standard game schedule from 2025 on

[md5423]

Originally Posted by Baseballman2K5

In the preseason you can change the schedule.

Go to Game Settings>League Settings>Options>Edit League Schedule...then click "actions" in the top right, and then "Import from File".

Import the file highlighted in the picture and keep Force start on Thursday. It will revert back to the 2023 format and return to normal Monday/Thursday offdays.

What happens with the 2024 is it still tries to schedule an "overseas" game on March 20, which is now a Friday in 2025.

This help is courtesy of Le Grande Orange who helped me figure this out

Will I need to do this every season or will just doing it once keep it for all future seasons? Thanks!

[NoOne]

You can name 2 files "_C_league name_A.lsdl" and "_C_league name_B.lsdl" and it will rotate beyween those two files.

e.g. iln_bgn_S1_D10_C_mlb_a.lsdl and iln_bgn_S1_D10_C_mlb_b.lsdl

After "C_" is the comment section of the file name.

check out old version of manual for nomenclature... this series of schedues is explained there and likely some other tidbits of use.

-- where MLB is the name of the league - MLB.lg is the league folder etc...

If it's named for the league and you make a A and B copy, it will forever rotate between those two or more files.

you can also have 1 league schedule file and it will mix up the matchups while retaining same days off for each team. Put the name of the league into comment section of league schedule file, after "C_"

By putting the name of the leageu into comment section, it should automatically use that file each year.

so, you can regenerat schedules until you find one you like or use the schedule generator in the mod forums - i'm sure it's still available and if not ask i'll post it on some free file sharing service -- i did not make it. It's a bit difficult to use, especially if you have no spreadsheet experience, but it definitely works. you have to enter in all the matchups though and that takes time and some organizational skills to do it well.


i've made a few custom schedules. 6days on, 1 day off, and it starts on tuedsay with monday off. this better evens out revenue realted to games/attendance. less likely one teams gets totally screwed by RNG, lol. fri-sat-sun get attendance boosts. you can charge more onthese days and still reach full capacity just like you can for playoff games and with greater accumulation of wins throughout year. No team gets stuck with a 25-day streak of games etc. Monday is the worst day to play anyway.

my (3) 10 team divisions only play within their division and it's a balanced schedule. The in-game generator can't do that.

pretty sure the game comes with one or two of my schedules.. someone out there made 100s of them, lol, so that's not bragging. the balanced 28t 162 game schedule is mine, if it exists...

[NoOne]

https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...d.php?t=259786

This is not the one i recall, but i assume it works. The one i downlaoded long ago from these forums was just a spreadsheet. you had to work out matchups, input them then do a little copy/past and it'd parse and create the lsdl text you coudl copy and paste into a simple notepad and save.

Okay this attached file is not my work. i could not find it in the schedule-mod forum, but it may be there still. I renamed this "original" because i edit and use a different file. this is a stored backup the same as if you downloaded from the forums in 2015 or whenver it was last updated.

lol, invalid file, file too large, jfc... finally got it to attach.

[moore4807]

I started the Oakland A's in 2024 and had no problems with 2024 schedule. I (surprisingly) remembered to check in preseason and had to clear and generate a fictional 2025 season schedule due to the scheduler swinging the games to Sat, Sun, Mon, but it handled the problem with little more than clearing the schedule under MLB game settings and generating a fictional schedule. Now the baseball gods decided that MLB needed two more teams for 2026 and I blindly and willingly went along welcoming Oklahoma City Drillers and Canton (OH) Comets to the AL Central and NL Central respectively.

NOW comes my problems - I get to the preseason fully expecting to have to regenerate a new schedule with the 32 teams. I looked in the schedules file and see around 10 formats for 32 teams and even see the 32 team schedule with the T5/T6/T5 format for both sub-leagues, BUT when I try to load it - it says it doesn't match the parameters (LeGrande Oranges point about interleague play seems right on here) but is particularly vexing to me is no matter WHAT I choose to generate or attempt to use a pre-generated schedule - it is ONLY letting me start on April 5th 2026...

Even if I change the date on the calendar to April 2 (Thursday start) the games generate to the April 5th date (even trying to make preseason games gave me the same start date!) and there is no option to move the games - so I erased the schedule and now I'm out of ideas and patience.. Am I going to have to create a schedule by hand or how do I change the rule for interleague now I'm into the preseason? or start over and just eliminate expansion possibilities? any suggestions or help is greatly appreciated as I'm at a standstill here.

