees (82-80)

#4 Kansas City Royals (85-76) vs #5 Boston Red Sox (85-77)

AL Division Series

#1 Baltimore Orioles (101-57) vs #4 Kansas City/#5 Boston

#2 Oakland Athletics (101-60) vs #3 Detroit/#6 New York

Other winning teams: Atlanta Braves (82-80)

1972

NL Wild Card Series

#3 Houston Astros (84-69) vs #6 New York Mets (83-73)

#4 Chicago Cubs (85-70) vs #5 Los Angeles Dodgers (85-70)

NL Division Series

#1 Pittsburgh Pirates (96-59) vs #4 Chicago/#5 Los Angeles

#2 Cincinnati Reds (95-59) vs #3 Houston/#6 New York

AL Wild Card Series

#3 Chicago White Sox (87-67) vs #6 New York Yankees (79-76)

#4 Boston Red Sox (85-70) vs #5 Baltimore Orioles (80-74)

AL Division Series

#1 Oakland Athletics (93-62) vs #4 Boston/#5 Baltimore

#2 Detroit Tigers (86-70) vs #3 Chicago/#6 New York

1973

NL Wild Card Series

#3 Los Angeles Dodgers (95-66) vs #6 St. Louis Cardinals (81-81)

#4 San Francisco Giants (88-74) vs #5 Houston Astros (82-80)

NL Division Series

#1 Cincinnati Reds (99-63) vs #4 San Francisco/#5 Houston

#2 New York Mets (82-79) vs #3 Los Angeles/#6 St. Louis

AL Wild Card Series

#3 Boston Red Sox (89-73) vs #6 Minnesota Twins (81-81)

#4 Kansas City Royals (88-74) vs #5 Detroit Tigers (85-77)

AL Division Series

#1 Baltimore Orioles (97-65) vs #4 Kansas City/#5 Detroit

#2 Oakland Athletics (94-68) vs #3 Boston/#6 Minnesota

1974

NL Wild Card Series

#3 Cincinnati Reds (98-64) vs #6 Houston Astros (81-81)

#4 Atlanta Braves (88-74) vs #5 St. Louis Cardinals (86-75)

NL Division Series

#1 Los Angeles Dodgers (102-60) vs #4 Atlanta/#5 St. Louis

#2 Pittsburgh Pirates (88-74) vs #3 Cincinnati/#6 Houston

AL Wild Card Series

#3 New York Yankees (89-73) vs #6 Minnesota Twins (82-80)

#4 Texas Rangers (84-76) vs #5 Boston Red Sox (84-78)

AL Division Series

#1 Baltimore Orioles (91-71) vs #4 Texas/#5 Boston

#2 Oakland Athletics (90-72) vs #3 New York/#6 Minnesota

1975

NL Wild Card Series

#3 Los Angeles Dodgers (88-74) vs #6 St. Louis Cardinals (82-80)

#4 Philadelphia Phillies (86-76) vs #5 New York Mets (82-80)

NL Division Series

#1 Cincinnati Reds (108-54) vs #4 Philadelphia/#5 New York

#2 Pittsburgh Pirates (92-69) vs #3 Los Angeles/#6 St. Louis

AL Wild Card Series

#3 Baltimore Orioles (90-69) vs #6 Cleveland Indians (79-80)

#4 Kansas City Royals (91-71) vs #5 New York Yankees (83-77)

AL Division Series

#1 Oakland Athletics (98-64) vs #4 Kansas City/#5 New York

#2 Boston Red Sox (95-65) vs #3 Baltimore/#6 Cleveland

1976

NL Wild Card Series

#3 Los Angeles Dodgers (92-70) vs #6 Houston Astros (80-82)

#4 Pittsburgh Pirates (92-70) vs #5 New York Mets (86-76)

NL Division Series

#1 Cincinnati Reds (102-60) vs #4 Pittsburgh/#5 New York

#2 Philadelphia Phillies (101-61) vs #3 Los Angeles/#6 Houston

AL Wild Card Series

#3 Baltimore Orioles (88-74) vs #6 Boston Red Sox (83-79)

#4 Oakland Athletics (87-74) vs #5 Minnesota Twins (85-77)

AL Division Series

#1 New York Yankees (97-62) vs #4 Oakland/#5 Minnesota

#2 Kansas City Royals (90-72) vs #3 Baltimore/#6 Boston

Other winning teams: Cleveland Indians (81-78)

1977

NL Wild Card Series

#3 Pittsburgh Pirates (96-66) vs #6 Houston Astros (81-81)

#4 Cincinnati Reds (88-74) vs #5 St. Louis Cardinals (83-79)

NL Division Series

#1 Philadelphia Phillies (101-61) vs #4 Cincinnati/#5 St. Louis

#2 Los Angeles Dodgers (98-64) vs #3 Pittsburgh/#6 Houston

AL Wild Card Series

#3 Boston Red Sox (97-64) vs #6 Chicago White Sox (90-72)

#4 Baltimore Orioles (97-64) vs #5 Texas Rangers (94-68)

AL Division Series

#1 Kansas City Royals (102-60) vs #4 Baltimore/#5 Texas

#2 New York Yankees (100-62) vs #3 Boston/#6 Chicago

Other winning teams: Minnesota Twins (84-77)

1978

NL Wild Card Series

#3 Cincinnati Reds (92-69) vs #6 San Diego Padres (84-78)

#4 San Francisco Giants (89-73) vs #5 Pittsburgh Pirates (88-73)

NL Division Series

#1 Los Angeles Dodgers (95-67) vs #4 San Francisco/#5 Pittsburgh

#2 Philadelphia Phillies (90-72) vs #3 Cincinnati/#6 San Diego

AL Wild Card Series

#3 Boston Red Sox (99-63) vs #6 Texas Rangers (87-75)

#4 Milwaukee Brewers (93-69) vs #5 Baltimore Orioles (90-71)

AL Division Series

#1 New York Yankees (99-63) vs #4 Milwaukee/#5 Baltimore

#2 Kansas City Royals (92-70) vs #3 Boston/#6 Texas

Other winning teams: California Angels (87-75), Detroit Tigers (86-76)

1979

NL Wild Card Series

#3 Montreal Expos (95-65) vs #6 Philadelphia Phillies (84-78)

#4 Houston Astros (89-73) vs #5 St. Louis Cardinals (86-76)

NL Division Series

#1 Pittsburgh Pirates (98-64) vs #4 Houston/#5 St. Louis

#2 Cincinnati Reds (90-71) vs #3 Montreal/#6 Philadelphia

AL Wild Card Series

#3 Milwaukee Brewers (95-66) vs #6 Detroit Tigers (85-76)

#4 Boston Red Sox (91-69) vs #5 New York Yankees (89-71)

AL Division Series

#1 Baltimore Orioles (102-57) vs #4 Boston/#5 New York

#2 California Angels (88-74) vs #3 Milwaukee/#6 Detroit

Other winning teams: Kansas City Royals (85-77), Texas Rangers (83-79), Minnesota Twins (82-80), Cleveland Indians (81-80)

1980

NL Wild Card Series

#3 Houston Astros (92-70) vs #6 Pittsburgh Pirates (83-79)

#4 Montreal Expos (90-72) vs #5 Cincinnati Reds (89-73)

NL Division Series

#1 Los Angeles Dodgers (92-70) vs #4 Montreal/#5 Cincinnati

#2 Philadelphia Phillies (91-71) vs #3 Houston/#6 Pittsburgh

AL Wild Card Series

#3 Baltimore Orioles (100-62) vs #6 Detroit Tigers (84-78)

