Is a schedule like this even possible?!

[drksd4848]

First let me just say, mapping out a baseball schedule gives me massive brain cramps. There are people on this forum who are far smarter than I am, so I’ll just ask the question of whether or not this is possible, and forgive me if the answer is beyond obvious):

Either a 154 or a 156 game schedule (whatever works)

32 teams, 2 subleague, 1 division in each subleague with 16 teams in the division. (Essentially, it’s a pre-1969 major league baseball set-up with more teams). One schedule with interleague play, and one schedule without it.

Is something like this possible? I’ve looked around the stickies and I haven’t seen anything like it posted, so I’m assuming not.

[cheo25]

A truly balanced 154- or 156 game schedule without interleague would have you playing every other team (15 teams) in a league 10 times (for 150 games) with 4 or 6 games left over that you would have to assign somewhere. Other prroblem with playing a team 10 times in a season means you're going to have a bunch of two-game series, which are not ideal.

Now, if you broke each league into two 8-team divisions (or 8-team halves in a 16-team league), you could play 7 teams 12 times for 84 games and 8 teams 9 times for 72 games. That gives you 156 and you could do all 3-game series if you wanted. The 9-game format would just be broken up as 6 away/3 home against 4 teams in the other division or other half and 6 home/3 away against the other 4 teams in the other division or other half.

For interleague play, how many games are you wanting? Would you have to play every team in the other league?

[drksd4848]

Originally Posted by cheo25

For interleague play, how many games are you wanting? Would you have to play every team in the other league?

Nah…. It would be whatever number of games works, and luck of the draw in terms of what teams play each other. Now, just asking: would adding two more games to schedule make it work better? Or am I better off just keeping it interleague?

I suppose the simple solution would be to just break the sub leagues up into two divisions. I wanted to keep it to one division (the pre-69 alignment) because of a specific playoff format I’d like to run. Which in and of itself wouldn’t necessarily need the pre-69 alignment, but it looks a lot cleaner that way.

[cheo25]

Going to 156 makes it a little easier, but you could just shave off 2 games, if you wanted. If you wanted to keep it one whole league, you just decide take two sets of matchups and make one home series and one away series one game shorter for each team.

If you went with 9 games against each team (15 others) in one league, that gets you to 135 games. Then you could play 21 interleague games (3 games against 7 opponents). You'd have to maneuver home and away a little bit, but it's doable.

If I were you, I'd go to 156 without interleague. That would be easier to schedule, in my opinion. Do you need that schedule to be made or were you going to do it yourself?

[drksd4848]

Originally Posted by cheo25

Going to 156 makes it a little easier, but you could just shave off 2 games, if you wanted. If you wanted to keep it one whole league, you just decide take two sets of matchups and make one home series and one away series one game shorter for each team.

If you went with 9 games against each team (15 others) in one league, that gets you to 135 games. Then you could play 21 interleague games (3 games against 7 opponents). You'd have to maneuver home and away a little bit, but it's doable.

If I were you, I'd go to 156 without interleague. That would be easier to schedule, in my opinion.

OK, without taking a deep dive to figure out schedule making, let me ask you this: if I upped the schedule to 158, could that accommodate interleague play? Then I would imagine for my league, I would have Interleague play happen once every five years. On years without interleague play, I would run a 156 game schedule, then for the season with Interleague play, I’d run 158, if it could be done.

I’m sure the players union would cry a river, but in my universe I imagine I am Darth Vader and I can make baseball players do anything I want.

(Edit: my crude math tells me 158 wouldn’t make much of a difference. But I’m terrible at math.)

Do you need that schedule to be made or were you going to do it yourself?

Look, if someone was nice enough to make one for me that would be great. But I wouldn't trouble anybody for it.

Part of me thinks I should just read a few tutorials and try myself, although I’d probably need to get a spreadsheet program to do it.

[cheo25]

156 is probably ideal for interleague or no interleague. The difference is that 156 is a multiple of 3, which is ideal for making sure most of your series are 3-game sets. The reason primarily 3-game sets are ideal is because you don't end up with off days on some weekends. And you don't want to have too many 4-game sets because when you pair those with 3-game sets then you usually go at least a week to 10 days without an offday.

158 is not impossible, it just leaves you with a couple of random games to assign somewhere.

Give me 3 or 4 days and I can probably put together a 156-gamer with no interleague. I already sort of know the series blocks, it's just a matter of actually piecing them together throughout the calendar.

