2023 schedule released

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

I know where I'm going to be during the first week in May!





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[MFS62]

I just read that 2023 will be the first year that every major league team will play against every other major league team.

Should be interesting.

Later

[batmagadanleadoff]

Great! They should have MLB teams also play the Mexican league teams, too. The more, the merrier. And AAA teams too. Then we could see Francisco Alvarez without having to wait for the Mets to call him up.

[batmagadanleadoff]

They should play the hockey teams, too. Think of all the baseball fans that never got to see Wayne Gretzky play.

[MFS62]

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=105229 time=1661364155 user_id=68]
Great! They should have MLB teams also play the Mexican league teams, too. The more, the merrier. And AAA teams too. Then we could see Francisco Alvarez without having to wait for the Mets to call him up.

[batmagadanleadoff]

And think of all the extra money MLB could make if they called all these games "Playoff Games". What used to be the regular season would be the playoffs. And then what is now the Wild Card round would be renamed the second round of the playoffs. Etc.

[batmagadanleadoff]

You know, I like to check on the baseball leaderboards regularly during the season. I mainly check the NL leaderboards. But all season long, I've been wondering -- what's the point? Whats the point of separating the leaderboards into separate league leaderboards? Next year, I'll wonder even more so.

[Frayed Knot]

Always like to have those Mondays in July free.





The cost of playing all 29 teams is the reduction in intra-division games* so just two visits to and from the rest of the NL East clubs rather than three,

or 13 games rather than the current 19. So we're done with Atlanta by mid-August. This actually increases the odds that a division will be won by a

sub-.500 team (see the NFL where in-division games have gone from 50% of each team's sked to 35%) but no one seems to think of that (except me).

Still one visit to and from each NL West & Central club, plus one visit to OR from each AL team except for the Yanx where it'll be the same two-and-two

as it was this year.



And one trip to: OAK, DET, HOU, BOS, KCR, BAL, MIN

Plus one visit from TBR, CLE, TOR, CWS, LAA, TEX, SEA









* because even though Bud Selig liked to couch the introduction of inter-league play as if those games were somehow in addition to existing games rather than instead of others, psst: it wasn't really true

[bmfc1]

Done with west coast travel by the All-Star Break

One west coast trip in April means more warm(er) weather games at home

Off on Memorial Day AND Labor Day.

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

That visit to Minneapolis could be fun. A weekend, too! We have a great time at Target Field last year. Definitely one of the best parks I've been to!

[Frayed Knot]

=bmfc1 post_id=105237 time=1661366863 user_id=73]
Off on Memorial Day AND Labor Day.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Frayed Knot wrote: This actually increases the odds that a division will be won by a sub-.500 team (see the NFL where in-division games have gone from 50% of each team's sked to 35%) but no one seems to think of that (except me).

Not sure how compelling this argument is. If a team finishes above .500 only because of an unweighted schedule where it plays its division rivals disproportionately so -- so what? If you grouped the six worst teams in baseball history into one league where they played each other and only each other all season long, at least one of those teams would be virtually guaranteed to finish over .500 even though all of those teams are the six very worst teams out of thousands and thousands of teams.



Surely, there are better ways to determine how good a team is other than its W-L record.

[Fman99]

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=105229 time=1661364155 user_id=68]
Great! They should have MLB teams also play the Mexican league teams, too. The more, the merrier. And AAA teams too. Then we could see Francisco Alvarez without having to wait for the Mets to call him up.

[Frayed Knot]

A more balanced schedule won't necessarily make a division winner 'better' strictly by virtue of owning a better record but it will reduce the odds that a

team can win a division with a sub-.500 record and go on to the playoffs from there, something that should be, but likely isn't, an embarrassment to the

leagues where this regularly happens (NBA & NHL) or the one (NFL) where it occasionally has in the past and is more likely to do so moving forward.



The formula is basically for the teams within a division to beat each other up so each finishes relatively close to .500 against each other and then for each

of the team to all to get their collective asses kicked during out of division games. Reducing the percentage of the former while jacking up the percentage

of the latter just makes it more likely is all and I wonder if the honchos at MLB stopped even for a second to consider this.

[whippoorwill]

=MFS62 post_id=105227 time=1661363536 user_id=60]
I just read that 2023 will be the first year that every major league team will play against every other major league team.

Should be interesting.

Later

[Lefty Specialist]

=Marshmallowmilkshake post_id=105238 time=1661367055 user_id=119]
That visit to Minneapolis could be fun. A weekend, too! We have a great time at Target Field last year. Definitely one of the best parks I've been to!

[vtmet7]

I've never understood the lopsided amount of games vs your own division; particularly with the Bud Selig 3 division setup (that he likely setup that way to give his family's Brewers a better chance to win a division)...



IMO, they should eliminate divisions and just have the top 6 or 8 teams from each league make the playoffs with each team playing the same amount of games vs their league...



Another "crazy" thought...nothing seems to screw up a team more than when an east coast team has to travel to the west coast, and visa versa...why not set up the leagues based on proximity to the their respective coasts? The teams closest to the Pacific coast become the AL; the teams closest to the Atlantic coast become the NL; with the teams in between being used to balance out the leagues (with teams like the Rockies, D'Backs and Texas likely going to the AL; and teams like the Braves, Pirates and Detroit likely coming to the NL)

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

Lefty Specialist wrote: =Marshmallowmilkshake post_id=105238 time=1661367055 user_id=119] That visit to Minneapolis could be fun. A weekend, too! We have a great time at Target Field last year. Definitely one of the best parks I've been to!

We're making our June plans for PNC in Pittsburgh, and a trip to Boston isn't out of the question.

[Gwreck]

Now that MLB has every team playing each other, it's long past time to dump the extra “natural rivalry” series games. The Mets don't need to play extra games against the Yankees, and the…checks notes…Pirates/Tigers, Rockies/Astros, Padres/Mariners, and Phillies/Blue Jays don't need it either.

[bmfc1]

Now that MLB has every team playing each other, it's long past time to dump the extra “natural rivalry” series games. The Mets don't need to play extra games against the Yankees, and the…checks notes…Pirates/Tigers, Rockies/Astros, Padres/Mariners, and Phillies/Blue Jays don't need it either.

Especially when, as you wrote, some teams don't have a "natural" rival (e.g. TOR, ATL). The Mets get an extra game against the (sadly) always good NYYs because of this concept.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Braves' "natural rival" is the Red Sox, probably to please the three remaining Boston Braves fans.

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

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Nice idea by the Cubs.

[Willets Point]

If they're going to make the schedule balanced like this, they should just do away with divisions, and maybe even leagues. Just have a single table of 30 teams.

[Lefty Specialist]

The long-term plan seems to be getting rid of the leagues altogether, at least as they're currently constituted, and reshuffling to regional divisions where the Mets and Yankees would play each other more, not less. Unfortunately.