Need help to align game series

[Kirby Paquette]

my goal is to generate a 140 games schedules for 18 teams. I have based this on the 2017 Eastern League schedules. I just added a third division of 6 teams to the already existing 12 teams.

I ended up with all the games series combinations and it is very complicated, I can not assemble it by hand. I don't even know if this can be done at all.

Is it possible to computer generate them?

I need 9 games series per lanes. This should give 42 lanes displaying the 18 teams playing one against another.

[bwburke94]

The important thing to note in this kind of schedule is that there are five different possible types of half-weeks:

* 1 type where all three divisions play within themselves
* 1 type where all three divisions play against each other
* 3 types where one division plays within themselves and the other divisions play against each other

You'll need to run the numbers and come up with the right number of half-weeks for each type. (Note that because we're dealing with the minors, it's possible a "half-week" crosses the Sunday/Monday boundary, unlike in MLB.)

After that's done, schedule each type of half-week separately before placing them on the schedule. Think of it as five separate schedules that intersect.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by Kirby Paquette

I have based this on the 2017 Eastern League schedules.

Don't. The (real-life) 2017 Eastern League schedule is a chaotic mess, with no consistency in terms of the number of games against each divisional and non-divisional opponent. You have instances where a club is slated to play many more games against a team in the other division than a team within its own division, and each club plays a different total number of games within its division.

The Eastern League used to use a 20-7 format (20 games against each divisional opponent and 7 games against each team in the other division. 20*5=100, 6*7=42, 100+42=142), but it abandoned that some years ago in favour of I would say is almost a random approach in terms of assigning the number of match-ups against other teams. (This 'random' or 'chaotic' scheduling method is now used by nearly every affiliated minor league.)

If you want something manageable as the basis for a league with 6-team divisions, i suggest using an NL schedule from 1989-1991 as the basis. That will give you 18 games against each division rival (90 games total), and you can then split in half the 72 non-division games of 12 games against each non-division opponent in the NL schedule, assigning half those interdivisional games to your third division, meaning for your league each club plays 6 games against each of the 12 teams outside its division (which is still 72 non-division games in total). The NL schedule also features almost uniformly clean divisional and interdivisional play segments in its schedule, making it each to rearrange the interdivisional games without interfering with the divisional games.

ETA: If you must have something in the 140-game range rather than a major league 162 games, then you could edit down the NL schedule. The final ten series feature all-division contests, with each club playing one series at home and one away against each of the other five teams in the division, so you could use that as a full chunk and sprinkle in interdivisional sections before or after. (There were other sections of division and inter division games only you could use)

Alternatively, you choose an older Eastern League schedule which used the 20-7 format. I forget the specific year the Eastern League changed schedule format; but certainly a 2007 or earlier Eastern League schedule will be using that format. Not sure how consistent EL schedule are, though, in terms of all teams playing either division or non-division games at the same time. You would have to alter the interdivisional games, and they won't split in half exactly to factor in a second outside division (i.e. it's either 3 and 4, or 4 and 3).

[Le Grande Orange]

Here is the match-up grid for the 2017 Eastern League schedule:

              BIN  HAR  NEW  POR  REA  TRE    AKR  ALT  BOW  ERI  HAR  RIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Binghamton      -   15   21   20    7    6     19    6    6   19   14    7 
Hartford       15    -   19   21   10   16      6    9   10    7   14   13 
New Hampshire  21   19    -   22   20   21      6    7    6    6    6    6 
Portland       20   21   22    -   21   19      6    6    6    6    7    6 
Reading         7   10   20   21    -   14     13    6   15    7   14   13 
Trenton         6   16   21   19   14    -      9   13    7   14   10   11 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Akron          19    6    6    6   13    9      -   20   19   16   13   13 
Altoona         6    9    7    6    6   13     20    -   19   21   17   16 
Bowie           6   10    6    6   15    7     19   19    -   18   12   22 
Erie           19    7    6    6    7   14     16   21   18    -   13   13 
Harrisburg     14   14    6    7   14   10     13   17   12   13    -   20 
Richmond        7   13    6    6   13   11     13   16   22   13   20    -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total         140  140  140  140  140  140    140  140  140  140  140  140 

Division       69   81  103  103   72   76     81   93   90   81   75   84 
Interdiv       71   59   37   37   68   64     59   47   50   59   65   56

As is evident, the distribution of match-ups does not follow any sort of rational pattern, and pays little respect to an opponent being a divisional or interdivisional team.