#4 Milwaukee Brewers (86-76) vs #5 Boston Red Sox (83-77)

AL Division Series

#1 New York Yankees (103-59) vs #4 Milwaukee/#5 Boston

#2 Kansas City Royals (97-65) vs #3 Baltimore/#6 Detroit

Other winning teams: Oakland Athletics (83-79), Atlanta Braves (81-80)

1981

NL Wild Card Series

#3 Los Angeles Dodgers (63-47) vs #6 Philadelphia Phillies (59-48)

#4 Houston Astros (61-49) vs #5 Montreal Expos (60-48)

NL Division Series

#1 Cincinnati Reds (66-42) vs #4 Houston/#5 Montreal

#2 St. Louis Cardinals (59-43) vs #3 Los Angeles/#6 Philadelphia

AL Wild Card Series

#3 Baltimore Orioles (59-46) vs #6 Boston Red Sox (59-49)

#4 New York Yankees (59-48) vs #5 Detroit Tigers (60-49)

AL Division Series

#1 Oakland Athletics (64-45) vs #4 New York/#5 Detroit

#2 Milwaukee Brewers (62-47) vs #3 Baltimore/#6 Boston

Other winning teams: Texas Rangers (57-48), Chicago White Sox (54-52), Cleveland Indians (52-51), San Francisco Giants (56-55)

1982

NL Wild Card Series

#3 Philadelphia Phillies (89-73) vs #6 Montreal Expos (86-76)

#4 Los Angeles Dodgers (88-74) vs #5 San Francisco Giants (87-75)

NL Division Series

#1 St. Louis Cardinals (92-70) vs #4 Los Angeles/#5 San Francisco

#2 Atlanta Braves (89-73) vs #4 Philadelphia/#6 Montreal

AL Wild Card Series

#3 Baltimore Orioles (94-68) vs #6 Chicago White Sox (87-75)

#4 Kansas City Royals (90-72) vs #5 Boston Red Sox (89-73)

AL Division Series

#1 Milwaukee Brewers (95-67) vs #4 Kansas City/#5 Boston

#2 California Angels (93-69) vs #3 Baltimore/#6 Chicago

Other winning teams: Pittsburgh Pirates (84-78), Detroit Tigers (83-79)

1983

NL Wild Card Series

#3 Atlanta Braves (88-74) vs #6 Montreal Expos (82-80)

#4 Houston Astros (85-77) vs #5 Pittsburgh Pirates (84-78)

NL Division Series

#1 Los Angeles Dodgers (91-71) vs #4 Houston/#5 Pittsburgh

#2 Philadelphia Phillies (90-72) vs #3 Atlanta/#6 Montreal

AL Wild Card Series

#3 Detroit Tigers (92-70) vs #6 Milwaukee Brewers (87-75)

#4 New York Yankees (91-71) vs #5 Toronto Blue Jays (89-73)

AL Division Series

#1 Chicago White Sox (99-63) vs #4 New York/#5 Toronto

#2 Baltimore Orioles (98-64) vs #3 Detroit/#6 Milwaukee

1984

NL Wild Card Series

#3 New York Mets (90-72) vs #6 Atlanta Braves (80-82)

#4 St. Louis Cardinals (84-78) vs #5 Philadelphia Phillies (81-81)

NL Division Series

#1 Chicago Cubs (96-65) vs #4 St. Louis/#5 Philadelphia

#2 San Diego Padres (92-70) vs #3 New York/#6 Atlanta

AL Wild Card Series

#3 Toronto Blue Jays (89-73) vs #6 Baltimore Orioles (85-77)

#4 New York Yankees (87-75) vs #5 Boston Red Sox (86-76)

AL Division Series

#1 Detroit Tigers (104-58) vs #4 New York/#5 Boston

#2 Kansas City Royals (84-78) vs #3 Toronto/#6 Baltimore

1985

NL Wild Card Series

#3 New York Mets (98-64) vs #6 Houston Astros (83-79)

#4 Cincinnati Reds (89-72) vs #5 Montreal Expos (84-77)

NL Division Series

#1 St. Louis Cardinals (101-61) vs #4 Cincinnati/#5 Montreal

#2 Los Angeles Dodgers (95-67) vs #3 New York/#6 Houston

AL Wild Card Series

#3 New York Yankees (97-64) vs #6 Detroit Tigers (84-77)

#4 California Angels (90-72) vs #5 Chicago White Sox (85-77)

AL Division Series

#1 Toronto Blue Jays (99-62) vs #4 California/#5 Chicago

#2 Kansas City Royals (91-71) vs #3 New York/#6 Detroit

Other winning teams: Baltimore Orioles (83-78), San Diego Padres (83-79)

1986

NL Wild Card Series

#3 Philadelphia Phillies (86-75) vs #6 St. Louis Cardinals (79-82)

#4 Cincinnati Reds (86-76) vs #5 San Francisco Giants (83-79)

NL Division Series

#1 New York Mets (108-54) vs #4 Cincinnati/#5 San Francisco

#2 Houston Astros (96-66) vs #3 Philadelphia/#6 St. Louis

AL Wild Card Series

#3 New York Yankees (90-72) vs #6 Toronto Blue Jays (86-76)

#4 Detroit Tigers (87-75) vs #5 Texas Rangers (87-75)

AL Division Series

#1 Boston Red Sox (95-66) vs #4 Detroit/#5 Texas

#2 California Angels (92-70) vs #3 New York/#6 Toronto

Other winning teams: Cleveland Indians (84-78)

1987

NL Wild Card Series

#3 New York Mets (92-70) vs #6 Philadelphia Phillies (80-82)

#4 Montreal Expos (91-71) vs #5 Cincinnati Reds (84-78)

NL Division Series

#1 St. Louis Cardinals (95-67) vs #4 Montreal/#5 Cincinnati

#2 San Francisco Giants (90-72) vs #3 New York/#6 Philadelphia

AL Wild Card Series

#3 Toronto Blue Jays (96-66) vs #6 Kansas City Royals (83-79)

#4 Milwaukee Brewers (91-71) vs #5 New York Yankees (89-73)

AL Division Series

#1 Detroit Tigers (98-64) vs #4 Milwaukee/#5 New York

#2 Minnesota Twins (85-77) vs #3 Toronto/#6 Kansas City

1988

NL Wild Card Series

#3 Cincinnati Reds (87-74) vs #6 San Francisco Giants (83-79)

#4 Pittsburgh Pirates (85-75) vs #5 San Diego Padres (83-78)

NL Division Series

#1 New York Mets (100-60) vs #4 Pittsburgh/#5 San Diego

#2 Los Angeles Dodgers (94-67) vs #3 Cincinnati/#6 San Francisco

AL Wild Card Series

#3 Minnesota Twins (91-71) vs #6 Toronto Blue Jays (87-75)

#4 Detroit Tigers (88-74) vs #5 Milwaukee Brewers (87-75)

AL Division Series

#1 Oakland Athletics (104-58) vs #4 Detroit/#5 Milwaukee

#2 Boston Red Sox (89-73) vs #3 Minnesota/#6 Toronto

Other winning teams: New York Yankees (85-76), Kansas City Royals (84-77), Houston Astros (82-80)

1989

NL Wild Card Series

#3 San Diego Padres (89-73) vs #6 St. Louis Cardinals (86-76)

#4 New York Mets (87-75) vs #5 Houston Astros (86-76)

NL Division Series

#1 Chicago Cubs (93-69) vs #4 New York/#5 Houston

#2 San Francisco Giants (92-70) vs #3 San Diego/# St. Louis

AL Wild Card Series

#3 Kansas City Royals (92-70) vs #6 Boston Red Sox (83-79)

