No more Unbalanced Schedule

[Hubs]

I posted on this in the other thread, but I am so excited about this. I didn't hate the unbalanced schedule when we only had a 4 team division, but with 5, you so rarely get to see other teams in the league. And when you lose to the Astros (who were cheating) and A's (who owned us) as often as you did, it makes good teams seem bad.

If they truly are gonna play 29 other teams at least one series, that's huge.

With a 12 team postseason, I think it works better with a 2 division per league set-up. 7 or 8 teams per division, until they expand to 16 teams per league.

It helps to have a rival for this scheduling, but 1/2 teams just don't right now. 

But if they re-align and swap some teams back to their original leagues, or the league they should be in... They should've never allowed the Astros and Brewers to swap, and the Diamondbacks or Rockies should've always been an AL team...

Current Rivals

Dodgers/Angels

Giants/A's

Yankees/Mets

White Sox/Cubs

Indians/Reds

Cardinals/Royals

Nationals/Orioles

Rays/Marlins

New Rivals
Mariners / Portland Expansion (NL)

Astros (Back to NL) / Rangers

Diamondbacks (to AL) / Padres

Braves / Nashville Expansion (AL)

Brewers / Tigers

 

Sort of Rivals

Blue Jays / Pirates

Phillies / Red Sox

Twins / Rockies

 

[AngelsLakersFan]

Seriously? Inter league is such a gimmick. What’s the point of adding all these games against the NL when you aren’t even competing with them for a playoff spot?

[ScottT]

Gimmick?

Great move considering the universal dh.

Angels in Pittsburgh next year? I'm in

[T.G.]

I like this a lot.  It will be nice to have more variety in the schedule.

[bloodbrother]

Expanded playoffs means schedules should be more balanced, so I like it. Gone are the days of teams in bad divisions getting to feast on bad teams for 40+ games.

[Jeff Fletcher]

3 hours ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

Seriously? Inter league is such a gimmick. What’s the point of adding all these games against the NL when you aren’t even competing with them for a playoff spot?

The point is for fans to be able to see all the teams. 

[Angels 1961]

44 minutes ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

The point is for fans to be able to see all the teams. 

I agree baseball fans in NL will get to see Trout and Ohtani it's good for the game. Good luck on book Jeff.

[HanfordGuy]

I like the idea of playing all the teams at least once.

[ScottT]

4 hours ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

The point is for fans to be able to see all the teams. 

It's a beautiful thing

[Hubs]

When we played 57 games against the division, I thought the schedule was good. There was less interleague too, I think 18? 

Playing 76 division games the past 6 seasons though has been terrible. Especially with the Astros cheating. 

Divisions with terrible teams like the NL West and AL East were way unbalanced. 

Let’s go with 56, 46 NL games, 60 AL games.

thats 3 game home and away against all AL teams.
 

An extra 4 game home and away against the AL West teams.

3 game away series (in year one) against the entire NL East and 1/2 the NL west teams.

3 game home series against the entire NL Central and 1/2 the NL west teams,

2 game home and away against the Dodgers.

following year they’d swap and we’d play the NL East and 1/2 the NL west at home.

for the 14 teams that don’t have rivals, I suppose the Phillies / Red Sox can be officially rivals and the Mariners / Padres can be. Rangers / Rockies and Astros/ Dbacks. That leaves Braves/Blue Jays, Brewers/Twins, and Tigers/Pirates. 

A few of those are weird, but can be solved by realigning with expansion. 

 

[Taylor]

15 hours ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

Seriously? Inter league is such a gimmick. What’s the point of adding all these games against the NL when you aren’t even competing with them for a playoff spot?

I like interleague play. 

Playing 18 games against Seattle and Oakland gets old.

[Bronson]

16 hours ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

Seriously? Inter league is such a gimmick. What’s the point of adding all these games against the NL when you aren’t even competing with them for a playoff spot?

Nah we get fucked over ever year playing in a really strong division. I want more games against bottom feeders.

[jsnpritchett]

2 minutes ago, Bronson said:

Nah we get fucked over ever year playing in a really strong division. I want more games against bottom feeders.

Is the division always really that strong, or have the Angels just been really mediocre for a long time?