The home-away split of those specific match-ups, incidentally, isn't any better. Those 15 games Binghamton and Hartford play against each other? 11 are played at the former and 4 at the latter. The 19 games Akron plays against Bowie? 12 are played in Akron and 7 in Bowie.

Originally Posted by Le Grande Orange

choose an older Eastern League schedule which used the 20-7 format. I forget the specific year the Eastern League changed schedule format; but certainly a 2007 or earlier Eastern League schedule will be using that format.

I just checked, and in fact the Eastern League's 'random/chaotic' scheduling format goes back to the 2005 season. So you'd want to use a 2004 or earlier Eastern League schedule if you want one with a (sensible) fixed format of match-ups.

[bwburke94]

Originally Posted by Le Grande Orange

Those 15 games Binghamton and Hartford play against each other? 11 are played at the former and 4 at the latter.

Is this possibly a result of Hartford's stadium situation?

[Kirby Paquette]

Although it looks chaotic there are some consistencies. The 6 teams in the same division played 60% of their games inside the division and 40% against division rivals. Although, just one team played exactly that ratio. There are teams that even played more games against division rivals than inside their division.

All teams played 14 4-games series (7 at home, 7 on the road) and 28 3-games series (14 at home, 14 on the road).

The Schedule is pretty chaotic but I am still working on it hoping to resolve this puzzle pretty soon. I hope to have this schedule in the next 2 weeks, I hope some will enjoy it.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by bwburke94

Is this possibly a result of Hartford's stadium situation?

No, you can find lots of similarly unequal home-away distributions. Most minor leagues use this 'random-ish' scheduling format, and have been for some time. I don't have the data handy at the moment, but I can check later what the exact count was for the 2017 season. (One stalwart of a standardized format, the International League, dropped it for this year, though its distribution of match-ups was still relatively systematized.)

Originally Posted by Kirby Paquette

Although it looks chaotic there are some consistencies. The 6 teams in the same division played 60% of their games inside the division and 40% against division rivals. Although, just one team played exactly that ratio. There are teams that even played more games against division rivals than inside their division.

Compared to the 20-7 format days, the current Eastern League schedule is a mess. You'd probably have an easier time modifying a pre-2005 EL schedule.

The text from the press release from 2005 which described the change in the EL schedule talked about emphasizing local/geographic match-ups. Which begs the question, why not arrange the league's division to do that instead of having the schedule do it? (Of course, other minor leagues have taken the 'fix the alignment with the schedule' approach too.)

Originally Posted by Kirby Paquette

The Schedule is pretty chaotic but I am still working on it hoping to resolve this puzzle pretty soon. I hope to have this schedule in the next 2 weeks, I hope some will enjoy it.

Well, you started off with one of the harder sources, so you are certainly giving yourself a good challenge!

[Kirby Paquette]

Out of curiosity... why was there no game scheduled in the Eastern League on Sunday April 16 2017?

This seems odd, no Baseball on a Sunday!!!

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by Kirby Paquette

Out of curiosity... why was there no game scheduled in the Eastern League on Sunday April 16 2017?

This seems odd, no Baseball on a Sunday!!!

Easter Sunday.

[bwburke94]

I know it's called the Eastern League, but that's still a weird situation. You still see games on holidays most of the time.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by bwburke94

I know it's called the Eastern League, but that's still a weird situation. You still see games on holidays most of the time.

True, but a few leagues do schedule a league-wide off day on Easter Sunday. It's not consistent, though, and the date for Easter Sunday can vary quite a bit year to year.