The 2013 Season Schedule

The new 2013 season schedule is out!  I've checked it out (for all 30 teams to some small degree) to see how it deals with the new realignment.  The Houston Astros will be moving from the NL Central to the AL West next year, and each league will have 15 teams, and each division in baseball will have 5 teams.

I believe in an unbalanced, yet symmetrical, schedule.  Baseball history was full of such a thing until 1977 when the American League expanded from 12 to 14 teams.  Well, the new schedule has a number of surprises, some seem good, others not so.

I believe in an unbalanced schedule simply because if you have divisions and a balanced schedule, the divisions are meaningless.  You simply need to play more games against teams in your own division.  Otherwise, just have one league and x number of playoff teams.

I believe in a symmetrical schedule simply because it fosters a level playing field for all teams.  If the schedule is asymmetrical, there will be built-in bias for some teams.

Okay, enough of that.  Let's get to the schedule.  The schedule is unbalanced, and slightly asymmetrical.  The schedule retains the traditional 162 games for each team.  It seems that each team plays the other teams in its own division a total of 19 times each.  Ten in one park, nine in the other.  Nineteen games times four other teams equals 76 division games.  Each team plays the other ten non-division teams in its own league either 6 times (against four of the teams) or 7 times (against six of the teams) for a total of 66 out-of-division league games. 

Interleague features for the very first time that each team in a division plays each team in the other league's matching division, and only that division.  (Except for "rivalry" matchups which I will get to next.)  Each team in a division plays the teams in the other division a mix of games: three games each against four of the five teams, then two separate two-game series - home and away - (for a total of four games) against the fifth team.  This totals 16 interleague games against the selected division to be played that year.  In addition, because each league has an odd number of teams, every series during the year will see at least one interleague matchup, including opening day and the last series of the season.

Finally, the "rivalry" interleague games.  For the first time ever, every team in baseball has a rivalry team in the other league.  This is because the number of teams in each league are the same.  I will provide a separate post listing those rival matches.  Here's the cool thing about the rivalry matchups.  All rivalry series in baseball will be played simultaneously.  The last week of May, starting with Memorial Day, will see a four game series (M, Tu, W and Th) between each rivalry.  But, it will be a four game home-and-away series!  The first two games on Monday and Tuesday will be in the park of one team, and the second two games will be in the park of the other team!  This means that the metro areas that share two teams (and thus are rival teams) will play four games completely within the metro area.  I will develop this, again, in a subsequent post.  Also, I noticed a scheduled day-night double header during one of the rivalry series.  I'll tell which teams at a later time.

So, each team it seems will play 76 division games, 66 inter-division games, 16 interleague divisional matchup games, and four interleague rivalry games, for a total of 162 games.  As strange as some of the things are in this schedule, the relative symmetry compared to schedules past is far preferable to there being an interleague matchup each day of the season, as an example.

Realignment #2 - My favorite

A few weeks ago I wrote about realignment and listed just one idea.  I've been thinking about it for a while and I think I've come up with a great idea for realignment.  I think it's far better than all others I've encountered.  This is because it solves many of the problems with the current alignment and baseball schedule, and also it creates some new and much needed rivalries and is sure to increase attendance and revenue.  It's a win-win-win situation I believe.

First I'd like to list problems with the current alignment and schedule:

• Each league has a different number of teams.  But this is because to have an odd number of teams in each league would require an interleague series every day of the season.
• Divisions have different numbers of teams, either 4 (AL West), 6 (NL Central) or 5 (all other divisions).  An AL West team has a 50% greater statistical chance of winning the World Series than an NL Central team simply by being in a 4 team division.
• Unbalanced numbers of teams in each division make it so that teams play each other different numbers of times than other teams.  Because of this, weird adjustments need to be made to make a total of 162 games.  Examples are:  often when the Giants and Cardinals play their 6 games against each other, they are split so that 4 games are played in one park and 2 in the other.
• Intra-divisional play results in some teams playing 18 games against each other, some others 19 and even others 20.  Inter-division play results in 6, 7 or 9 games against other teams.  There is no uniformity, balance or symmetry.  The schedule playing field isn't really level. 
• Because of an unbalanced number of teams in each division, when two divisions play each other in interleague play, every team in one division doesn't play all teams in the other.  Sometimes a team plays only 3 or 4 of the 5 teams, etc.  This also creates odd matchups.  The A's this year (AL West) played the NL East.  They played only 3 teams - Mets, Phillies and Marlins - but not the Braves or Nationals, but to make up space to total 162 they also played the D-Backs (NL West).  Go figure.
• Interleague play was designed so that teams in the other league will get to see the Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs etc.  Yet after 15 years of interleague, the Cubs finally visited Fenway for the first time.  The last time the NL West played the AL East, the Giants completely missed the Yankees, playing them neither at home nor on the road.
• Interleague metro and intra-state "rivalry" games create an unlevel playing field among teams competing for the same division title.  As an example, the Mets and Marlins are both in the NL East.  For over a decade, the Marlins got to play six games against the hapless expansion Rays while the Mets had to play six games against a historic dynasty Yankee team.  That's a good two to three game swing in the standings just because of your schedule.  Hardly fair.
• Also, far too many games are played in different time zones.  West coast fans are still at work when East coast night games start, and East coast fans are in bed when West coast night games start.  Airline travel is greater with the current schedule as there are fewer groupings of teams that make sense to economize.
• There are more problems that I won't go into, but the totality of them warrants a re-thinking of alignment.  Which brings me to my proposed solution:

Here's my solution for all this nonsense.  It works out beautifully and symmetrically, using traditional baseball numbers, creates new rivalries and enhances existing geographic rivalries.

First, I'm going to start with the idea proposed earlier this year with the Houston Astros going to the American League West to even every division at five teams.  I'll put them in with Seattle, Oakland, Anaheim and Texas.  Other than that I'm going to keep the existing divisions in tact.  BUT...

What is going to be different is in how I organize the divisions into leagues.  Instead of two leagues with three divisions in each league, I'm going to invert this to result in three leagues of ten teams each with two divisions of five teams in each league.  I'm going to invert the names also.  The three leagues would be called Western League, Central League and Eastern League.  In each league there would be an American Division and a National division.  The beauty of this is that it concentrates games within regions rather than being spread out over the country.  And it is all perfectly symmetrical.

Here's a breakdown of the leagues and divisions:

WESTERN LEAGUE  CENTRAL LEAGUE  EASTERN LEAGUE

American Div.   American Div.   American Div.

LA Angels       Cleveland       Baltimore
Oakland         Detroit         Boston
Seattle         Chi. White Sox  NY Yankees
Houston         Kansas City     Tampa Bay
Texas           Minnesota       Toronto

National Div.   National Div.   National Div.

Arizona         Chicago Cubs    Atlanta
Colorado        Milwaukee       Philadelphia
San Diego       St. Louis       Washington
Los Angeles     Pittsburgh      New York Mets
San Francisco   Cincinnati      Florida

Now for the math.  In each division, each team would play the other four teams in that division a total of 18 times.  This is a traditional number dating back to 10- and 12-team leagues after expansion in 1961-62 and 1969.  So, 18 games x four other teams = 72 intra-division games.  Now, each team in a division will play each team in the other division in that league a total of 12 times.  Another traditional number of games played against teams in the other division that came along with the 12-team leagues.  So, 12 games x five other teams = 60 intra-division games.  This totals 132 games, and when subtracted from 162 leaves 30 games.  There would still be "interleague" play.  Each division would play one of the other four divisions not in their league per year, rotating each year for four years.  With 30 games to play against 5 teams in the other league's division, each team will play the other team six times, three home and three road!  So every team will play every other team home and away every four years, guaranteed!

In short, 18 games against teams in your own division, 12 games against teams in the other division in your league, and 6 games against the teams in an interleague division on a four year rotation.  Total: 162.