[stevezog1]

I solved this issue by moving to wednesday start in the options settings. I haven't started a new save with the new patch yet but it solved the problem with the previous patch

[moore4807]

Originally Posted by stevezog1

I solved this issue by moving to wednesday start in the options settings. I haven't started a new save with the new patch yet but it solved the problem with the previous patch

Thanks for your reply, I had done the same thing and tried to make Thursday April 2nd 2026 my start date by checking the force game to start on Thursday in the game settings but it was starting my A's off with a Sunday/Monday 2 game set against the Angels (even though I had chosen three games in the setup) and then a day off followed by borking the schedule with a Wed/Thu/Frid set against the Mariners and the Sat/Sun/Mon set back against the Angels again, and the entire schedule was trash from there.

As I said earlier, I had played around with the schedule importer and found the 32 team 162 game schedule with the correct sub-league and divisional team setup, but the game repeatedly rejected the imported schedule, then I remembered what LaGrande Orange's post had said about interleague play not being workable, I unchecked that box in the settings and this time the importer accepted the schedule! BUT the dates were still borked to start April 5th and the offset weekend into Monday problem remains. I've tried unchecking the box for a forced day of the week start and even selected EVERY day as far forward as April 15th trying to get the Monday/Thursday off days correct in the schedule, but still no luck. Still stuck here... lol
I'm thinking of just trashing this game and starting again, except I have gotten myself invested and interested in the franchise that has apparently
turned it around and hiring Joe Girardi as the skipper of essentially this low budget farm team who are relying heavily on drafted rookies and low-price free agents - I finished 2025 in 3rd place (79-83) in an admittedly weak AL West division with the owner pocketing a cool $68M after my costs were only $89M to run the team all season...

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by moore4807

As I said earlier, I had played around with the schedule importer and found the 32 team 162 game schedule with the correct sub-league and divisional team setup, but the game repeatedly rejected the imported schedule, then I remembered what LaGrande Orange's post had said about interleague play not being workable, I unchecked that box in the settings and this time the importer accepted the schedule! BUT the dates were still borked to start April 5th and the offset weekend into Monday problem remains. I've tried unchecking the box for a forced day of the week start and even selected EVERY day as far forward as April 15th trying to get the Monday/Thursday off days correct in the schedule, but still no luck.

Open up that schedule file, copy the header, and paste it into a new post. There seems to be a mismatch between what's specified in the file header and what settings are selected inside the game. (Any OOTP schedule file can be opened by right-clicking on it and selecting Notepad or WordPad to open it -- it'll open fine.)

[moore4807]

Originally Posted by Le Grande Orange

Open up that schedule file, copy the header, and paste it into a new post. There seems to be a mismatch between what's specified in the file header and what settings are selected inside the game. (Any OOTP schedule file can be opened by right-clicking on it and selecting Notepad or WordPad to open it -- it'll open fine.)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>

<SCHEDULE type="ILN_BGN_G162_SL1_D1_T5_D2_T6_D3_T5_SL2_D1_T5 _D2_T6_D3_T5_C_" inter_league="0" balanced_games="0" games_per_team="162" start_month="4" start_day="1" start_day_of_week="2" allstar_game_day="100">

I read this and assumed the "start day" was from the settings selections but no matter by changing the dates, with NO forced start day, from the 1st of April to the 15th of April and loading this schedule - its either a Sunday start (first day of the week in computer programming?) or a Saturday, Sunday, Monday 3 game series start which borks the rest of the season for Monday & Thursday off days.

Thank you for your help with this - I thought I could find a workaround but in this case, it's got me stumped n stupid!

[snepp]

That schedule loaded fine for me in a quick fictional test. I was able to load it both manually and by using the "load default schedule" option.

Force start on weekday - unchecked (will auto change)
Auto adjust date - checked (changes the weekday start)
Balanced - unchecked
Interleague - unchecked

Season starts on Monday, April 6th, 2026 (the schedule dictates a Monday opener), all off-days are Mondays and Thursdays.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by moore4807

<SCHEDULE type="ILN_BGN_G162_SL1_D1_T5_D2_T6_D3_T5_SL2_D1_T5 _D2_T6_D3_T5_C_" inter_league="0" balanced_games="0" games_per_team="162" start_month="4" start_day="1" start_day_of_week="2" allstar_game_day="100">

start_month="4" means April
start_day="1" means the 1st day of the month
start_day_of_week="2" means Monday

Putting it all together it means the schedule would start on the first Monday on or after April 1st. In 2022 the season would open on Monday, April 4th; in 2023 it would open on Monday, April 3rd; in 2024 it would open on Monday, April 1st; and so on.

Note that this behavior can be overridden by settings set inside the game options.

