Almost done with the left coast
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Dan Barbarisi of the Projo Sox Blog notes that the Red Sox, having survived the tough part of their schedule intact, now have much smoother sailing than the rest of the American League going forward:
Terry Francona may not be an A+ student in geography -- but he knows what it means to his team that in only May, they are more than halfway through their final west coast trip of the season. They will not return to Anaheim, Oakland, or Seattle after this weekend . . .
. . . Beyond the fact that the Sox' early schedule has included a lot of long trips, it has also matched them up against some excellent teams. Boston has played five series against their two playoff foes from 2008 -- the Angels and the Tampa Bay Rays -- and a series against the Yankees. That's a lot of pretty strong competition for this point in the year, and despite injuries and poor starting pitching, Boston is 21-13.
There was a time when every team played every other team the same number of times each year. There was something nice about that in my mind. Symmetry. Balance, to state the obvious. And variety, too, which is really important when you watch as many games as I do. Sure, we're all presumed to love having so many Yankees-Red Sox games, but there isn't even a hypothetical argument for so damn many Indians-Twins and Marlins-Nationals games. The sameness grates after a while, to the point where a team from California or Texas seems like something positively exotic, and there's something really wrong with that.
And of course, as many have noted in the past, the unbalanced schedule combined with the Wild Card and interleague play means that that teams are competing for the same playoff slot but are not playing the same schedules. Your mileage may vary, but to me there's nothing more petty-sounding and annoying than a fan complaining that his team had a tougher schedule, even when true. Let's leave such whining to the lesser sports like football and basketball and return baseball to the unassailable balance it had for so many years.
I'm no Yankees fan and on a very basic level don't care what happens in the AL East race, but it strikes me as really wrong that the Red Sox will not have to take a long flight out west after playing a Sunday afternoon game on a hot August day. Let's return to a balanced schedule sometime soon and make them take that flight.
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100% in agreement with you. There really does need to be some balance. And I am a Red Sox fan and have good friends who are Yankee fans and we all agree, enough is enough. They play each other so often that it has taken much of the edge and excitement out of the rivalry. Let's see some of the other clubs more often - there are a lot a great players on other teams and it would be fun to get to see them more than once a season.
YES...!!!
Hey, I am in the Detroit market ...I for one love to see the Bosox, Yankees, Rays, Angels.....even the Rangers, etc, etc.....I am tired of having ONE chance to see one of your favorite players or favorite teams !
BRING IT BACK THE WAY IT WAS.......!!
I realize I'm later to the party, Craig, since I'm about seven years younger than you, but I like the unbalanced schedule. I realize it's not as fair, but it keeps more of a "pennant race" idea alive for me that teams play the others in their division over and over (18-19 times). My team plays in the AL East, so I should complain, but I like the challenge, and the idea that these teams can beat up on each other all season. I've always been in the minority in that I have no problem with a 90-win third place team missing the playoffs while an 84-win division winner moves on. I think it's fun to have that lack of balance. Is that very un-statheaddy of me? I guess so, since Joe Sheehan seems to bitch about it twice a year ;)
Being an old baseball man, I agree 100% with you. The idea of several trips out west or back east or up north or down south should stir the economy and bring life to towns that aren't New York (I'm a New Yorker although I now live in KC). It was just more interesting. As much as I love the Yankees-Red Sox games, I don't want to see them 500 times!!!!!! September should be division play time.
Being an old baseball man, I agree 100% with you. The idea of several trips out west or back east or up north or down south should stir the economy and bring life to towns that aren't New York (I'm a New Yorker although I now live in KC). It was just more interesting. As much as I love the Yankees-Red Sox games, I don't want to see them 500 times!!!!!! September should be division play time.
Conspiracy theory time. Let's look back to 1994 when the AL West would have been won by a team under .500. It also was the first year of three divisions and the wild card. Just think if the strike had been averted and play continued ... and the AL West was won by a team under .500, thus qualifying for the playoffs. How do you think Uncle Bud would have looked with his newfangled system? He would have been absolutely roasted. So to avoid such criticism, he let the strike go on until the season could not be completed. Now, to make such a situation less likely in the future, hello unbalanced schedule! Bud has had some close calls lately with teams making the playoffs at just over .500, but so far, so good for Bud.
While we're on the schedule-balancing front, how about some league- and division-balancing? Why are we still tooling around with a four-team division while there is a six-team division? Why is there a fourteen-team league when there is also a sixteen-team league?
This has bothered me ever since Milwaukee moved to the NL central. I didn't understand it then, I don't understand it now, and it seems rare that anyone brings it up, even in passing.
With two 15-team leagues, there would have to be an interleague series going on all season. An even bigger logistical nightmare, plus it would make interleague games mundane, when MLB loves to hype those games.
I don't understand your explanation here. Why would there have to be continuous interleague? It seems to me that interleague play would be harder to schedule with 14 v 16 than with 15 v 15.
I can live with the unbalanced schedule but would love to see an end to interleague play. I would much rather see the Mets play the Cards or Dodgers or Cubs more than Mets v Yankees.
Yes!!! Bring back the balanced schedule. For the past few years (exception last year) one would think their were only two teams in the AL. It seemed that the national games were almost alwaaaays between those two. Give us a chance to see more teams.
The balanced schedual should be brought back, it has hurt the game more then helped it
NO!
The "balanced schedule" makes sense only if there are no divisions. But if all 14 or 16 teams play essentially the same schedule, how on earth is it fair to crown 3 division "champions" -- at least one of which will usually have the 5th or 6th best record in the league but get a playoff berth SOLEY on teh basis of geography.
The balanced schedule the AL adopted in 1978 was a crock - it consistently set up ALCS matchups involving one team that didn't belong there (and sometimes therefore won the pennant, like the 85 Royals or 87 Twins). The NL made a mistake in moving to the "balanced" schedule in 1993, and MLB was absolutely right to ditch the format in the late 90s. It's flat out unfair, unless you get rid of divisions.