Buster Olney thinks MLB has a problem:
So the problem with what the Astros have done really isn’t about the Astros. The problem is the system, which can reward calculated failure, and this should be a serious concern for Major League Baseball.
Thanks in part to the young miss and the US coverage of the English Premier League I’m thinking the British and the other football leagues of the world have a better system. Relegation.
Unfortunately, it would be a non-starter, given the money, tradition, and structure behind the American major leagues. On the other hand, it seems a fitting consequence for this year’s Marlins to be playing next year in Allentown and the Astros to be rubbing shoulders in Round Rock, Texas.
Catholic Sensibility 
Aside from financial considerations, a relegation/promotion scheme for professional baseball is impossible in that unlike lower division football clubs, minor league baseball teams are affiliated, either through contract or ownership, with a major league club. This also means that the primary focus of the minor leagues is on player development rather than competition.
I’ve followed the EPL for 15 seasons and in that time, ManU[re] have won the league seven times, Chelsea three times, Arsenal twice, and Manchester City once. Each of these clubs is among the richest sports franchises in the world. In any given year, at least 50% of the EPL clubs haven’t got a snowball’s chance in hell of sniffing the top 4 let alone winning the league. For example, in the last EPL season, the 10th place club finished 27 points adrift from 4th place and 43 points from 1st. Interestingly, only 21 points separated the 10th and last place finishers. By contrast, it is hardly inconceivable that the Astros or Marlins could win the World Series within the next five years. The former were in the World Series as recently as 2005 and the Marlins already won it in 1997 and 2003. Which is the healthier league from a competitive standpoint? Which would you rather be, an Astros fan or Norwich fan?