Now to spell out some great advantages.  Since each league is constructed regionally instead of spread out across the country, divisions in that league contain natural rivalries.  All five metro area rivalries (NY, LA, Chicago, San Fran and DC/Baltimore) and all four intra-state rivalries (TX, FL, OH and MO) will have those teams playing at least 12 games against each other per year, with Texas and Houston playing 18 since they're now in the same division.  Imagine the Cubs and Sox playing 12 games against each other every year, or the Yankees and Mets, or the Giants and A's, or the Reds and Indians.  Not only is this a great advantage, but other regional rivalries will be created as well.  Just imagine the Phillies and Red Sox playing 12 games every year.  Or the Yankees and Braves.  Or the Mets and Red Sox.  Or the Cards and White Sox.  Not only will the Brewers play 18 games against the Cubs every year, they'll also play 12 games against the White Sox.  The A's and Dodgers, Giants and Angels.

Also, since leagues are arranged regionally, long flights to the opposite coast will only happen once every two years during the "interleague" play against those divisions.

Now a question is raised about the All-Star game.  With three leagues, how will that be arranged?  Well, the traditional league format could be kept in tact by choosing players from the three American divisions combined to play against players from the three National divisions combined.  The game will retain an "American vs. National" flavor.  And post-season play could be similar.  Each division would advance its winner to the playoffs with a wild-card with the best second place record of the three American divisions and another from the three National divisions.  National division teams could play off against each other and so could American division teams.  The World Series then could be a matchup of an American division team and a National division team, with each year rotating for home field advantage.

Overall I think this realignment idea would improve baseball to a good degree.  I think I'll push for it to become more popular.  Maybe write the commish?  I'd love to get any feedback on this idea, so if you have any, please comment.

Realignment #1

Realignment was a big baseball topic a month or so ago.  I'm just now getting to it.  I believe realignment needs to happen and there are a number of ways to accomplish it that are better than the current alignment.  As I've written before I'm for balanced divisions and an unbalanced but symmetrical schedule.  I'm for an unbalanced schedule because with a balanced schedule, divisions make no sense whatever.  I AM for a symmetrical schedule because it gives all teams the same level playing field as it were.  Baseball has always had an unbalanced schedule.  From 1901 to 1996, there were two leagues of teams that never played each other at all.  Many games against your own league, zero against the other.  Unbalanced.

Here are some ways to realign, and I will give the first one here.

Realignment #1:

Move an NL team to the AL and have 15 teams in each league, with 5 teams in each of the six divisions.  This would almost guarantee an interleague series always happening throughout the year, but this could be done in a simple way.  Series at the beginning or end of the year could be played between teams that finished last or near last from the year before.  In this format, each team could play the other 4 teams in their division 18 times each (which is a traditional number easily divisible by 3)(for a total of 72 games), each other team in its own league six times (3 home and 3 road, for a total of 60 games), and each team in one division in the other league six times each (3 home and 3 road) for a total of 30 interleague games.  This totals 162.

More in a coming post...

Opening Day on the Schedule

For some reason baseball started one series earlier this year.  Normally, the season would have started this coming Monday.  But due to the early start this last Thursday, it is realized that the NCAA basketball final won't be interfering with Opening Day this year.  Usually the NCAA final is the night of Opening Day, and media feel some kind of obligation to cover it, cutting into the Opening Day coverage.  So, maybe this is a good thing this year.  I'll have to see how it goes having the season ending on a Wednesday.  Sounds totally strange.  But maybe baseball is trying to capitalize on putting any last-series pennant races on weekdays that usually have lower attendance.  Who knows.

Division Alignment Problems

I'm no fan of the current division alignment in major league baseball.  Each league has a different number of teams, and there are three sizes of divisions.  When MLB went to the current three-division alignment in 1994, each league had 14 teams arranged in divisions, one with four teams and two with five.  With the 1998 expansion, each league added a team and the Brewers moved from the AL to the NL.  The AL now has 14 teams and the NL 16.  The AL has division sizes of 4, 5 and 5, while the NL has sizes of 5, 6 and 5.

