Would you like this schedule format?

[Majingir]

I was thinking about the MLB schedule and how it could be more evened out. Here's one idea I came up with:

Interleague play should be something like all AL teams and NL teams face each other once a year. Every year the home/road game switches(EX-2013 Yankees-Mets series would be at Yankees ballpark for 3 games,2014 series would be at Mets ballpark for 3 games,2015 back at Yankees stadium).

So 45 games spent on interleague play
Face the other 2 divisions within their league each 6 games(meaning 3 at home,3 on road)
Then they face their own division twice more(a 3 game series at home,a 4 game series at home,a 3 game series on the road,a 4 game series on the road)

That equals 161 games. Wouldn't mind a format like that. Sure,it's 1 less than the normal 162 game schedule, but I really wouldn't mind a schedule like that.

What'd people think of that? I can see it not entirely working with the DH rule applying to AL and not NL, but would seem like a nice,simple schedule concept though. Jays for example would face each NL team 3 games each a year, would face each team in the AL Central and West for 6 games a year, and then would face O's,Yankees,Red Sox,Rays 14 games in the year.

[PhilliesFan13]

Re: Would you like this schedule format?

I was thinking about the MLB schedule and how it could be more evened out. Here's one idea I came up with:

Interleague play should be something like all AL teams and NL teams face each other once a year. Every year the home/road game switches(EX-2013 Yankees-Mets series would be at Yankees ballpark for 3 games,2014 series would be at Mets ballpark for 3 games,2015 back at Yankees stadium).

So 45 games spent on interleague play
Face the other 2 divisions within their league each 6 games(meaning 3 at home,3 on road)
Then they face their own division twice more(a 3 game series at home,a 4 game series at home,a 3 game series on the road,a 4 game series on the road)

That equals 161 games. Wouldn't mind a format like that. Sure,it's 1 less than the normal 162 game schedule, but I really wouldn't mind a schedule like that.

What'd people think of that? I can see it not entirely working with the DH rule applying to AL and not NL, but would seem like a nice,simple schedule concept though. Jays for example would face each NL team 3 games each a year, would face each team in the AL Central and West for 6 games a year, and then would face O's,Yankees,Red Sox,Rays 14 games in the year.

Not bad. Interesting for sure.

[snepp]

Re: Would you like this schedule format?

This is how I would split the schedule.

48 division games, 12 games against each team, two home series, two away

90 games against the non-division teams, 9 games against each team, one home series, one away, with the third series alternating between home/away each year

24 interleague games, 3 games against eight teams on a rotating schedule (no rivalry stuff).

162 games total, more balanced within own league, guarantees that you play a team from the other league at least once every other year

[phenom1990]

Re: Would you like this schedule format?

The most balanced schedule I could think of was:

72 games against your division opponents ( 18 against 4 teams each)

60 games against your non-division opponents ( 6 against 10 teams each)

30 interleague games against 1 division that rotates every 3 years. ( So 6 games against 5 teams from some division).

162 game season.

[dingleberryfinn]

Re: Would you like this schedule format?

I wish MLB would revert to a 154 game sched.
I also prefer a heavy emphasis on divisional games
& very few inter-league games.

84 divisional games (21 vs other 4 teams)
maybe there could be a way to play 1 game vs each divisional opponent at a neutral site.

60 vs other teams in league (6 vs each team)
10 inter-league games.

But MLB would never go for a less is more approach, they want a balance,
in which case I'd just get rid of divisions altogether.

[snepp]

Re: Would you like this schedule format?

6 inter-league games.

Given the necessity of having one interleague series occurring at all times, this would be impossible.

[dingleberryfinn]

Re: Would you like this schedule format?

Given the necessity of having one interleague series occurring at all times, this would be impossible.

Good catch!
So inter-league games would have to be bumped up to roughly 10 per team?
Leaving 84 for divisional games (21 vs other 4 teams)

[snepp]

Re: Would you like this schedule format?

10 wouldn't do it unless you were willing to add a bunch of additional off-days where teams schedules don't align. I would guess that 12 is probably the smallest number you could get away with without having to do anything drastic with the schedule. Even then that doesn't leave much flexibility for the schedule makers.

[LowerWolf]

Re: Would you like this schedule format?

How about this:

12 games against each team in your division
Two three-game series home and away. 48 games total.

12 games each against one of the divisions in your league
Two three-game series home and away. 60 games total.

6 games against the other division in your league (would rotate with the other division)
One three-game series home and away. 30 games total.

3 games against a division in the other league
One three game series. 15 games total

3 games against a "rival" or another team in the other league
One three game series. 3 games total

That adds up to a 156-game schedule.

[55]

Re: Would you like this schedule format?

All of these ideas are fine and dandy, but they all eliminate one of my favorite things in baseball:

The four game, Monday thru Thursday series.

I would miss those dearly.