What is the historic reason that New York, Chicago, LA, and SF/Oakland had one AL team and one NL team?
I am having trouble finding a thorough explanation and solid justification for why it was seen as so important, and why it remains important to split them up.
I do understand that at some point it probably seemed to make sense, because you could attract a different market of fans and visiting fans and kind of build your own brand without directly competing with a team a few miles away.
But does all of that matter now?
Wouldn't it be awesome to have these regular season cross-town rivalries? Why does that have to wait for the odd interleague matchup or the tiny chance at meeting in a world series?
Or are the White Sox, Mets, and Angels owners too chicken s***?