Once I have that in place, then I could probably shuffle some of it around to accommodate interleague.

[drksd4848]

Originally Posted by cheo25

156 is probably ideal for interleague or no interleague. The difference is that 156 is a multiple of 3, which is ideal for making sure most of your series are 3-game sets. The reason primarily 3-game sets are ideal is because you don't end up with off days on some weekends. And you don't want to have too many 4-game sets because when you pair those with 3-game sets then you usually go at least a week to 10 days without an offday.

158 is not impossible, it just leaves you with a couple of random games to assign somewhere.

Is that the trick? Are the best schedules lengths the ones divided by 3? Is that the real reason why way back MLB landed at 162?

Give me 3 or 4 days and I can probably put together a 156-gamer with no interleague. I already sort of know the series blocks, it's just a matter of actually piecing them together throughout the calendar.

Once I have that in place, then I could probably shuffle some of it around to accommodate interleague.

Cheo25, you are too kind! Totally not necessary, but this is VERY much appreciated.

I had been resigned to just splitting the sub leagues up into two divisions. I hate divisions though. It allows for too many crappy teams to make the playoffs.

[cheo25]

Here are versions of 154 and 156 games with no interleague, 2 16-team leagues, no divisions. I had the preferred start day on Thursday while I made them, but they're intended to start on a Monday and end on a Sunday. So set the preferred start day to Thursday in your league.

I'll try to get to the 156-gamer with interleague play in the next couple of days.

Is that the real reason why way back MLB landed at 162?

Actually, the schedule went from 154 to 162 in 1961 in the AL when the Angels and new Senators (now the Rangers, the old Senators moved to Minnesota as the Twins that season) were born. At that point, the AL had 10 teams, so they played 9 opponents 18 times for 162. The NL did the same the next year when the Astros and Mets came aboard. It's been 162 in both leagues since.

[drksd4848]

Originally Posted by cheo25

Here are versions of 154 and 156 games with no interleague, 2 16-team leagues, no divisions. I had the preferred start day on Thursday while I made them, but they're intended to start on a Monday and end on a Sunday. So set the preferred start day to Thursday in your league.

I'll try to get to the 156-gamer with interleague play in the next couple of days.

That is so nice of you. Not sure what I could possibly do to in exchange, but please know how appreciative I am. I will enjoy this schedule thoroughly!

Actually, the schedule went from 154 to 162 in 1961 in the AL when the Angels and new Senators (now the Rangers, the old Senators moved to Minnesota as the Twins that season) were born. At that point, the AL had 10 teams, so they played 9 opponents 18 times for 162. The NL did the same the next year when the Astros and Mets came aboard. It's been 162 in both leagues since.

Wow, so I knew the schedule went from 154 to 162 in '61 It's why Roger Maris had that asterisk next to his home run record for so long. What I didn't realize is that the NL didn't do it until 1962! Now that I think about it, it makes sense.

[cheo25]

No problem and nothing needed in exchange. I've gotten great use out of others' logos, uniforms, ballparks, schedules, etc., over the years, so I try to give back when and where I can. That's the purpose of these boards, to help each other.

May be a few more days before I can do an interleague version. Need to properly restructure a schedule for that, and I've got some other things going on. I apologize for any inconvenience the delay causes.

[cheo25]

Actually, I was able to finish up the interleague version (the third file in the attachments). I uploaded the other 2 schedules again, because the file names and the description at the top of the schedule didn't match the proper format and league structure. Hope these work for you.

[drksd4848]

Originally Posted by cheo25

Actually, I was able to finish up the interleague version (the third file in the attachments). I uploaded the other 2 schedules again, because the file names and the description at the top of the schedule didn't match the proper format and league structure. Hope these work for you.

It’s so funny, I finally had a moment to import the schedules and test them out and they weren’t working, I came back to ask you if there was something wrong or if I’m crazy. Turns out I’m not crazy (at least for this). Now these schedules work like a dream!!!

You are a schedule-making wizard! Many many many thanks, cheo! Hopefully they’ll be others out there running a screwy, 32 team, 2 Subleague game, with one 16 team division per sub league who will benefit from this as well. Whew!

