Balanced or unbalanced schedule?

kenyan_cheena · 10-28-2004, 10:26 PM

Forgive my ignorance, but what is the difference between these two things?

Is it that with a balanced schedule, you play each team the same amount of times, and with an unbalanced schedule, you don't?

Thanks.

sahyder1 · 10-28-2004, 11:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kenyan_cheena

Forgive my ignorance, but what is the difference between these two things?

Is it that with a balanced schedule, you play each team the same amount of times, and with an unbalanced schedule, you don't?

Thanks.

In an unbalanced schedule you play your own division a lot more then you do the other teams in the league.

DreamTeams · 10-29-2004, 02:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kenyan_cheena

Forgive my ignorance, but what is the difference between these two things?

Is it that with a balanced schedule, you play each team the same amount of times, and with an unbalanced schedule, you don't?

Thanks.

In a classic league with no divisions, you're absolutely right.

Le Grande Orange · 10-29-2004, 04:37 AM

As has been stated, balanced schedules are ones which try, as much as possible, to have a team playing all the other clubs in the league the same number of times, and with those matchups being split equally between home and away games as much as possible.

Generally, single division leagues use a balanced schedule. An 8 team league could play 140 games (20 games against each of the 7 other teams) in a season, or 154 games (22 games against each of the 7 other teams), and so on.

Unbalanced schedules normally are used in multi-division leagues, to give some weight to the divisional alignments and make the divisions meaningful. A 12 team league divided into two 6-team divisons could have a team play 18 games against each of its 5 divison rivals (18 x 5 = 90 games) and 12 games against each of the 6 teams in the other division (12 x 6 = 72 games), for a total season of 162 games. A team is thus playing 90 of its 162 games against divisional rivals, making games against those opponents important.

You can have a schedule going anywhere between these values, from strongly unbalanced to only slightly unbalanced. You can also have exceptions, such as when a single division league plays an unbalanced schedule (very common in the Pacific Coast League as well as occurring a few times in the Texas League). Or, you can have a multi-division league playing a balanced or nearly balanced schedule. The AL, for example, from 1979-1993 played a nearly balanced schedule, with a team playing its 6 division rivals 13 times each (6 x 13 = 78 games) and playing the 7 teams in the other division 12 times each (7 x 12 = 84 games), for a total of 162 games. As you can see, under this format a team plays more games against the other division than it plays inside its own.

So, there is a fair degree of variability involved. When it comes to running your own league in OOTP, you can opt to follow whatever format you feel makes for the fairest and truest competition.

kenyan_cheena · 10-29-2004, 06:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Le Grande Orange

As has been stated, balanced schedules are ones which try, as much as possible, to have a team playing all the other clubs in the league the same number of times, and with those matchups being split equally between home and away games as much as possible.

Generally, single division leagues use a balanced schedule. An 8 team league could play 140 games (20 games against each of the 7 other teams) in a season, or 154 games (22 games against each of the 7 other teams), and so on.

Unbalanced schedules normally are used in multi-division leagues, to give some weight to the divisional alignments and make the divisions meaningful. A 12 team league divided into two 6-team divisons could have a team play 18 games against each of its 5 divison rivals (18 x 5 = 90 games) and 12 games against each of the 6 teams in the other division (12 x 6 = 72 games), for a total season of 162 games. A team is thus playing 90 of its 162 games against divisional rivals, making games against those opponents important.

You can have a schedule going anywhere between these values, from strongly unbalanced to only slightly unbalanced. You can also have exceptions, such as when a single division league plays an unbalanced schedule (very common in the Pacific Coast League as well as occurring a few times in the Texas League). Or, you can have a multi-division league playing a balanced or nearly balanced schedule. The AL, for example, from 1979-1993 played a nearly balanced schedule, with a team playing its 6 division rivals 13 times each (6 x 13 = 78 games) and playing the 7 teams in the other division 12 times each (7 x 12 = 84 games), for a total of 162 games. As you can see, under this format a team plays more games against the other division than it plays inside its own.

So, there is a fair degree of variability involved. When it comes to running your own league in OOTP, you can opt to follow whatever format you feel makes for the fairest and truest competition.

Thanks for the info. Much appreciated.

10-28-2004, 10:26 PM	#1
kenyan_cheena Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Sydney, NSW, Australia Posts: 9,037	Balanced or unbalanced schedule? Forgive my ignorance, but what is the difference between these two things? Is it that with a balanced schedule, you play each team the same amount of times, and with an unbalanced schedule, you don't? Thanks.

10-29-2004, 04:37 AM	#4
Le Grande Orange Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Up There Posts: 15,642	As has been stated, balanced schedules are ones which try, as much as possible, to have a team playing all the other clubs in the league the same number of times, and with those matchups being split equally between home and away games as much as possible. Generally, single division leagues use a balanced schedule. An 8 team league could play 140 games (20 games against each of the 7 other teams) in a season, or 154 games (22 games against each of the 7 other teams), and so on. Unbalanced schedules normally are used in multi-division leagues, to give some weight to the divisional alignments and make the divisions meaningful. A 12 team league divided into two 6-team divisons could have a team play 18 games against each of its 5 divison rivals (18 x 5 = 90 games) and 12 games against each of the 6 teams in the other division (12 x 6 = 72 games), for a total season of 162 games. A team is thus playing 90 of its 162 games against divisional rivals, making games against those opponents important. You can have a schedule going anywhere between these values, from strongly unbalanced to only slightly unbalanced. You can also have exceptions, such as when a single division league plays an unbalanced schedule (very common in the Pacific Coast League as well as occurring a few times in the Texas League). Or, you can have a multi-division league playing a balanced or nearly balanced schedule. The AL, for example, from 1979-1993 played a nearly balanced schedule, with a team playing its 6 division rivals 13 times each (6 x 13 = 78 games) and playing the 7 teams in the other division 12 times each (7 x 12 = 84 games), for a total of 162 games. As you can see, under this format a team plays more games against the other division than it plays inside its own. So, there is a fair degree of variability involved. When it comes to running your own league in OOTP, you can opt to follow whatever format you feel makes for the fairest and truest competition.