[snepp]

Originally Posted by snepp

Season starts on Monday, April 6th, 2026 (the schedule dictates a Monday opener), all off-days are Mondays and Thursdays.

If you don't like the start to be that late (I don't), you can back it up to the previous Monday.

Force start - Monday (this is important in case you forget to double check the schedule in future seasons)

Start date - March 30 (as noted by the esteemed Orange, this is an "on or after" check, the day of week is the most important part)

Reload schedule.

[moore4807]

Originally Posted by Le Grande Orange

start_month="4" means April
start_day="1" means the 1st day of the month
start_day_of_week="2" means Monday

Putting it all together it means the schedule would start on the first Monday on or after April 1st. In 2022 the season would open on Monday, April 4th; in 2023 it would open on Monday, April 3rd; in 2024 it would open on Monday, April 1st; and so on.

Note that this behavior can be overridden by settings set inside the game options.

Ok that makes sense - I just have to now admit that "I" have borked this scheduler, although I cannot figure out for the life of me how I did it! I followed your instructions and it loaded "OK" but when I went to the A's team schedule it STILL shows starting Sunday 4/5/26 and Monday 4/6/26 a two game set against the Angels still then a day off (Tuesday) then the Mariners for Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, followed by Saturday, Sunday, Monday against the Angels again. I doubled checked and all my games are against A.L. teams so that part seems to be fixed. Maybe the team schedule is showing it wrong?


OK OK - the settings options scheduler seems to show the season starting on the April 1st date and the teams are following the correct schedule - I'm thinking I reset the schedule so many times that the game got hung up... after shutting it completely down and starting it up - it now is doing what you both said it should... <grin> the power of stupidity in man is amazing, until I'm the stupid one!! <grin>

T H A N K Y O U @stevezog1, @LaGrande Orange, and @snepp for all the help!!!!!

[moore4807]

Sometimes ya just gotta laugh...
I said in an earlier post how I got invested in this A's team and the 2025 season saw them finish just a couple games under .500 with a lot of rookies and low-priced players and free agents which made the owner a ton of money...

Well after I was helped back into the game for 2026 (see above), I did my GM duties mostly by simming and watching some this train wreck season play out until today (June 15th, 2026), and the Athletics have turned into the lovable losers again. There were so many close games and missed chances, but now two eight game losing streaks have left my team with a 23-41 record (5th A.L. West) and every offense category is ranked 16th in the A.L. except SB's (t-2nd) and baserunning (7th)!!

While the team is happy, the G.M. is NOT happy and I've let go around 3 relievers who have good numbers, but horrible records... I'm starting to churn the nonproductive players out of the club - but it is likely too late to change the course of this ship.

Cue the "Major Leagues" movie scene where the two groundskeepers comment to each other "Team is s*itty again" lol!

[Baseballman2K5]

Originally Posted by md5423

Will I need to do this every season or will just doing it once keep it for all future seasons? Thanks!

I just came here searching for this thread to ask the exact question...more specifically, how do we keep it as the 2023 schedule without having to load it each preseason? I had to load it again the next season, as well as move Rookie ball back to July 4 start date (for draftees).

Is there a way where I don't have to upload the schedule/change the schedule every offseason?

Thanks.

I suspect Le Grande Orange will know...always a big help

[Baseballman2K5]

I'm also curious how to get a schedule that shuffles the teams you play on different days than the previous season.

If I keep loading the 2023 schedule for each year, I play the same teams at the same time every year. If I go into edit league schedule > shuffle teams...it will shuffle the teams but revert to the 2024 schedule.

Is there any schedule file for a standard 162 game league that will have Mondays/Thursdays as off-days and rotate when you play certain teams year by year?

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by Baseballman2K5

Is there a way where I don't have to upload the schedule/change the schedule every offseason?

I don't know as there's an apparent bug with the MLB league. Fictional leagues are.fine.

Originally Posted by Baseballman2K5

I'm also curious how to get a schedule that shuffles the teams you play on different days than the previous season.

If I keep loading the 2023 schedule for each year, I play the same teams at the same time every year. If I go into edit league schedule > shuffle teams...it will shuffle the teams but revert to the 2024 schedule.

There is a workaround to the apparent bug, but it requires manual work: edit the 2023 schedule and swap around the teams in the schedule slots to produce new versions, and then save those variants.

The easiest variant to make is by reversing all the home and away teams. That is, make all the 2023 home teams the road teams, and all the road teams the home teams. Granted, this is not a big difference, but the schedule will at least look a little different. It also has the advantage of keeping the 'traditional rivals' playing their four interleague games against each other, and the three interleague games either home or away against the other interleague opponents will be properly alternated.

