From 1961 (AL) and 1962 (NL) through 1968 there were ten teams and no divisions. Obviously, most teams weren't seriously in the running most of the season. Even when there were eight teams per league and 154 games, roughly half of the teams were rarely in the running each year. The old St. Louis Browns, Washington Senators, and Philadelphia A's rarely gave the Yankees any competition. When the A's moved to KC, there were real potential conflict-of-interest situations between them and the Yankees that wouldn't be allowed these days. The KC A's made so many favorable trades with the Yankees in the 1950's that they were being called a farm team of the Yankees.

Now with 30 clubs there's no way to avoid a playoff system. I would, however, prefer a more balanced schedule, as the divisions vary too much in strength.

I hope dynasties are dead in baseball. The NFL moved ahead of baseball partly because they understood earlier the value of parity and of spreading the enjoyment around different parts of the country, as well as of playoff systems.