This poses a bit of a problem for the post season picture.  It is easier to win a division with fewer teams in that division, in terms of straight odds.  And it is also easier to finish second in that division and have a shot at the wildcard.  Now for some geeky math.  The odds of a team winning its division are 1/x, where x is the number of teams in that division.  That's obvious.  But the odds of finishing in second place is also 1/x.  Since there are three divisions, the odds of making the playoffs by finishing second (wildcard) are 1/3 of 1/x, or 1/3x.  The odds of a team making the playoffs are the odds of winning the division plus the odds of winning the wildcard.  So, that would equal 1/x + 1/3x, or 3/3x + 1/3x = 4/3x, with x being the number of teams in that division.  For teams in a four-team division, the odds are 4/3(4) = 1/3, or 0.333.  For teams in a five-team division they are 4/3(5) = 4/15, or 0.267.  For teams in a six-team division they are 4/3(6) = 4/18, or 2/9, or 0.222.

Making the playoffs gives each team (roughly) the same odds of winning the World Series.  So, for teams in a four-team division, the simple random odds of winning the WS are 50% greater than those teams in a six-team division.  Is this what baseball wants?  I think it better to balance the number of teams in each division, even if it means screwing up interleague play, than to create artificial favorites.

Anatomy of a Major League Schedule

I admit it.  I'm a logistics geek.  I like to know how systems work; I like to figure out how systems work; I like to make systems work.  Systems like the Major League schedule.  Back in the early 80's living in the Bay Area, I got an A's and a Giants pocket schedule every year so I could plan the games I wanted to attend.  I also wanted to familiarize myself with who they played during the year.  Each year, I noticed patterns in the schedules.  Then toward the mid-80's, before the internet, I wrote to every team during the off season asking for their pocket schedules.  This way I could plan trips to other ballparks, etc.  I noticed patterns in all the schedules.

This brings me to the overall schedule.  Until just a few years ago, a literal mom and pop team in somewhere like Connecticut, drafted up the schedule on their kitchen table.  It's now done by a corporate firm with computers.  I became most familiar with the 12 team NL scheduling format (1969-1992), so I'll write mostly about that.  The schedule maker grouped teams together geographically for travel efficiency.  The Giants would travel to, or host, groups of teams at a time, generally.  The groups were broken into 1) SF, LA & SD; 2) CIN, HOU & ATL; 3) PIT, STL & CHI and 4) NY, PHI & MON.  It made sense for teams flying out to the west coast to hit all the cities to save on travel, etc.  The same was generally true of the AL schedule with 14 teams, although it was more complicated, as there were an odd number of teams in each division.

Each NL team played 18 games against division teams (roughly three 3-game series at home, and three on the road) and 12 against each team in the other division (roughly two 3-game series at home, and two on the road).  The even number of teams made it easy to play against only your own division the last several weeks of the season, so the pennant races could be the focus.  The above number of games against each team came to a total of 162.  When the early 60's expansion took place, each team played each of the other 9 teams 18 times, 162 total.  They kept a similar feel when expansion took place again in '69.

The season is 26 weeks long (half of 52 weeks in a year), and each week is generally divided into a weekday series (M, Tu, W or Tu, W, Th) and a weekend series (F, Sa & Su).  Sometimes there are four game series, M-Th in the week or Th-Su or F-M over a weekend.  There are generally 52 series slots over a 26 week season, with one taken for the All-Star break, leaving 51 series slots for regular season play.  Now, the 10 team/162 game and the 12 team/two division/162 game schedules had (six series times nine other teams = 54) and (six series times five division teams = 30 plus four series times six teams = 24 for a total of 54) series to be played.  The logistical problem was to cram 54 series into 51 slots.  This was accomplished by use of the two-game series.  In playing six games against a team, split a three-and-three game series set into a two-and-four game series set.  Put two game series back-to-back in the weekday slot on Mon-Tues and Wed-Thurs, then the accompanying four game series elsewhere in the season.  Do this three times, and 54 series can fit into 51 slots.  Pretty clever.