If you want a more robust variant, then swap around the teams within the schedule slots. But don't do this randomly. Instead, carefully choose the swaps. Doing so will mean the 'traditional rivals' will keep playing their four interleague games against each other, i.e. the Yankees will play the Mets four times, the Cubs will play the White Sox four times, etc. Here's how to do that.

First, take note of the 'traditional rival' match-ups:

BAL-WAS
BOS-ATL
NYA-NYN
TBA-MIA
TOR-PHI
---------------
CHA-CHN
CLE-CIN
DET-PIT
KCA-SLN
MIN-MIL
---------------
ANA-LAN
HOU-COL
OAK-SFN
SEA-SDN
TEX-ARI

When swapping teams, have the above pairs swap together. For example, if you're creating a variant by giving NYA the schedule of TOR, then be sure to give NYN the schedule of PHI. The result will be the Mets and Yankees playing four times in your completed variant. Swap the teams in a division around the schedule slots with the foregoing in mind and you'll end up with a schedule that looks fairly different but with the 'traditional rival' interleague games intact.

The drawback to team swapping is that the three interleague games home or away probably won't be correctly alternated compared to the base 2023 schedule. This can be addressed by making a straight home team/away team reversal of the finished team swapped variant. You'll now have four schedule files (2023 and its home/away reversal, and the team swap variant plus its home/away reversal). Over the course of the four schedules the three interleague games home or away will be properly alternated.

If you want more schedule variation then create yet another team swap variant along with its home/away reversal. Now you have six schedule files to cycle through for your MLB league.

You can use any spreadsheet app to edit OOTP schedule files.

[Baseballman2K5]

Originally Posted by Le Grande Orange

I don't know as there's an apparent bug with the MLB league. Fictional leagues are.fine.


There is a workaround to the apparent bug, but it requires manual work: edit the 2023 schedule and swap around the teams in the schedule slots to produce new versions, and then save those variants.

The easiest variant to make is by reversing all the home and away teams. That is, make all the 2023 home teams the road teams, and all the road teams the home teams. Granted, this is not a big difference, but the schedule will at least look a little different. It also has the advantage of keeping the 'traditional rivals' playing their four interleague games against each other, and the three interleague games either home or away against the other interleague opponents will be properly alternated.

If you want a more robust variant, then swap around the teams within the schedule slots. But don't do this randomly. Instead, carefully choose the swaps. Doing so will mean the 'traditional rivals' will keep playing their four interleague games against each other, i.e. the Yankees will play the Mets four times, the Cubs will play the White Sox four times, etc. Here's how to do that.

First, take note of the 'traditional rival' match-ups:

BAL-WAS
BOS-ATL
NYA-NYN
TBA-MIA
TOR-PHI
---------------
CHA-CHN
CLE-CIN
DET-PIT
KCA-SLN
MIN-MIL
---------------
ANA-LAN
HOU-COL
OAK-SFN
SEA-SDN
TEX-ARI

When swapping teams, have the above pairs swap together. For example, if you're creating a variant by giving NYA the schedule of TOR, then be sure to give NYN the schedule of PHI. The result will be the Mets and Yankees playing four times in your completed variant. Swap the teams in a division around the schedule slots with the foregoing in mind and you'll end up with a schedule that looks fairly different but with the 'traditional rival' interleague games intact.

The drawback to team swapping is that the three interleague games home or away probably won't be correctly alternated compared to the base 2023 schedule. This can be addressed by making a straight home team/away team reversal of the finished team swapped variant. You'll now have four schedule files (2023 and its home/away reversal, and the team swap variant plus its home/away reversal). Over the course of the four schedules the three interleague games home or away will be properly alternated.

If you want more schedule variation then create yet another team swap variant along with its home/away reversal. Now you have six schedule files to cycle through for your MLB league.

You can use any spreadsheet app to edit OOTP schedule files.

Thanks for the reply. I'm just not smart enough with PCs to mess around with the schedule like that, especially involving excel spreadsheets. When I've loaded the 2023 schedule again in preseason, i try to mix up the schedule but it just doesn't do it using the "shuffle teams" option.

Does anyone know if the latest patch fixed 2024 schedule to be used each year with differentiation in the schedule and no more overseas game in late March?

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by Baseballman2K5

Thanks for the reply. I'm just not smart enough with PCs to mess around with the schedule like that, especially involving excel spreadsheets.

Spreadsheets make it easier but aren't required. You could do it all in WordPad, although you would have to plan ahead and do all the Search & Replace sweeps in carefully organized steps. Not difficult to do, just tedious.