[Bronson]

1 minute ago, jsnpritchett said:

Is the division always really that strong, or have the Angels just been really mediocre for a long time?

It’s strong, and it’s gotten even stronger..

[Taylor]

8 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

Is the division always really that strong, or have the Angels just been really mediocre for a long time?

The Angels make it strong because the other four teams play the Angels 18 times.

[Adam]

15 hours ago, ScottT said:

Gimmick?

Great move considering the universal dh.

Angels in Pittsburgh next year? I'm in

Me too!

[Blarg]

The purpose of the unbalanced schedule was to allow the Yankees and Red Sox play on ESPN every other week. 

[Hubs]

It's just too many games against four teams. It's half your schedule.

Angels went 29-47 in 2021, 30-46 in 2019, 37-39 in 2018, 39-37 in 2017, and 35-41 in 2016. And in 2015 they were 44-32, 2014 they were 43-33 and 2013 they were 32-44.

This has essentially been the Angels season, as they finished -8 in 2021, with a -18 division record. In 2019, they were -18 and -16 in division. In 2018 -2, -2 in division. 2017 -2, +2 in division, 2016 they were -14, -6 in division. 2015 they were +12 in division, but +8 overall, and in 2014 they were +34 and +10 in division. In 2013 they were -14 and -12 in division.

So major correlation in 2021, 2019, 2018, 2015, 2014, 2013.

 

Only in 16 and 17 does the division record not completely dictate the overall record.

 

I suspect this has been the case for most teams since the Astros were moved over in 2013. Which has led to teams making the playoffs from crap divisions, and then struggling in playoffs. Or teams with poor overall records, dominating in playoffs.

[Angel Oracle]

My guess is this.

12 games each against your division opponents.  48

6 games each against two other divisions’ opponents. 60

3 games each against all teams in other league.  45

Additional 3 game series against 2 teams from other two divisions.  6

Addition 3 game series against your rival in the other league.  3

Or instead of those 3 additional random series, have 9 additional games with your rival in the other league for 12 games total?

 

Edited March 11, 2022 by Angel Oracle

[Hubs]

4 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

My guess is this.

12 games each against your division opponents.  48

6 games each against two other divisions’ opponents. 60

3 games each against all teams in other league.  45

Additional 3 game series against 2 teams from other two divisions.  6

Addition 3 game series against your rival in the other league.  3

That works too, but it's not balanced against teams in your own division. So what if we got the Red Sox as one of the other two AL opponents, and the Astros play. the Orioles?

I'd say 48 is doable against the NL and intradivision, but then you have 66 AL non-division games, and it's not even. 

 

[Angels 1961]

I could not figure the math even with 5 years HS math.

[AngelsLakersFan]

8 hours ago, Taylor said:

I like interleague play. 

Playing 18 games against Seattle and Oakland gets old.

I'd rather see a couple extra series against the Yankees and Red Sox than the Pirates. Sure interleague is cool at first but eventually I just have to wonder what the point is of playing extra series against Colorado or Cincinnati. We may get bored of all the series against Oakland but that is the team the Angels need to beat to get into the playoffs. Without an unbalanced schedule there is no reason to have more than a couple teams in the playoffs.

If anything, the boredom argument is a clue that 162 games is too many, and adding a series against the Marlins and the Phillies isn't going to change that.

[jsnpritchett]

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/03/cba-notes-arbitration-waivers-schedule-ped-testing-minor-league-salary.html

"In a detailed column about the CBA, Stark adds some details about the schedule changes that will begin in 2023. While it had been previously reported that teams would play all 29 of the other squads in the league each year, with the number of divisional games being reduced, the details were not known at the time. Stark lays out the format that will begin next year, with each team playing its divisional rivals 14 times per season, down from 19, for a total of 56. Teams in the same league but not the same division will be played six times each, a total of 60. When it comes to interleague play, each team has a “rival” that they will play four times, with three games against the other 14 teams in the opposite league. That amounts to 46 total interleague games. All of those categories are evenly split between road and home, except for the final one. In the case of the 14 non-rival teams that are in the opposite league, the home team for the three-game series will alternate from year to year."