I have no idea how many of the fans sitting in Dodger Stadium last night for the Dodgers 7-0 drubbing of the Reds were watching back in the 70’s, but I’m pretty sure commissioner Manfred has no idea the two teams were division rivals for a couple decades.

In his efforts to further screw with the game, the Magician wants to have hyper reginal micro divisions in order to save the poor players from having to fly charter planes. Even as a young Cub fan growing up in the 70’s I appreciated the battles between the NL West Dodgers and Reds. That I didn’t care for either team, didn’t diminish the rivalry in the least. Both teams had public irritants in Pete Rose and Steve Garvey and typically fought for the most players on the NL All-Star teams.

Coincidentally both the Reds (72) and Dodgers (74) lost to the Athletics in the World Series, but a generation later, it was the Dodgers (88) and Cincinnati (90) who upset Oakland in the World Series. Again, I’m not sure how many current L.A fans and Cincy fans harken back to either of those days, but I wouldn’t care to see the two teams play fewer games in the coming years.

Likewise, the Mets, Cubs and Cards all were in the NL East and despite the fact only the ’73 Mets played in a WS, getting to see Bob Gibson, Fergie Jenkins, and Steve Carlton square off was a highlight of my youth. As much as I don’t care for the Mets, I still enjoy seeing them face the Cubs every season and at the expense of Cub-Sox.