The beauty of these older schedule formats is that every team plays other teams the same number of games.  An even number of games at that, so that there are equal numbers of games at home and on the road.  They played each other the same number of series.  The schedules were both balanced and symmetrical.  With the adaptation of 14 team leagues, odd numbers of teams in a division, the three division format with differing number of teams in each division, interleague play with certain "rivalry" matchups, and a 14 team AL and 16 team NL, today's MLB schedule is a complete nightmare.  It makes little sense from a position of fairness and having a level playing field for all.

The schedule makers have also had to take other factors into consideration.  Maximizing attendance with strategic matchups.  Teams make requests of the schedule.  Holidays.  Etc.  Opening Days are usually sellouts, so try not to schedule good drawing road teams like the Yankees for other teams' home openers.  That would be a waste of a sellout.  Bad drawing teams usually play more road openers.  The Reds are baseball's oldest team, so they traditionally open at home.  Schedule bad weather teams to open on the road.  Canadian teams are on the road for US holidays and at home for Canadian holidays to maximize attendance.  Interleague games are not as popular as baseball claims, so they are generally scheduled mostly on weekends during good weather when school is out to maximize attendance and make it look like a good idea.  Local holidays, too, like scheduling the Red Sox at home for Patriot's Day.  An example of team requests might be wanting a home game on an anniversary date of a great moment in that team's history.  The Giants requested to be at home on Oct. 3, 2001 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Bobby Thompson's Shot Heard 'Round the World - against the Dodgers no less.  New ballparks, too.  When the Giants built a new yard, they wanted to both close Candlestick and open PacBell/SBC/AT&T against their arch-rival Dodgers.  Back when double-headers were a popular tool to increase attendance, the well-drawing Dodgers didn't need them, so they requested no double headers on their schedule.

So, overall the schedule is a major undertaking that has only increased in complexity over the decades.  The logistic geek that I am, I'd love to be part of that operation.  Personally, I'd like to see baseball address this monster and get back to some kind of symmetrical format.  Now that I've bored you to tears, you deserve something special if you've read this whole post.  Unless you like schedules like I do.

2011 MLB Schedule Change

I noticed that the 2011 regular season schedule has a huge change in it, breaking from a tradition that has been kept for longer than I've been alive.  Traditionally, the schedule is 26 weeks long, and starts at the beginning of the week and ending on a weekend Sunday.  Next year, it seems to be moved up a series, and starts with three game series on a Friday and ends with three game series on a Wednesday.

I'm not sure what's up, but I heard some rumors that baseball wants to change the post-season a bit and make the league division series seven games.  I wonder if moving the season up three or four days is the remedy to accommodate this instead of pushing the World Series back yet again further into chilly November.  There's also a nasty rumor that in the next couple of years MLB wants to add an extra set of wild card teams.  Oh, please, NO!  I'll write about the anatomy of a regular season schedule during this offseason.

Yet Another Post-Season Scheduling Absurdity

Okay, Major League Baseball has a bunch of idiots running the post-season scheduling. I've written about this before, here, here, here and here. And here and here.

What I never knew prior to this year is that the home field advantage team gets to choose which division series schedule to play in. They can make their decision up until one hour after the regular season is completed. So the Yankees got to choose, but with one problem. The regular season didn't end until the Twins/Tigers tie-breaker was completed - on Tuesday, due to a Vikings game on Monday Night Football. So the Yankees could screw the Red Sox by making them play the next day with a warning only hours before the game. The tie-breaker game went 12 innings. Instead, they chose to screw the winner of the tie-breaker by forcing them to take a red-eye to Yankee Stadium where they would play the next day on sleep they could get only on the plane.

Baseball desperately needs to get rid of the guess work and pre-schedule which divisions play which and who hosts which games. They also need to ditch the network time slot pecking order. I'd hate to be a team's traveling secretary in the month of October.

Playoffs Should Have One Day Off Maximum

It would help greatly if baseball had a one day off maximum between each round of series. None of the division series went five games. Both National League division series were over by Sunday, and the AL series on Monday. The playoffs should have gone to the next round by Wednesday, instead of the scheduled Thursday and Friday. Dead time takes people's interest away, even if for an extra day. Moving the post season up one day won't hurt anything. It's bad enough that extra days off were added both to the middle of series and between them, but adding any more because of short series is over the top.

