Rainouts/Rescheduling Games

[Molson123]

I think it would be really neat if you could have rainouts and then have to reschedule the game later in the season for an off day or doubleheader. That would give full control of what the GM's job is like. I have not had a rained out game yet.

[Dan Theman]

I'd enjoy rainouts and doubleheaders, although I've been accused of being a masochist in the past

[Eugene Church]

I play doubleheaders in my leagues and it has worked very well.

I have to use relievers as starters to do this because the starters are not rested. It makes for a more realistic game. I sim the first 6 innings of a game and then play out the rest, so I can make pitching changes and subs in the game. The AI can't start a reliever...except the spot starter...and it doesn't really handle a pitching staff realistically. I control all teams in my leagues. It would take too much time to play out the entire game. The six inning sim works well because very few subs are make in the first six innings.

Agree that rainouts would add another element of realism to the game.

[O-Man]

AN ABSOLUTE MUST

I've been preaching for that for awhile. That'd just about make it as real as it could get. Of course they'd have to program the game to count the game if its after 4.5 with the home team winning, etc. and put all those rules into effect.

And maybe, just to make everyone happy - it could be an option.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by Molson123

I think it would be really neat if you could have rainouts and then have to reschedule the game later in the season for an off day or doubleheader.

Except that you'd probably have to do the rescheduling for all the other computer controlled teams as well. In a large league with a stretch of bad weather, this could get to be a lot of games. I doubt the AI could ever be programmed to properly reschedule games automatically, as there are quite a few elements to juggle. And even then, sometimes games aren't even made up at all.

Would make for an interesting addition though if it could be done.

Besides the issue of rain-shortened games, how about throwing in some tie games too while we're at it. Rare these days, but in early years tie games were somewhat more frequent when darkness or rain would end a game with the score tied. That game would have to be replayed just like a postponed game would have to be.

[ODERED]

What would be so difficult about programming the game to reschedule rained out games? You simply:

(a) pick an arbitrary date later in the season when both teams have off-days

(b) when that day arrives, the pitching rotations pick up as if they never missed a beat (i.e., #3 starter pitched day before, #4 starter pitches on day of makeup)

(c) if end of season arrives and there are still makeup days then teams that missed games because of rainouts will have their eligibility to make the playoffs dependant on their winning percentages, which is how it's basically done anyway.

[Le Grande Orange]

Except it's not that simple in the real world. The make up dates are not arbitrarily assigned.

To start, by major league rules, a postponed game must first be made up in the city where the game was originally scheduled for play if at all possible. If a team still has games left to play in that city, then the game would most likely be added as a second game of a doubleheader. Off days are rarely in common for teams and thus are unlikely to be used for make up games. On top of that, adding in extra travel and travelling costs is something teams frown upon, so playing a 1-game series to make up a game is only used as a very last resort.

If a team has no visits left to the opposing city, then the game is made up in the other team's park. This is how some teams end up playing more than half their games at home. As before, it is normally tacked on to create a doubleheader.

Now, start adding in all the postponements and then trying to factor in which games can be made up in the original park and which have to be made up in the other team's park, and things start getting complicated. Not only that, but make up games are not randomly dropped into the schedule but are usually targetted for weekends where possible to (hopefully) boost attendance a bit. This was especially true in earlier years.

(c) if end of season arrives and there are still makeup days then teams that missed games because of rainouts will have their eligibility to make the playoffs dependant on their winning percentages, which is how it's basically done anyway.

This is only partially correct. By major league rules, any postponed game having a bearing on the pennant race is to be replayed, even if such replaying has to take place AFTER the scheduled end of the regular season. The first version of this rule came into effect for the 1951 season.

Prior to that time, all postponed games had to be made up before the scheduled end of the season. If they were not, then they weren't replayed. The result of this was the possibility of a team winning or losing the pennant at the end of the season due to a postponement, which is why the rule was eventually changed.