#4 California Angels (91-71) vs #5 Baltimore Orioles (87-75)

AL Division Series

#1 Oakland Athletics (99-63) vs #4 California/#5 Baltimore

#2 Toronto Blue Jays (89-73) vs #3 Kansas City/#6 Boston

Other winning teams: Texas Rangers (83-79)

1990

NL Wild Card Series

#3 New York Mets (91-71) vs #6 San Francisco Giants (85-77)

#4 Los Angeles Dodgers (86-76) vs #5 Montreal Expos (85-77)

NL Division Series

#1 Pittsburgh Pirates (95-67) vs #4 Los Angeles/#5 Montreal

#2 Cincinnati Reds (91-71) vs #3 New York/#6 San Francisco

AL Wild Card Series

#3 Chicago White Sox (94-68) vs #6 California Angels (80-82)

#4 Toronto Blue Jays (86-76) vs #5 Texas Rangers (83-79)

AL Division Series

#1 Oakland Athletics (103-59) vs #4 Toronto/#5 Texas

#2 Boston Red Sox (88-74) vs #3 Chicago/#6 California

1991

NL Wild Card Series

#3 Los Angeles Dodgers (93-69) vs #6 Philadelphia Phillies (78-84)

#4 San Diego Padres (84-78) vs #5 St. Louis Cardinals (84-78)

NL Division Series

#1 Pittsburgh Pirates (98-64) vs #4 San Diego/#5 St. Louis

#2 Atlanta Braves (94-68) vs #3 Los Angeles/#6 Philadelphia

AL Wild Card Series

#3 Chicago White Sox (87-75) vs #6 Oakland Athletics (84-78)

#4 Texas Rangers (85-77) vs #5 Boston Red Sox (84-78)

AL Division Series

#1 Minnesota Twins (95-67) vs #4 Texas/#5 Boston

#2 Toronto Blue Jays (91-71) vs #3 Chicago/#6 Oakland

Other winning teams: Detroit Tigers (84-78), Milwaukee Brewers (83-79), Seattle Mariners (83-79), Kansas City Royals (82-80)

1992

NL Wild Card Series

#3 Cincinnati Reds (90-72) vs #6 San Diego Padres (82-80)

#4 Montreal Expos (87-75) vs #5 St. Louis Cardinals (83-79)

NL Division Series

#1 Atlanta Braves (98-64) vs #4 Montreal/#5 St. Louis

#2 Pittsburgh Pirates (96-66) vs #3 Cincinnati/#6 San Diego

AL Wild Card Series

#3 Milwaukee Brewers (92-70) vs #6 Chicago White Sox (86-76)

#4 Minnesota Twins (90-72) vs #5 Baltimore Orioles (89-73)

AL Division Series

#1 Oakland Athletics (96-66) vs #4 Minnesota/#5 Baltimore

#2 Toronto Blue Jays (96-66) vs #3 Milwaukee/#6 Chicago

1993

NL Wild Card Series

#3 San Francisco Giants (103-59) vs #6 Houston Astros (85-77)

#4 Montreal Expos (94-68) vs #5 St. Louis Cardinals (87-75)

NL Division Series

#1 Atlanta Braves (104-58) vs #4 Montreal/#5 St. Louis

#2 Philadelphia Phillies (97-65) vs #3 San Francisco/#6 Houston

AL Wild Card Series

#3 New York Yankees (88-74) vs #6 Baltimore Orioles (85-77)

#4 Texas Rangers (86-76) vs #5 Detroit Tigers (85-77)

AL Division Series

#1 Toronto Blue Jays (95-67) vs #4 Texas/#5 Detroit

#2 Chicago White Sox (94-68) vs #3 New York/#6 Baltimore

Other winning teams: Chicago Cubs (84-78), Kansas City Royals (84-78), Seattle Mariners (82-80)

Now that we've done the year-by-year overview, let's take a look at the breakdown for each team:

National League

Atlanta Braves (8 appearances, 5 division titles): 1969*, 1974, 1982*, 1983, 1984, 1991*, 1992*, 1993*

Chicago Cubs (6 appearances, 2 division titles): 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1984*, 1989*

Cincinnati Reds (18 appearances, 8 division titles): 1969, 1970*, 1972*, 1973*, 1974, 1975*, 1976*, 1977, 1978, 1979*, 1980, 1981*, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1990*, 1992

Colorado Rockies: none

Florida Marlins: none

Houston Astros (13 appearances, 1 division title): 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1985, 1986*, 1989, 1993

Los Angeles Dodgers (17 appearances, 7 division titles): 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974*, 1975, 1976, 1977*, 1978*, 1980*, 1981, 1982, 1983*, 1985*, 1988*, 1990, 1991

Montreal Expos (10 appearances, 0 division titles): 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1990, 1992, 1993

New York Mets (14 appearances, 4 division titles): 1969*, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973*, 1975, 1976, 1984, 1985, 1986*, 1987, 1988*, 1989, 1990

Philadelphia Phillies (14 appearances, 6 division titles): 1975, 1976*, 1977*, 1978*, 1979, 1980*, 1981, 1982, 1983*, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1991, 1993*

Pittsburgh Pirates (16 appearances, 9 division titles): 1969, 1970*, 1971*, 1972*, 1974*, 1975*, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979*, 1980, 1983, 1988, 1990*, 1991*, 1992*

San Diego Padres (6 appearances, 1 division title): 1978, 1984*, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992

San Francisco Giants (12 appearances, 3 division titles): 1969, 1970, 1971*, 1973, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1987*, 1988, 1989*, 1990, 1993

St. Louis Cardinals (16 appearances, 4 division titles): 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1979, 1981*, 1982*, 1984, 1985*, 1986, 1987*, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993

American League

Baltimore Orioles (19 appearances, 7 division titles): 1969*, 1970*, 1971*, 1972, 1973*, 1974*, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979*, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983*, 1984, 1989, 1992, 1993

Boston Red Sox (20 appearances, 4 division titles): 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975*, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1986*, 1988*, 1989, 1990*, 1991

California Angels (7 appearances, 3 division titles): 1970, 1979*, 1982*, 1985, 1986*, 1989, 1990

Chicago White Sox (9 appearances, 2 division titles): 1972, 1977, 1982, 1983*, 1985, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993*

Cleveland Indians (1 appearance, 0 division titles): 1975

Detroit Tigers (14 appearances, 3 division titles): 1969, 1971, 1972*, 1973, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984*, 1985, 1986, 1987*, 1988, 1993

Kansas City Royals (12 appearances, 6 division titles): 1971, 1973, 1975, 1976*, 1977*, 1978*, 1980*, 1982, 1984*, 1985*, 1987, 1989

Milwaukee Brewers (9 appearances, 2 division titles): 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981*, 1982*, 1983, 1987, 1988, 1992

Minnesota Twins (9 appearances, 4 division titles): 1969*, 1970*, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1987*, 1988, 1991*, 1992

New York Yankees (17 appearances, 4 division titles): 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1976*, 1977*, 1978*, 1979, 1980*, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1993

Oakland Athletics (14 appearances, 10 division titles): 1969, 1970, 1971*, 1972*, 1973*, 1974*, 1975*, 1976, 1981*, 1988*, 1989*, 1990*, 1991, 1992*

Seattle Mariners: none

Texas Rangers/Washington Senators (8 appearances, 0 division titles): 1969, 1974, 1977, 1978, 1986, 1990, 1991, 1993

Toronto Blue Jays (11 appearances, 5 division titles): 1983, 1984, 1985*, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989*, 1990, 1991*, 1992*, 1993*

Radical College Football Realignment - A Different Approach

So I've clearly had an obsession with college football realignment scenarios over the years; I've created more proposals than I can count at this point. Today I bring forward a new scenario, one that's based on a new gimmick - universal 13-game regular season schedules.

