COMMENTARY : A Way to Get Out of Seventh

Major league baseball officials, planning their future this year in the lull between seasons, have a chance to strengthen their game with a break with tradition.

Some of them even mentioned such a break during the World Series. The suggestion: Three divisions, rather than two, in each league.

They could reorganize as soon as next season, when the Colorado Rockies and Florida Marlins join the National League, making it a 14-team league, same as the American.

The plan at the moment is for the National to split into two seven-team divisions, same as the American, next April.

But in the crowded sports environment, seven-team divisions are too large and unwieldy.

In any such league, there will always be six losers and one winner in each division. That’s a dozen losers--too many.

To plan that kind of league, deliberately, is to make an obvious error in an era when:

--Reduced TV income for baseball seems just ahead.

--Basketball, football and other sports continue to grow, sometimes at baseball’s expense.

Shouldn’t baseball have, as a central objective in any restructuring, more baseball interest nationwide?

If so, one way to get it is with three-division leagues replacing the game’s cumbersome, loser-heavy Easts and Wests.

A three-division realignment would guarantee, for each league, three championship races annually, instead of two; three winners, instead of two; three runners-up, instead of two; and nobody in seventh place.

It would also guarantee more postseason interest.

With a nucleus of six division champions instead of four, the playoffs could be rearranged in any one of several attractive ways.

If baseball had a three-division alignment in each league, what would be lost?

--Some old rivalries perhaps?

Yes, but. . . . In all sports--baseball among them--new rivalries tend to rise easily and spontaneously, particularly in old, established major league cities such as Chicago, where Bear fans, for example, have learned to love to hate Minnesota.

--Some TV commitments?

Yes, but. . . . When they really think it over, most TV executives, along with most baseball fans, would doubtless prefer six races a year in the big leagues to four, leading to more competition, more excitement and more revenue.

--Some scheduling preferences?

Yes, but. . . . Scheduling problems of any kind are surely a second consideration to more pennant races and the prospect of closer pennant races, promoting more national interest and creating more revenue.

--Numerically uneven divisions?

Yes, but. . . :

--In the first place, uneven divisions would give the columnists and talk shows something to talk about, meaning they would be talking about baseball. Thus, a plus for baseball.

--Second, uneven divisions are basically irrelevant. In the NFL, which has them, expansion is sometimes discussed, but never urgently.

For baseball, realignment ought to be a question of priorities.

And the first priority seems abundantly clear: ridding baseball of all those losers in seven-team divisions.

How Baseball Could Realign

Of the many ways in which major league baseball could be realigned, one is geographical:

NATIONAL LEAGUE

IF GIANTS MOVE TO FLORIDA

* EAST: Atlanta Braves, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, St. Petersburg Giants, Florida Marlins.

* MIDWEST: Pittsburgh Pirates, Montreal Expos, Cincinnati Reds, St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs.

* WEST: San Diego Padres, Houston Astros, Dodgers, Colorado Rockies.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

IF GIANTS STAY IN CALIFORNIA

* EAST: Atlanta Braves, Montreal Expos, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Florida Marlins.

* MIDWEST: Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds, St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs.

* WEST: San Diego Padres, Houston Astros, San Francisco Giants, Dodgers, Colorado Rockies.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

* ATLANTIC: Toronto Blue Jays, Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers, Boston Red Sox.

* CENTRAL: Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, Chicago White Sox, Kansas City Royals, Cleveland Indians.

* PACIFIC: Oakland Athletics, Texas Rangers, Angels, Seattle Mariners.