Making The MLB Schedule

I read a few interesting articles about the making of the MLB schedule. For 25 years, 1980 to 2004 it was a mom and pop operation...quite literally. A husband and wife team prepared it each year. Now, a consulting firm puts it together. With much criticism of the schedule, the articles explained just how difficult it is to make.

I've studied schedules for decades and love to find patterns, trends and changes from era to era. I'll go into more detail in a future post.

In recent years, since realignment, we have had an unbalanced schedule, yet also asymmetrical. In years past, it was unbalanced but symmetrical. Before division play it was both balanced and symmetrical. I'll also talk about the pro's and con's of each type of schedule.

Saturday Night Baseball?

For decades, three teams have traditionally played more than half of their games during the day. The Chicago Cubs, the Oakland A's and the San Francisco Giants. The Cubs didn't get stadium lights put in until 1988, and day baseball is still the tradition on the Northside. The A's and Giants have always played a high percentage of day games, and always a day game on Saturday, because of the cool, foggy nighttime weather in the Bay Area, with the midweek getaway day usually played under the sun, too.

Saturday afternoon at the ballpark in the sunshine has always been a treat. But things have changed, and the Giants have just this year started playing a large majority of their Saturday games at night. Why? The short answer is television. FOX has the rights to the daytime slot and teams are forbidden to televise their own games during that time. Since the Bonds era is over and the Giants really suck, FOX isn't going to show the Giants anytime soon. They were on FOX nearly every Saturday in at least a regional game for years. Now the Giants have nothing more than their historic name as a national TV draw. So, to take in TV revenue, they're moving most of their Saturday games to a night starting time so either the local FOX Sports Net or their new channel 11 can carry the game, and the Giants can still pull in some revenue. TV money rules baseball. Just my guess, anyway.

One Game Series?

Aside from the dumb regular season games in Japan, the opening game this year was the Braves in Washington for the opening of the Nats' new ballpark. What was truly strange about this is that each team played a different team in its next game. They played a one game series. Kind of a waste of travel, huh? But then, a one game series really isn't a series because it takes two things to be in series.

Eliminate Ratings-Based Playoff Game Starting Times

Many ticket holders for game 4 in St. Louis went to bed tonight not even knowing what time their game will start tomorrow. This needs to change.

Tonight the Mets eliminated the Dodgers by winning the NLDS. Earlier in the day, the Tigers eliminated the Yankees. Three of the four playoff series have been decided, leaving only the Padres/Cardinals with a game tomorrow.

What stinks about this is that the game times of all playoff games are arranged according to a TV ratings pecking order. The most watched game will be scheduled in the prime-time slot (8pm Eastern/5pm Pacific), the next at 4pm/1pm, then 1pm/10am. Because the A's/Twins series was already over, the Pads/Cards were the bottom slot. But because the other series were decided today, they were kicked up into the prime time slot. But this didn't happen until the Mets/Dodgers game was over - well after 10pm Central time in St. Louis.

The Yankees are almost guaranteed the prime time slot for every playoff game they play because they are the top rated team. The only reason they had the afternoon game today was because the combination of two markets, NY/LA for the Mets/Dodgers game, would draw better. Teams like the A's and Twins are stuck always playing day games during the week just because they don't get national TV draw, making it tougher on their fans to see games. Smaller market teams get game times shuffled at the last minute for games 4 and 5 just because larger market series happen to end. I know first hand that this sucks.

Baseball Proposal: Home and Away Series

The baseball schedule traditionally has teams playing each other in series, home and away, one week apart. It doesn't happen as much anymore, but as an example, there are many teams who play each other the last weekend of the season that also play each other the previous weekend, in the other city. This happens with weekday series, too.

I always thought it strange that there could be six games out of nine against a team, with three in between against somebody else, and you could miss their top starters altogether because they pitched in the interim series. My proposal would be to play six in a row against the same team, three in one city, the next three in the other. You'd be guaranteed that all starters would face the other team. This would be exciting.