Before I dive in, let me review my key priorities when creating these scenarios:

• Conferences that are based on historic rivalries and conference affiliations, geography, and program strength.
• Single round-robin conference scheduling, forgoing the need for unbalanced schedules and divisions, protected rivalries, or conference championship games.
• A postseason system that respects the historic role of bowl games while still producing a clear national champion.

The second point seems to create a natural limit to conference size: if schools need to play a single-round robin schedule, then conferences need to realistically be no bigger than 10 schools to allow a 9-game conference schedule in a 12-game season. However, a thought occurs to me: if we've gotten rid of conference championship games, there's no reason we couldn't lift the cap of regular season games to 13. After all, there is plenty of precedent for this (take a look at Hawaii for instance). Hell, the 2002 national champions, Ohio State, played a 13-game regular season (starting with a kickoff classic). A 13-game schedule allows for one extra conference game, thus enabling conferences to expand to 11 schools. This opens up a whole new realm of realignment scenarios.

And one such scenario is exactly what I'm putting forward here. The framework is simple: 12 conferences of 10 or 11 schools, playing 9- or 10-game single round-robin conference schedules within a 13-game regular season schedule. The 12 conferences are divided into two tiers of six each: automatic qualifiers (the "power" conferences) and non-automatic qualifiers (non-"power" conferences). Yes, I'm bringing back the BCS, albeit a modified version. The wrinkle here is that while there will still be five BCS bowls, they will now be followed by a plus-one #1 vs #2 national championship game, based on post-bowl rankings.

So, without further ado, here is the new conference alignment:

Automatic Qualifying Conferences

Big Ten
Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana, Purdue, Illinois, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa

Pac-10
Washington, Washington State, Oregon, Oregon State, California, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Arizona, Arizona State

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it" - that's essentially the approach I took with these two conferences. These are what I consider the "classic" alignments for these conferences. While I could have added another school to either conference, there were no other schools that ended up making sense here in the grand scheme of things; as we'll see below, Penn State notably is integral to another conference. Biggest benefits of these alignments: 1) the Big Ten actually has 10 schools again; 2) the imbalance between the Big Ten East and Big Ten West is eliminated; 3) the California schools are not split between divisions.

SEC
Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, LSU

Moving to an 11-team alignment resolves a long-standing problem for me: where to put South Carolina. South Carolina really does work well in the SEC in my eyes, and their inclusion here does not disrupt the power structure of the conference in a meaningful way. Otherwise this is essentially the "classic" SEC alignment of the '70s and '80s. No rivalries are split by divisions, which is a big plus for a conference chock-full of them.

ACC
Maryland, Virginia, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Duke, Wake Forest, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Florida State, Miami (FL)

The ACC tends to be a challenging conference in these scenarios, and greatly benefits from the 11-team alignment. This is actually the roster the ACC had for exactly one season - 2004 - following the addition of Miami and Virginia Tech but prior to Boston College joining. The ACC is by far the conference most improved by the removal of divisions, with its ridiculous Atlantic/Coastal split. This particular alignment is great because it keeps the Virginia-Virginia Tech and Miami-Florida State rivalries together. Also of note: the return of Maryland.

Big 11
Nebraska, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Arkansas, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech

This to me is where things really start to get interesting. Nebraska, Missouri, and Texas A&M are all restored to their rightful home, rekindling traditional conference rivalries with Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas respectively. Arkansas feels like a natural fit, rejoining three former SWC rivals; their presence here also allows the SEC to stay at 11 without them. Meanwhile, capping this conference at 11 fixes one of the biggest problems with the old Big 12: the imbalance between the North and South divisions.

Big East
Boston College, Connecticut, Syracuse, Rutgers, Temple*, Penn State, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Notre Dame, Army*, Navy*, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, Villanova, Georgetown

What college football realignment scenario is complete without bringing back the Big East? I really like this version. Six of the eight founding football members are here, excluding Miami and Virginia Tech, who I feel do fit better in the ACC. Notre Dame and Penn State take their place as the anchors of the conference, and frankly both are stronger historically, have better rivalries, and are closer geographically (while Notre Dame is obviously in the Midwest, it is culturally a Northeastern school). I like having the trio of UConn, Rutgers and Temple together; even though they are the weakest AQ schools in this alignment, their location in the major New York and Philadelphia media markets provides a lot of value. Army and Navy round out the conference nicely, bringing plenty of tradition in the form of their own rivalry game and their respective rivalries with Notre Dame. Of note: the Backyard Brawl is back as a conference game.

While Notre Dame obviously loses its independent status by joining the Big East, this is probably the best conference scenario you can come up with for them. Four of its biggest rivals would be conference games here: Pitt, Boston College, Army and Navy, while the rest of the games would strengthen the school's Northeast ties. The Irish can also still play three non-conference games in this scenario, potentially against USC, Stanford, and a Big Ten opponent to preserve its other biggest rivalries; Notre Dame can afford to play a strong non-conference schedule, with the weaker conference games against UConn, Rutgers and Temple. (Penn State, for its part, gets Pitt, Syracuse and West Virginia as major conference rivals now.)

The Big East does retain its basketball pedigree in this scenario; Temple, Army and Navy are here for football only, while Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, Villanova and Georgetown are still non-football members. The 13 basketball schools are well-positioned to play an 18-game conference schedule by playing 6 home-and-home matchups and 6 single matchups a year.

Non-Automatic Qualifying Conferences

WAC
BYU, Utah, Wyoming, Air Force, Colorado, Colorado State, New Mexico, UTEP, Baylor, TCU, SMU

Nine of these schools played together simultaneously in the WAC from 1996-99; however, this is a much tighter geography than that version, whose collapse led to the birth of the MWC. The two new schools here, Colorado and Baylor, are both left out of the Big 12 to allow for the Big 11 alignment described above. Colorado actually has geographic rivalries with Colorado State and Utah here, which it lacked in the Big 12, while Baylor stays together with SWC rivals TCU and SMU. Also of note: the Holy War restored as a conference game.

Now, this would be a somewhat controversial alignment, as four schools here currently play in Power Five conferences but would lose that status; Colorado and Baylor might be particularly unhappy, as longstanding major conference programs. On the flip side, this is one hell of a non-power conference. Colorado, BYU, and SMU have all won national championships; Utah and TCU both won BCS bowls; Utah and Baylor both won Power 5 conference championships this season. This conference would almost certainly be "BCS-busting" on a regular basis.

Metro
Cincinnati, Louisville, Memphis, Houston, North Texas, Tulsa, Tulane, Southern Mississippi, UAB, Central Florida, South Florida, Wichita State, VCU

Seven of the eleven football schools currently play in the AAC (along with Wichita State for basketball), though this conference has a much more coherent geography. Louisville was a founding AAC member before leaving for the ACC, while North Texas and UAB are future members. Seven of these programs played in the Missouri Valley Conference when it sponsored football (including Wichita State), while eight played in the non-football Metro (including VCU). All eleven football schools have played in CUSA at some point. The Metro name seems appropriate here, as all but Southern Miss play in major urban areas.

This is another likely "BCS-buster" conference: Cincinnati is in the CFP this year; Memphis, Houston, and UCF have also all played in New Year's Six bowls; Louisville won two BCS bowls.

