MBL-MTAL merger

 With Mission Trail Athletic League administrators voting last week to merge with the Monterey Bay League, it appears we are headed for one league next season for all sports.
 What this means is there will be at least a three division tier, not likely to be altered until the 2018-2019 season, meaning teams in the MTAL will remain in place next season.
 The idea is to create more of a competitive balance among the three leagues. Clearly there are teams in the MTAL that can compete with programs in the MBL's Pacific Division.
 However, I'm not so sure that will be the case in the Gabilan Division, particularly if we are talking football. No team in the MTAL has a freshmen football program. Every team in the Gabilan does.
 Don't think that's not a significant advantage.
 If this format was in place for next fall, Carmel and defending CCS Division IV champion Soledad would have likely been ticketed to the Pacific Division.
 Nothing wrong with that. Both are capable of competing in the Pacific Division. However, a Pacific Division title by either would likely catapult one of them into the Gabilan the following year.
 Carmel has proven in the past that it can compete with teams in the Gabilan, having beaten Palma and Salinas in separate seasons. But that was one game, not a season's worth of punishing games.
 One Gabilan Division coach told me it would likely hurt an MTAL program to be in our division for one season.
 Seaside and Salinas are in the Gabilan Division next year. Soledad fell to both teams by a combine score of 59-16.
 I'm all for competitive balance. There are two many lopsided events in the MTAL and Pacific. But common sense has to also come into play, as well as the safety of kids in barbaric type sports.