[Nzsftbl]

Hello...
Looking for a schedule for this format (2 divisions, each with 16 teams)
With a change:
8 games vs teams in the division, in 4 game series, 1 home and 1 away, 120 games.
4 games vs teams in the other division, in 2 game series, 1 home and 1 away series, 32 games.
Total of 152 games.
Preference of regular MLB setup (weekend series end on Sunday or Monday, weekday series run thru Thursday; +/- 6 months schedule length)
Can anyone help?

[gmo]

Originally Posted by Nzsftbl

Hello...
Looking for a schedule for this format (2 divisions, each with 16 teams)
With a change:
8 games vs teams in the division, in 4 game series, 1 home and 1 away, 120 games.
4 games vs teams in the other division, in 2 game series, 1 home and 1 away series, 32 games.
Total of 152 games.
Preference of regular MLB setup (weekend series end on Sunday or Monday, weekday series run thru Thursday; +/- 6 months schedule length)
Can anyone help?

Hopefully I am not reading this incorrectly, but I am seeing a problem with the math...

• 32 teams in two divisions each with 16 teams
• 8 games against each of the 15 division opponents is 120, so that checks out
• But with 16 opponents in other division, 4 games against each would be 64 games

Could play only one series against each opponent in other division, splitting so play half at home and half away. That would get to the 120+32=152 from 30 four-game series and 16 two-game series.

The problem there is fitting in those consistently into anything like the MLB week format.

To do that in a case with all 2-game & 4-game series I would have a Mon-Tue or Tue-Wed 2-game series then a Thu-Sun 4-game series. That means each team has an offday every week, on either Mon or Wed, depending on when the 2-game series fell. Doing that though requires (nearly) equal numbers of 2-game and 4-game series.

To get to that point given the above 30/16 distribution, some of the 4-game series can be split into pairs of 2-game series. Doing that for two of the 15 division opponents gets to a reasonable balance: 13*2=26 four-game series, (2*4)+(16*1)=24 two-game series.

From that can do 24 full weeks with a 2-game series then a 4-game series. The other two 4-game series can be from starting the season with one on a weekend, and the week of the All-Star Game having one on its weekend. (I am assuming an All-Star Game)

I figure that the main point was getting the equal number of games against each division and interdivision opponent, and that is the best way I see to get there.

However, if there is flexibility in the numbers it is easier to get to an "MLB-looking" schedule of mostly 3-game series, some 4-game series, maybe a few 2-game series, an offday on most weeks but not every single week... E.g., one 3-game series against each of the 16 interdivision opponents, and somewhere from 6 to 9 games against the division opponents.

[Nzsftbl]

So...only one series against each opponent in other division, splitting so play half at home and half away.
My bad for the math.

No All Star Game.

The league recently expanded from 1 league of 20 teams (each playing 4 home and 4 away) to 2 divisions of 16 teams. I wish to keep the 4 home and 4 away of teams in the division.
As for "MLB week format"...I trust you GMO to come up with something similar...and if not, no big deal
Thanks in advance

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by cheo25

Other prroblem with playing a team 10 times in a season means you're going to have a bunch of two-game series, which are not ideal.

Not if you use an uneven home-away split for most series, i.e. 4-6 or 6-4, which would use one 4-game series and two 3-game series. MLB has used such uneven splits for many years now.

[gmo]

#
# 32 team schedule, 152 games
# Designed for the following configuration:
# 1 subleague with 2 divisions of 16 teams
#
#
# 8 games against 15 other teams in division (4H/4A)
# 2 games against each team in other league (2H or 2A)
#
# All interdivision games in 2-game series played early week
# Two division opponents are also played in all 2-game series early week
# Other division games in 4-game series Thu-Sun, except very last series is early week
# Every team has an offday each full week, either on Monday or Wednesday
#
# No homestands or roadtrips longer than 12 games
# No team plays more than 10 straight days without an offday
#
# Teams play 12-13 weekend series at home
#
# All weekday game times set at 7:05pm
# Saturday game times 30%-1:05pm, 20%-4:05pm, 50%-7:05pm
# Sunday game times 60%-1:05pm, 25%-4:05pm, 15%-7:05pm
# Exceptions 1:05pm getaway days (where both teams play elsewhere next day)
#
# Teams play no more than one game per day
# No league-wide offdays
#
# Season begins first Thursday in April
# Season ends late September
# Season spans 176 days
#
# No All-Star Game nor mid-season break
#
# Built 2023-06-04
#

[Nzsftbl]

Thank you VERY MUCH!!