Basketball-wise, the 13-team conference would use the same scheduling format described above for the Big East.

Big West
Hawaii, San Diego State, Fresno State, San Jose State, UNLV, Nevada, Boise State, Idaho, Utah State, New Mexico State

All of these programs played football in the Big West at one point or another, except Hawaii, who is actually a current non-football member. The Big West joins the Big Ten and Pac-10 as the only 10-team conferences in this alignment. Idaho is restored as an FBS school, giving Boise State an in-state rivalry. Of note: the entire West division of the MWC is represented here. Boise State is clearly the strongest program here, and the most likely BCS-buster.

Sun Belt
UTSA, Texas State, Rice, Arkansas State, Louisiana, Louisiana-Monroe, Louisiana Tech, Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee State, Troy, South Alabama

Atlantic South
Marshall, Liberty, Old Dominion, Appalachian State, Charlotte, East Carolina, Coastal Carolina, Georgia State, Georgia Southern, Florida Atlantic, Florida International

The rest of the current Sun Belt and CUSA schools are divided up geographically between these two conferences, along with Liberty and ECU (joining old rivals App State and Marshall). Several ascendant programs can be found here, including UTSA, Louisiana, App State, and Coastal.

MAC
Akron, Kent State, Ohio, Miami (OH), Bowling Green State, Toledo, Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan, Western Michigan, Ball State, Northern Illinois

The weakest conference, this is essentially the current MAC minus Buffalo, excluded to get the MAC down to 11 schools.

Independents
Buffalo, Massachusetts

These are the only two FBS schools left without a conference home. Both schools would likely  struggle to fill a full 13-game schedule. I anticipate a lot of matchups against MAC, Big East, and FCS schools.

Bowl Games

The bowl games effectively fall into five categories. The first are the BCS bowls. The champions of the six AQ conferences get bids to designated games, while the next four highest ranked schools get at-large bids. As noted above, the rankings are rerun after the bowl games, and the #1 and #2 teams would then play each other in a national championship game played in Los Angeles. Compared to the current playoff system, this makes more bowls and schools relevant for the championship, likely three or four games in a given year. Non-AQ schools who make a BCS bowl would also get a legit shot at getting to the top two and playing for a title if they can beat an AQ champion.

Rose Bowl (Rose Bowl - Pasadena, CA): Pac-10 vs Big Ten
Fiesta Bowl (Cardinals Stadium - Glendale, AZ): Big East vs At-Large
Cotton Bowl Classic (Cowboys Stadium - Arlington, TX): Big 11 vs At-Large
Sugar Bowl (Louisiana Superdome - New Orleans, LA): SEC vs At-Large
Orange Bowl (Dolphin Stadium - Miami Gardens, FL): ACC vs At-Large

National Championship Game (Los Angeles Stadium - Inglewood, CA) - #1 vs #2

For the rest of the bowls, order of preference is based on descending order through the rankings to produce the strongest matchups. Every AQ conference is guaranteed at least two bowl berths against other AQ schools, as follows:

Citrus Bowl (Citrus Bowl - Orlando, FL) - SEC vs Big Ten
Hall of Fame Bowl (Tampa Community Stadium - Tampa, FL) - SEC vs Big Ten
Peach Bowl (New Atlanta Stadium - Atlanta, GA) - SEC vs ACC
Gator Bowl (Jacksonville Municipal Stadium - Jacksonville, FL) - Big East vs ACC
Tangerine Bowl (Citrus Bowl - Orlando, FL) - Big East vs AQ At-Large
Alamo Bowl (Alamodome - San Antonio, TX) - Big 11 vs Pac-10
Las Vegas Bowl (Las Vegas Stadium - Paradise, NV) - Pac-10 vs Big 11

Each non-AQ conference is also guaranteed at least one berth against an AQ school, with designated matchups as follows:

Holiday Bowl (Aztec Stadium* - San Diego, CA) - Big West vs Pac-10
Sun Bowl (Sun Bowl - El Paso, TX) - WAC vs Big 11
Music City Bowl (The Coliseum - Nashville, TN) - Sun Belt vs SEC
Bluebonnet Bowl (Texans Stadium - Houston, TX) - Metro vs Big East
Motor City Bowl (Lions Stadium - Detroit, MI) - MAC vs Big Ten
Queen City Bowl (Panthers Stadium - Charlotte, NC) - ASC vs ACC

Non-AQ schools also have designated bowl berths against other non-AQ schools. Note that the Aloha Bowl gives preference to Hawaii as its Big West representative:

Heart of Dallas Bowl (Cotton Bowl - Dallas, TX) - Metro vs WAC

Liberty Bowl (Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium - Memphis, TN) - Metro vs Sun Belt/ASC/MAC/Ind.
Copper Bowl (Arizona Stadium - Tucson, AZ) - Big West vs WAC
Aloha Bowl (Aloha Stadium* - Honolulu, HI) - Big West vs MAC
Independence Bowl (Independence Stadium - Shreveport, LA) - Sun Belt vs ASC

Lastly, both the WAC and Metro get bowl berths against at-large opponents, AQ or non-AQ:

All-American Bowl (New Birmingham Stadium - Birmingham, AL) - Metro vs At-Large

New Mexico Bowl (University Stadium - Albuquerque, NM) - WAC vs At-Large

The bowl games are mostly based on the most prestigious and longest-running games and sites, and are mainly based at NFL and non-campus stadiums across the Sun Belt (south of the 36th parallel). Bowl sites in northern cities, non-football facilities, and on-campus stadiums, as well as duplicate bowls in the same city, are mostly eliminated, with a few notable exceptions.

Overall, the number of bowl games is significantly cut down, with only 25 bowls and 50 bids. Eligibility is tightened by requiring seven wins against FBS schools. If a conference cannot fulfill its designated tie-ins, those bids can be replaced by at-large schools. Reaching a bowl game would be a more significant accomplishment than it is today; only about a third of schools would make a bowl game, compared to two-thirds now. Again, the goal here is to make the postseason feel a bit more meaningful and return to its original role as a showcase of the nation's best programs.

Notes: Bowls and stadiums are referred to by their non-sponsored names. Aztec Stadium and Aloha Stadium are currently under construction.

A Different College Football Alternate History: The Magnolia Conference

It's summer, which means it's time for me to put forward yet another college football realignment proposal. This time we'll be exploring a scenario in which a Magnolia Conference came together in the 1960s. The overall framework is straightforward: every conference has between 8-11 schools and currently plays a round-robin conference schedule (with one exception). There are no conference championship games. Each conference has a designated tie-in to a bowl game for its champion. After the bowl games, the top two teams (as determined by adding the points in the AP and Coaches polls) play each other in a national championship game.

Here's a breakdown of each conference, including a rationale for their composition, an analysis of the conference, and an explanation of their bowl tie-in. (Note: an * means the school joins for football-only, while italics indicate basketball-only)

Magnolia Conference

Duke, Georgia Tech, Miami (FL), Rice, SMU, Tulane, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest

The original proposal for the Magnolia Conference consisted of the seven schools listed above that were in the SWC, SEC or ACC at the time. These schools were all more academically-inclined than some of their conference rivals, and felt that they were beginning to fall behind from a competitive standpoint. All but Georgia Tech was a private school. Although both Tulane and Georgia Tech did leave the SEC in the 1960s, this conference never came together. Had it done so, I suspect that Miami would have become the 8th member. It was an independent that would not otherwise have a natural home in this scenario. Like most of the other schools here, it's a private Southern school with a strong academic profile that's located in a major city. Miami had not yet become "The U", so joining a conference with this alignment would not have been viewed as a step-down in profile the way it would be today. 

