Structural Change in MLB Competitive Balance: The Depression, Team Location, and Integration

Abstract

No detectable break points in within-season competitive balance (1901–99) occur after 1937 in the National League or after 1962 in the American League, despite expansion, free agency, and the growth of local TV revenue disparity since then. Instead, a continual improvement in competitive balance has occurred since those years. Associated with break points prior to these years, (1) the AL emerged from the depression much more unbalanced than the NL, (2) team movement and league expansion alter balance in well-known ways, and (3) discriminatory preferences were stronger in larger-revenue markets than in smaller-revenue markets in both leagues.