Quote:
Originally posted by GR8Madmax
What's the purpose of a double-header if there are no rainouts?
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Simple: prior to the early 1980's, doubleheaders were often regularly scheduled events that had nothing to do with postponements. That is, many doubleheaders were planned events right in the original schedules published before the start of major league season.
In 1980, for example, there were a total of 36 scheduled doubleheaders in the NL and 25 in the AL original schedules. In 1970, it was 48 in the NL and 53 in the AL. In 1950, it was 51 in the NL and 60 in the AL. Of course, rain outs only added even more twin bills to the teams' schedules.
The point is that
scheduled doubleheaders were actually a very big part of baseball's history for quite a long time, and deserve recognition. It wasn't until the mid-1980's that they went extinct, leaving only the twin bill caused by postponements.