From a competitive standpoint, Miami and Georgia Tech likely would have emerged as the two dominant programs in the conference. However, I suspect the other schools would have done reasonably well now that they are no longer in the shadows of the blue-bloods in their former conference. Stronger academic standards would also help keep the conference competitive. It's also quite likely that SMU doesn't pursue its slush fund scheme in this conference as opposed to in the SWC, preventing them from being subjected to the Death Penalty come the 1980s.

The Magnolia Conference champion would have gone to the Peach Bowl, given Georgia Tech being the Atlanta school. The Peach Bowl was first held in 1968, just a few years after the Magnolia Conference was proposed, so this timeline fits well.

Three conferences are directly affected by the creation of the Magnolia Conference:

Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC)

Clemson, Maryland, NC State, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Virginia Tech, West Virginia

Losing both Duke and Wake Forest would have left the ACC with just six schools. There are two logical additions to bring the conference back to eight: West Virginia and Virginia Tech. Both were still members of the Southern Conference into the 1960s, the same conference the ACC was borne out of. West Virginia was an original finalist for being the eighth school, beaten out by Virginia. Virginia Tech joined the ACC decades later. Having just two North Carolina schools makes this a much more geographically balanced conference, which likely means that South Carolina doesn't leave the conference in the 1970s as they did in OTL.

On the field, this conference would not be as competitive in football as it is IRL. Although Duke and Wake Forest have not been major factors, the inability to add Georgia Tech - and by extension Florida State - leaves the conference without two of its major powers. It also means that the conference is in no position to expand further as they did in the 2000s and 2010s. Clemson and Virginia Tech would likely be left as the two marquee programs.

The ACC champion would be guaranteed a berth to the Citrus Bowl, which was the conference's tie-in from 1987-1991

Southeastern Conference (SEC)

Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Tennessee

The SEC loses one additional school than it did IRL in the 1960s in the form of Vanderbilt. This opens the door for Florida State to replace them as the tenth school; FSU annually pursued admission during this time.

It seems unlikely that Florida State would have emerged as quite as big of a powerhouse as they actually did playing in this stacked conference. Also, Kentucky, Ole Miss and Mississippi State are hurt by the departure of Vanderbilt and lack of future expansion, with those three schools likely revolving at the bottom of the conference most years.

The SEC retains its traditional tie-in to the Sugar Bowl.

Southwest Conference (SWC)

Arkansas, Baylor, Houston, North Texas, TCU, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Tulsa

Ironically, it's likely that losing SMU and Rice would have greatly benefitted the SWC in the long run. At the time the conference would have been left with six schools. Houston would have joined as the seventh school just as they actually did, perhaps on a more accelerated timeline to replace Rice as the Houston school in the conference. The departure of SMU may well have opened the door to North Texas gaining entrance in the 1970s, which they sought aggressively IRL but were apparently blocked by SMU from doing so. An eight-team conference with just two private schools may have been more amenable to adding another private school - which in this scenario wouldn't have upset the public-private balance - in the form of Tulsa come the late 1980s after MVC football collapses. Tulsa allows the conference to reenter Oklahoma while also providing Arkansas with a closer conference road game. This, combined with the absence of the SMU scandal, may have been enough to keep Arkansas in the conference and prevent the collapse of the SWC in the 1990s.

From a competitive standpoint, the power structure of the conference is not dramatically changed. The three major programs - Arkansas, Texas and Texas A&M - are still here. Arkansas probably fares better staying here than they did after joining the SEC. Texas Tech, Baylor and TCU would have been a solid mid-tier, while Houston, North Texas and Tulsa likely bring up the rear most years.

The SWC retains its traditional tie-in to the Cotton Bowl.

One other major conference would have been indirectly affected by the presence of the Magnolia Conference:

Big East Conference

Army*, Boston College, Georgetown, Navy*, Notre Dame, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Providence, Rutgers, Seton Hall, St. John’s, Syracuse, Temple*, UConn, Villanova

I've made a couple of presumptions about the trajectory of the Big East here. One is that Penn State is added in the 1980s, then joins for football once the conference starts sponsoring in the 1990s. Another is that the absence of Miami, Virginia Tech and West Virginia opens the door for the trio of Army, Navy (both for football-only) and Notre Dame instead, probably the only scenario in which those three schools join a conference together. Notre Dame finds itself in a conference with four major rivals (Army, Navy, Boston College and Pittsburgh) plus a number of other games on the East Coast and the ability to still schedule against USC, Stanford and/or a Big Ten team in non-conference play. This alignment is more cohesive and stable than the one in OTL, and combined with the lower stature of the ACC is more than enough to ensure the survival of the Big East to the present day.

Penn State and Notre Dame would be the clear favorites to win this conference most years. Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Boston College form a solid second tier. Army and Navy bring tradition, although how successful they'd be on the field is a question mark. Temple, Rutgers and UConn bring up the rear.

The Fiesta Bowl is the Big East tie-in here. The Fiesta Bowl invited a number of Eastern schools to play in the game from the late 1970s through the early 1990s, including Penn State, Pitt, Notre Dame and Syracuse.

Three conferences would not be directly affected by the Magnolia Conference at the time, although their trajectories would be affected by this alignment as a whole:

Big Eight Conference

Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State

Big Ten Conference

Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin

Pacific-10 Conference

Arizona, Arizona State, California, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Washington, Washington State

The continued presence of the SWC keeps the Big Eight from morphing into the Big 12. The Big Ten does not add Penn State in the 1990s, nor does it expand to 14 teams in the 2010s. The Pac-10 still gains Arizona and Arizona State in the 1970s, but expands no further.

The traditional power structures of each of these conferences remains intact. It would be particularly interesting to see what Nebraska's standing would be today had the Big Eight stayed together.

These conferences retain their traditional affiliation with the Orange Bowl (Big Eight) and Rose Bowl (Big Ten and Pac-10).

The rest of this alignment falls into place as follows:

Western Athletic Conference (WAC)

Air Force, BYU, Colorado State, New Mexico, New Mexico State, Utah, Utah State, UTEP, Wyoming

Big West Conference

Boise State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, San Diego State, San Jose State, UNLV

I've added another POD here, with a tighter geographic focus for each of these conferences. Utah State and New Mexico State join the WAC, and San Diego State stays in the Big West while Hawaii joins. Meanwhile, the SWC not collapsing prevents the WAC from overexpanding in the 1990s and keeps the conference alive though today. The Big West staying alive keeps Idaho from dropping down to FCS. 

Both conferences would have strong programs at the top, namely BYU and Utah in the WAC and Boise State in the Big West. 

The WAC would send its conference champion to the Sun Bowl, one of the oldest bowl games. The Big West, with San Diego State still here, would be able to play in the Holiday Bowl against the MAC.

Metro Conference

Charlotte, Cincinnati, Louisville, Memphis, Southern Miss, UAB, UCF, USF, VCU

The absence of schools like Georgia Tech, Florida State, Virginia Tech and South Carolina likely leads to a very different history for the Metro Conference. I expect that the conference stays together and eventually starts sponsoring football as the de facto replacement for Conference USA. Unlike CUSA, though, the Metro has a tighter geographic footprint and a more cohesive conference overall. Not being raided by the Big East (twice) helps immensely.

The four oldest programs here (Cincinnati, Louisville, Memphis and Southern Miss) all have respectable football histories and would certainly be competitive in this alignment. UCF and USF should also be able to have success. Charlotte and UAB are by far the weakest programs, and are here mostly for basketball (although both fit the conference's profile well as public schools in large Southern cities).

