[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by endgame

Is there anyway or setting that can modify Stickware-produced schedules to include the no-more-than 20 days of games and off (or any variation of that) rule?

As gmo noted, no, there is no way to have Stickware generate schedules which respect this particular scheduling element.

Originally Posted by gmo

That number is something I believe the Players' Union got some years back since it used to be teams could go for even a couple of weeks more than that without an offday.

Yes, a number of scheduling provisions are actually written into the CBA between the players' union and the owners, with the 20 days rule being one of them. It should be noted however that this can be exceeded by special waiver if the team requests it and the players on the team agree to it. But on the originally created schedules, teams are not supposed to be scheduled for more than 20 days of play in a row.

Based on the original schedule statistics, this rule seems to have come into effect starting with the 1977 season. In the years prior, the original schedules often had cases where teams were slated for long stretches of play. In 1975, three teams had an instance of 41 consecutive days of play in the original schedule; in 1976 Boston had a stretch of 34 days in a row of play while Detroit and Pittsburgh were scheduled for 28 straight days of play. But in 1977, no team had more than 20 consecutive days of play scheduled, and that has been the maximum every year since.

The longest stretch of play called for in an original schedule was 60 days in a row for Detroit in 1931; the second longest was 56 days in a row for St. Louis in 1968; and third place is 50 straight days of play for Cincinnati in 1926. Fortunately for all these teams, I think the weather in all cases ended up providing a few unscheduled off days.

Originally Posted by endgame

I'm certainly no schedule guru - although I've come to believe as LGO puts it I think, "proper schedules matter."

Heh heh heh, and the cult grows by one more member...

Originally Posted by endgame

I'm game for just about any schedule just so long as it changes enough year to year to offer variation. (How do those posted afford change from year to year, or is a new one simply requested?)

In terms of opponents matchups, OOTP automatically juggles things year-to-year by swapping teams around in the schedule slots based on the position of finish. This is a good way of changing things up every year, except that it can result in odd-looking road trips.

If you mean the format of the schedule, as in how many times a team is supposed to play each of its opponents, unless you generate a new schedule or import a new one that will remain the same each year.

Originally Posted by endgame

As I write this, it's evident I'm looking for some schedule advice, pointers, or suggestions about how to incorporate it meaningfully into my solo world.

In terms of creating fictional schedules, gmo is pretty much the king at the moment. He's got a system which works very well for him to pump out a variety of schedule possibilities.

I'm spending far too much time fiddling with the historical major and minor league schedules to even really attempt any fictional schedule creation. But then, in many cases real-world schedules may well fit the bill, so my efforts might still be useful.

The one thing I would mention is whether you feel the league you have is an alternate major league, or if it is intended to be more of a minor league type of league. There has historically been quite a difference between major and minor league schedules, which is that the minors play out their seasons in considerably less time than have the majors.

For example, in 1953, MLB played a 154 game season, as did the minor league International League, American Association, Texas League, Eastern League, Southern Association, and Western League. But the amount of time each ran their seasons was, respectively: 168 days, 145 days, 152 days, 152 days, 140 days, 151 days, and 149 days. As you can see, the minors played their schedules anywhere from 16-28 days quicker than their major league counterparts. This difference was pretty standard for quite a long time.

Another factor common in minor league schedules is the use of longer series to cut down on the number of trips needed to each city in the circuit, to reduce associated travel costs. The PCL is the most notable, with 7-game, week-long series.

These two features are the ones which differ the greatest between major and minor league schedules. So they're something to keep in mind when you design a schedule, if you're looking for that added level of detail...