Playoff Schedule Nightmare

Well, the playoffs are here with us again. That means several precious idiocies thrust upon us for yet another October. TV is in the middle of it, of course. I'll have to explain each item first before I put them together to make my point. Bear with me.

The first idiocy is the homefield advantage brainchild. Another NFL lightbulb. The three division winners in each league are ranked or seeded for the playoffs based on their final records. Home field advantage for each series played is based on a combination of these records and the teams that are remaining (for the LCS). If two teams tie with the same record, NFL type tie-breakers are enforced.

The second idiocy is the TV ratings-based time slots for all playoff games. The top ratings draw team matchups are placed in the top TV time slots. Of course this just guarantees the Yankees the lion's share of prime time, and should I say, sensible, time slots. Eight-oh-five Eastern time is not too different from their normal 7:35 starts. The ratings bottom dwellers have to painfully endure late night games after early day games and West coast twighlight finishes. Not only that, but as each of the ongoing playoff series are concluded, time slots are re-shuffled based on the remaining matchups' ratings potentials. Teams may have no idea when they're playing their next games.

The results of all this? If a high seed TV slot series has a chance of finishing their series early due to a 3-0 sweep, the other series can move up only if that series actually ends. I remember a situation where the top TV seed had the prime time slot (late game, East Coast time) with a chance to end their series that night. Another team would play their game either at 1pm or 7pm the next day, depending on the outcome of the late game in the other league. The late game went extra innings and didn't end until after midnight. So the fans and teams in the time-to-be-announced game went to bed that night not even knowing the time of their game the next day. If you're a fan with a job and you have tickets, you're screwed. Just tell your boss you'll be taking the entire month of October on flex time.

With the homefield advantage pecking order combined with last-minute playoff spot clinches during the last weekend of the season (many times on the last day of the season), and all contending teams jockeying for position, ticket holding fans (season ticket holders are forced to buy tickets in "strip" format, that is, all possible games that can be played at the time of purchase) may not even know until Sunday afternoon who or even if they'll be playing on Tuesday, and even whether the game is at home or on the road, and even the time. The LCS is the same way. If you're a non-homefield advantage division winner, you'll either host games 3, 4 and 5 or 1, 2, 6 and 7 depending on whether the HFA or lower seed team wins.

In 2003, Giants fans found out at the last minute that they would host mid-week day games against Florida in games 1 and 2 of the division series. Not an easy ticket to use or sell even for a team that sells out its entire season. I remember seeing front row seats next to the 3rd base dugout for sale on eBay at face value on the day of the game... with NO offers. I woulda gone, cept'n I hadda work.

Baseball's nightmaringly complex playoff bowl of spaghetti makes it very difficult for fans to plan to go to games. No wonder few LDS games sell out. Baseball's post season used to be very simple and orderly. LCS series alternated home field advantage each year, East one year, West the next. The ALCS started on Tuesday one year, Wednesday the next with the NLCS the opposite. The World Series alternated from AL to NL, year to year. It used to be that a fan could say, "three years from now, game 3 of the NLCS will be in the Eastern city on Friday" or something similar. Now, only God knows.

Divisional Play

At the time of this post, the entire NL West is under .500 and the entire NL East is above .500. This means that the last place team in the East has a better record than the first place in the West. Truly amazing. For the dismal Giants and their sewer of a season, with only 4 teams in all of baseball with worse records, this normally would be a write-off. But they're only 6 1/2 games out of first. The ticket office actually has a reason to send out playoff ticket invoices to their season ticket holders... at 15 games under .500.

This says a few things about the current division and schedule format. Since there are 3 divisions in each league plus interleague play, even an unbalanced schedule results in an overwhelming majority of games being played outside the division. As bad as the NL West is this year, I don't expect the winner to be under .500 because the end of the season is heavily weighted with divisional rivalries playing each other. When one team loses, another has to win. This ought to push somebody over the .500 mark by default. But stranger things could happen.