The Metro champion goes to the Liberty Bowl, just as the CUSA champ did for many years.

Mid-American Conference (MAC)

Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Miami (OH), Northern Illinois, Ohio, Toledo, Western Michigan 

The MAC is little changed from its actual iteration, only dropping Buffalo so as to keep the conference contiguous and not require divisions and a conference title game. Still, with eleven schools this is the one conference unable to play a round-robin schedule. Each school instead has two protected rivals and rotates playing six of the other eight schools per year.

The MAC is clearly one of the weakest conferences here. None of these schools really qualify as consistent major powers.

The MAC would send its champion to the Holiday Bowl against the Big West, effectively creating a knock-off version of the Rose Bowl.

Atlantic South Conference (ASC)

Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina, East Carolina, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Liberty, Marshall, Old Dominion

Sun Belt Conference (SBC)

Arkansas State, Louisiana, Louisiana-Monroe, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee, South Alabama, Texas State, Troy, UTSA, Western Kentucky

I'm not quite sure what the timeline is that leads to these two conference alignments, but frankly I don't care. The division here is purely based on geography. I do like the idea of reuniting former Southern Conference schools App State, East Carolina and Marshall in the same conference, along with a number of former Southland Conference schools in the other.

App State, Coastal Carolina and Liberty have all had success recently, as has Louisiana for the other conference. Still, these conferences are not particularly strong overall.

These conferences would have their champions play each other in the Independence Bowl. It seems especially fitting for the Sun Belt to play here, given that it was originally started to give the Southland Conference (here a de facto successor) a bowl berth.

Independents

Buffalo, UMass

These two Northeastern schools are the only two left out of this conference alignment, primarily because of not wanting to expand the MAC past 11 schools.

Scheduling for the Alternate History Scenario

Here's a look at what current scheduling would look like for the alternate history scenario previously laid out:

Regular Season

Five conferences (ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Pac-10, and SEC) have ten schools and are able to play a nine-game single-round robin conference schedule. All five conferences play three non-conference games.

The American South Conference, with only nine schools, plays an eight-game single-round robin conference schedule. Each school plays four non-conference games.

The Big 12 and Sun Belt conferences each have two six-team divisions. Schools play the other five schools within their division each year; the six schools from the other division rotate to fill the four remaining conference games. Both conferences play three non-conference games.

The MAC, SWC and WAC each have two seven-team divisions. Each team plays the other six schools in its division each year; the seven teams from the other division are rotated to fill the three remaining conference games. All three conferences play three non-conference games.

Prominent Non-Conference Games

The following non-conference games are played annually prior to rivalry week: Florida - Miami (FL), Florida State - Miami (FL), Iowa - Iowa State, Notre Dame - Navy, Army - Air Force, Navy - Air Force, Brigham Young - Utah State, Utah - Utah State, New Mexico - New Mexico State, New Mexico State - Texas-El Paso

Rivalry Week

The weekend following Thanksgiving serves as rivalry week, the final week of the regular season. The current schedule is as follows for each conference:

Big East: Boston College - Syracuse, Connecticut - Rutgers, Pittsburgh - Penn State, Notre Dame - Miami*

ACC: North Carolina - Duke, North Carolina State - Wake Forest, Clemson - South Carolina

SEC: Alabama - Auburn, Mississippi - Mississippi State, Tennessee - Vanderbilt

Big 12: Texas - Texas A&M, Oklahoma - Oklahoma State, Colorado - Nebraska, Kansas - Kansas State, Missouri - Iowa State, Arkansas - Texas Tech

Big Ten: Michigan - Ohio State, Minnesota - Wisconsin, Purdue - Indiana, Illinois - Northwestern, Michigan State - Iowa

Pac-10: Washington - Washington State, Oregon - Oregon State, California - Stanford, California-Los Angeles - Southern California*, Arizona - Arizona State

SWC: Baylor - Texas Christian, Central Florida - South Florida, Southern Methodist - Rice, Houston - Tulsa, Cincinnati - Memphis, 

WAC: Brigham Young - Utah, New Mexico - Texas-El Paso, Nevada - Nevada-Las Vegas, Air Force - Colorado State, Fresno State - San Jose State, Boise State - San Diego State

Sun Belt: Florida Atlantic - Florida International, East Carolina - Marshall, Charlotte - Old Dominion, Middle Tennessee - Western Kentucky, Arkansas State - North Texas

ASC: Appalachian State - Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern - Georgia State, Texas-San Antonio - Texas State

MAC: Ball State - Northern Illinois, Central Michigan - Eastern Michigan - Western Michigan***, Miami (OH) - Ohio, Akron - Kent State, Bowling Green - Toledo, Temple - Massachusetts

Independents: Army - Navy

Non-Conference: Maryland - West Virginia, Virginia - Virginia Tech, Georgia - Georgia Tech, Florida - Florida State, Kentucky - Louisville, Louisiana State - Tulane, Notre Dame - Southern California**, Wyoming - Utah State, Hawaii - New Mexico State, Alabama-Birmingham - Troy, Southern Mississippi - Louisiana Tech, Louisiana-Monroe - Louisiana-Lafayette, South Alabama - Liberty

*Odd-numbered years only; played before rivalry week in even-numbered years
**Even-numbered years only; played before rivalry week in odd-numbered years

***Two of these three teams play each other on a rotating basis; the third plays Buffalo in a cross-divisional game.

Conference Championships

The weekend after rivalry week serves as conference championship weekend, with the following games being held:

Big 12 Championship (Arlington, TX): Big 12 North #1 vs Big 12 South #1

WAC Championship (Las Vegas, NV): WAC East #1 vs WAC West #1

SWC Championship (New Orleans, LA): SWC East #1 vs SWC West #1

MAC Championship (Detroit, MI): MAC East #1 vs MAC West #1

Sun Belt Championship (Nashville, TN): Sun Belt East #1 vs Sun Belt West #1

December Bowl Games

The following non-major bowls are held between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, excluding Christmas Day and Sundays:

Hall of Fame Bowl (Tampa, FL): SEC #2 vs Big Ten #2

Alamo Bowl (San Antonio, TX): Pac-10 #2 vs Big 12 #2

Gator Bowl (Jacksonville, FL): ACC #2 vs Big East #2

Las Vegas Bowl (Las Vegas, NV): WAC #2 vs SWC #2

Bluebonnet Bowl (Houston, TX): SWC #3 vs Big 12 #3

Peach Bowl (Atlanta, GA): SEC #3 vs ACC #3

Sun Bowl (El Paso, TX): WAC #3 vs Pac-10 #3

Music City Bowl (Nashville, TN): Big Ten #3 vs Big East #3

Liberty Bowl (Memphis, TN): SWC #4 vs SEC #4

Aloha Bowl (Honolulu, HI): WAC #4 vs Big Ten #4

Tangerine Bowl (Orlando, FL): ACC #4 vs Big East #4

Copper Bowl (Tucson, AZ): Pac-10 #4 vs Big 12 #4

Independence Bowl (Shreveport, LA): Sun Belt #1 vs At-Large

All-American Bowl (Birmingham, AL): American South #1 vs At-Large

Motor City Bowl (Detroit, MI): MAC #1 vs At-Large

Note: Schools must have seven wins in order to be bowl-eligible. If a conference does not have enough bowl-eligible schools to fulfill its bid to a bowl game, that bid can be given to a bowl-eligible school from another conference.

