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thehef · 06-12-2024, 09:37 PM

Philosophical question about OOTP schedule-making:

Background:
In the early years of the PCL, regardless of whether the home team was Oakland or San Francisco, with the other team being either on the road or the opponent, the schedule was as follows:

Tue: at Oakland
Wed thru Sat: at SF
Sun am: at Oakland
Sun pm: at SF

OOTP schedules don't allow for games to be played at a neutral or alternate ballparks, so in the example of Los Angeles playing in the Bay Area against the Oaks, I would just set the schedule to be LA @ Oak for each of those six days (including the doubleheader on Sunday).

However, when the matchup is between those two Bay Area teams (Oak & SF), what's the best way to handle it? I'll note that some of the early schedules don't even specify which team is the host team for these Bay Area series'; rather, they just indicate where the game is played...

Options include:

A) When it can be determined which is the host team for the series, have all 7 games at the host team's field; and then when it cannot be determined which is the host team, just randomly alternate the series' host team each time these two teams play a series. This is perhaps the simplest solution, even though it's far from historically accurate (especially when Oakland is the host team), but at least it results in a reasonably balanced number of home/away games between the two teams.

B) Same as #1 above, except split the two Sunday doubleheader games so Oak is the host for the morning game and SF is the host for afternoon game, which would be historically accurate. This, too, would keep the home/away balance pretty even between the two teams.

C) Go with a strict SF @ Oak on Tues, Oak @ SF on Wed-thru-Sat, and then SF @ Oak Sun am & Oak @ SF Sun pm. This will accurately reflect any home-field advantage, and it will also allow the gamer to see the correct field when playing out games. But SF will end up with many more home games than Oak.

I'm torn between B and C, and don't really like A at all... Thoughts?

Also, I like to do schedules from the perspective of what I like to call "as intended," which is different from "as played" in that it wouldn't include historical rain-outs and make-ups, but it would include other types of schedule changes (such as a Tuesday-the-10th game being moved to the following Monday/off-day the 16th since travel from, say, Seattle to Los Angeles, was not really possible with just one off day - the 9th in this example). And my approach is also different from "original/actual" schedules because - as indicated in a previous post - early minor league original schedules were basically just drafts or guides and expected to change.

So with that in mind... late in the 1905 PCL season Tacoma moved its last three home series' as follows:

1) vs Oakland, moved to Spokane
2) vs Portland, moved to Portland
3) vs LA, moved to LA (this was followed, incidentally, by a series already on the schedule to be played in LA)

OOTP's schedule format doesn't allow us to schedule for #1 above to be played in Spokane, so no issue there: I just leave these as being at Tacoma. But for the other two series, I'd be inclined to move those to Portland and LA, respectively, since that's where they were actually played and those schedule changes were known well in advance, which fits with my "as intended" approach...

06-12-2024, 09:37 PM	#264
thehef Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 5,345	Philosophical question about OOTP schedule-making: Background: In the early years of the PCL, regardless of whether the home team was Oakland or San Francisco, with the other team being either on the road or the opponent, the schedule was as follows: Tue: at Oakland Wed thru Sat: at SF Sun am: at Oakland Sun pm: at SF OOTP schedules don't allow for games to be played at a neutral or alternate ballparks, so in the example of Los Angeles playing in the Bay Area against the Oaks, I would just set the schedule to be LA @ Oak for each of those six days (including the doubleheader on Sunday). However, when the matchup is between those two Bay Area teams (Oak & SF), what's the best way to handle it? I'll note that some of the early schedules don't even specify which team is the host team for these Bay Area series'; rather, they just indicate where the game is played... Options include: A) When it can be determined which is the host team for the series, have all 7 games at the host team's field; and then when it cannot be determined which is the host team, just randomly alternate the series' host team each time these two teams play a series. This is perhaps the simplest solution, even though it's far from historically accurate (especially when Oakland is the host team), but at least it results in a reasonably balanced number of home/away games between the two teams. B) Same as #1 above, except split the two Sunday doubleheader games so Oak is the host for the morning game and SF is the host for afternoon game, which would be historically accurate. This, too, would keep the home/away balance pretty even between the two teams. C) Go with a strict SF @ Oak on Tues, Oak @ SF on Wed-thru-Sat, and then SF @ Oak Sun am & Oak @ SF Sun pm. This will accurately reflect any home-field advantage, and it will also allow the gamer to see the correct field when playing out games. But SF will end up with many more home games than Oak. I'm torn between B and C, and don't really like A at all... Thoughts? Also, I like to do schedules from the perspective of what I like to call "as intended," which is different from "as played" in that it wouldn't include historical rain-outs and make-ups, but it would include other types of schedule changes (such as a Tuesday-the-10th game being moved to the following Monday/off-day the 16th since travel from, say, Seattle to Los Angeles, was not really possible with just one off day - the 9th in this example). And my approach is also different from "original/actual" schedules because - as indicated in a previous post - early minor league original schedules were basically just drafts or guides and expected to change. So with that in mind... late in the 1905 PCL season Tacoma moved its last three home series' as follows: 1) vs Oakland, moved to Spokane 2) vs Portland, moved to Portland 3) vs LA, moved to LA (this was followed, incidentally, by a series already on the schedule to be played in LA) OOTP's schedule format doesn't allow us to schedule for #1 above to be played in Spokane, so no issue there: I just leave these as being at Tacoma. But for the other two series, I'd be inclined to move those to Portland and LA, respectively, since that's where they were actually played and those schedule changes were known well in advance, which fits with my "as intended" approach...