Bowl Coalition Games

The following major bowl games are held on New Year's Day. If New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, then they are held on January 2nd:

Rose Bowl: Pac-10 #1 vs Big Ten #1

Holiday Bowl: WAC #1 vs At-Large

Fiesta Bowl: Big East #1 vs At-Large

Cotton Bowl: SWC #1 vs At-Large

Sugar Bowl: SEC #1 vs At-Large

Citrus Bowl: ACC #1 vs At-Large

Orange Bowl: Big 12 #1 vs At-Large

The six at-large bids are awarded to the six next highest ranked teams in the Bowl Poll, a simple adding of the points for each team in the AP and Coaches polls.

National Championship Game

After the bowl games, the Bowl Poll is recalculated based on the final AP and Coaches poll rankings. The top two teams then advance to the national championship game, to be held the first Saturday one full week after New Year's Day.

A College Football Alignment Alternate History Scenario

FBS Conference Alignment c. 2013 (click to enlarge)

Here's a timeline I've developed for an alternate history of college football realignment. This scenario begins with the conference alignment as it actually was in 1990, and proceeds as follows:

1991 - The Big East Conference begins sponsoring football, with ten schools playing in the inaugural season: Boston College, Miami (FL), Notre Dame, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, Temple, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia. All of these schools had previously played as independents.

1992 - Florida State drops its long-time independent status and joins the ACC. Additionally, South Carolina re-joins the ACC, bringing the conference to ten members. Another independent, Akron, joins the MAC as its 10th member. The Big West also experiences some changes, as Long Beach State drops football and Fresno State leaves for the WAC. However, the conference does add Division 1-A newcomer Nevada. Arkansas State also joins Division 1-A, as an independent.

In addition to this conference realignment, college football's postseason is also reformed. A Bowl Coalition is established, consisting of seven bowl games guaranteeing bids to the champions of the eight major conferences, as follows: Rose - Big Ten and Pac-10, Sugar - SEC, Orange - Big Eight, Cotton - SWC, Fiesta - Big East, Citrus - ACC, and Holiday - WAC. The remaining six at-large bids are awarded to the six next highest ranked teams in the "Bowl Poll", a simple adding of the points for each team in the AP and Coaches polls. Following the bowl games, the Bowl Poll is calculated again, with the two highest ranked teams playing each other in a national championship game.

1993 - More changes in the Big West, as Cal State Fullerton drops its football program, and Arkansas State, Louisiana Tech, Northern Illinois, and Southwest Louisiana - all previously independents - join the conference.

1994 - Northeast Louisiana joins Division 1-A as an independent.

1995 - North Texas joins Division 1-A as an independent.

1996 - Significant changes alter the landscape of college football forever. The Big Eight expands to become the Big 12, pulling Arkansas, Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech from the Southwest Conference. The Big 12 becomes the first conference to establish a conference championship game, splitting into North and South Divisions. The SWC survives by adding five independents (Cincinnati, Louisville, Memphis State, Tulane and Tulsa) to the five remaining Texas schools. Elsewhere, the WAC also expands to 12 schools, splits into divisions, and creates a conference championship game, adding San Jose State and UNLV from the Big West. The Big West - which also sees Pacific drop its football program and Arkansas State, Louisiana Tech, Northern Illinois and Southwest Louisiana all return to independent status - staves off extinction by adding independent North Texas as well as Division 1-A newcomers Boise State and Idaho. Lastly, UAB and Central Florida join Division 1-A as independents.

1997 - The MAC becomes the latest conference to expand to 12 schools, split into divisions, and establish a conference championship game, welcoming independent Northern Illinois and Division 1-A newcomer Marshall.

1999 - The Southwest Conference expands to 12 schools by adding independents UAB and Southern Miss. This allows the conference to split into divisions and establish a conference championship game. Elsewhere, Arkansas State rejoins the Big West as its seventh member. The MAC expands to 13 schools, adding Division 1-A newcomer Buffalo. Middle Tennessee State joins Division 1-A as an independent.

2000 - Connecticut and South Florida join Division 1-A as independents. Nevada leaves the Big West to become the WAC's 13th member.

2001 - The Big West finally drops football, leaving Idaho, New Mexico State and Utah State to play as independents. Boise State joins the WAC as its 14th member. Meanwhile, the Sun Belt Conference begins sponsoring football, with former Big West members Arkansas State and North Texas joining six schools that had been playing in Division 1-A as independents: East Carolina, Louisiana Tech, Louisiana-Lafayette, Middle Tennessee State, Central Florida and South Florida. Lastly, Troy joins Division 1-A as an independent.

2004 - Connecticut joins the Big East for football, becoming the 11th program. Florida Atlantic and Florida International join Division 1-A as independents.

2005 - Temple is expelled from the Big East and becomes an independent; the Big East returns to having just ten schools. The Southwest Conference expands to 14 schools by adding Central Florida and South Florida from the Sun Belt. The Sun Belt responds by adding independents Florida Atlantic and Florida International, as well as Marshall from the MAC.

2007 - The MAC gets back to 13 schools, welcoming independent Temple.

2008 - Western Kentucky joins FBS as an independent.

2009 - Western Kentucky becomes the 10th member of the Sun Belt Conference.

2012 - Four new schools join FBS. Three of them become independents - South Alabama, Texas State and UTSA. The fourth, UMass, joins the MAC as its 14th school.

2013 - Georgia State and Old Dominion join FBS as independents.

2014 - The arrival of Appalachian State and Georgia Southern to FBS leads the American South Conference to begin sponsoring football. They are joined by six schools that had been playing as independents: Georgia State, Louisiana-Monroe, South Alabama, Texas State, Troy, and UTSA. Meanwhile, Old Dominion joins the Sun Belt as its 11th member.

2015 - FBS newcomer Charlotte becomes the 12th Sun Belt member. The conference splits into divisions and creates a conference championship game.

2017 - Coastal Carolina joins the American South as an FBS newcomer, bringing the conference to nine schools.

2018 - Independent Idaho drops down to FCS. Liberty joins FBS as an independent.

2020 - The current FBS conference alignment is as follows:

American South Conference
Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Louisiana-Monroe, South Alabama, Texas-San Antonio, Texas State, Troy

Atlantic Coast Conference
Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, South Carolina, Virginia, Wake Forest

Big 12 Conference
South Division: Arkansas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech

North Division: Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska

Big East Conference

Boston College, Connecticut, Miami (FL), Notre Dame, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, Virginia Tech, West Virginia (plus Georgetown, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John's, Villanova as non-football members)

Big Ten Conference
Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin

Independents
Army, Liberty, Navy, New Mexico State, Utah State

Mid-American Conference
East Division: Akron, Buffalo, Kent State, Massachusetts, Miami (OH), Ohio, Temple
West Division: Ball State, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois, Toledo, Western Michigan

Pacific-10 Conference
Arizona, Arizona State, California, California-Los Angeles, Oregon, Oregon State, Southern California, Stanford, Washington, Washington State

Southeastern Conference
Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana State, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Tennessee, Vanderbilt

Southwest Conference
West Division: Baylor, Houston, Rice, Southern Methodist, Texas Christian,  Tulane, Tulsa
East Division: Alabama-Birmingham, Central Florida, Cincinnati, Louisville, Memphis, South Florida, Southern Mississippi

Sun Belt Conference
East Division: Charlotte, East Carolina, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Marshall, Old Dominion
West Division: Arkansas State, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee State, North Texas, Western Kentucky

Western Athletic Conference
East Division: Air Force, Brigham Young, Colorado State, New Mexico, Texas-El Paso, Utah, Wyoming
West Division: Boise State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Nevada, Nevada-Las Vegas, San Diego State, San Jose State