LadyStanley
Registered User
MLB 2023 regular season schedule: 5 things to know about the upcoming season
Opening Day is March 30 and fans from all 30 MLB teams should be pumped about that.
sports.yahoo.com
And a few other marketing promos.
MLB 2023 schedule. 30 teams open 3/30. London series. Play at least one series against all teams
- Thread starter LadyStanley
- Start date
sports.yahoo.com
And a few other marketing promos.
The players can't possibly be fine with doing this. I expect the balanced schedule to be rolled back in the future. The balanced schedule is really bad for MLB because it has far fewer off days than the other major leagues (in the case of the NFL, teams only need to play once a week, though each team does have a bye week).
Under my proposed changes to MLB, only ET/CT teams would be eligible to play in Latin America (including Puerto Rico) and Europe, while only the Western teams can play in East Asia and perhaps Australia.
Under my proposed changes to MLB, only ET/CT teams would be eligible to play in Latin America (including Puerto Rico) and Europe, while only the Western teams can play in East Asia and perhaps Australia.
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With the reduced number of games (and series) against division rivals, the numbers should be close to balanced out
Current
18-19 x 4 div teams = 24 series
6-7 x 10 intraleague teams = 20 series
3-4 x 5 interleague teams = 6 series
4 x 1 natural rival = 2 series
52 series
From next year
13 x 4 div teams = 16 series
6-7 x 10 intraleague teams = 20 series
3x 14 interleague teams = 14 series
4x 1 'natural rival' team = 2 series
52 series
My hope is that they eventually tighten it up a bit to something like
14 x 4 div
6 x 10 intra
3 x 14 inter
4 x 1 rival
All of this clearly paves the way for an eventual expansion to 32 teams
14 x 3 div = 12 series
6 x 12 intra = 24 series
3 x 16 inter = 16 series
Scrap natural rivals
52 series
Current
18-19 x 4 div teams = 24 series
6-7 x 10 intraleague teams = 20 series
3-4 x 5 interleague teams = 6 series
4 x 1 natural rival = 2 series
52 series
From next year
13 x 4 div teams = 16 series
6-7 x 10 intraleague teams = 20 series
3x 14 interleague teams = 14 series
4x 1 'natural rival' team = 2 series
52 series
My hope is that they eventually tighten it up a bit to something like
14 x 4 div
6 x 10 intra
3 x 14 inter
4 x 1 rival
All of this clearly paves the way for an eventual expansion to 32 teams
14 x 3 div = 12 series
6 x 12 intra = 24 series
3 x 16 inter = 16 series
Scrap natural rivals
52 series
awfulwaffle
Registered User
GKJ
Global Moderator
- Feb 27, 2002
- 187,243
- 39,285
When you combine that with having to travel to 22 different opposing ballparks it is a nightmare.
awfulwaffle
Registered User
Depends on the schedule. If you are an east coast team flying out to west coast, yeah, have a day off. But going from arizona to San Diego, then LA, then San Fran, I'm not going to worry about these grown men that make millions of dollars getting a day off in that stretch.
I want to reduce the amount of games where the visiting team is crossing the CT/MT line by a large amount. My proposed changes (including my new four-league alignment) will accomplish this. Besides, I think it is in MLB's best interests to have over 200 games between two teams from California each season, This would actually serve to intensify the individual rivalries between the California teams (outside of Dodgers-Giants, which is already pretty intense), especially those between a former AL team and a former NL team.
Versus this season a team plays at 14 in their league plus 3 more for the other league. That being the Brewers.
I assume that other MLB teams also played at 17 road ballparks.
PCSPounder
Stadium Groupie
If your concern is reducing travel- and I get where that comment is coming from- limiting it by time zones is negligible.
The local minor league here, and from what I’m seeing, others as well, now resort to 6-game series, generally with Monday off. Do that in division (and perhaps in league) in the majors and you’ll reduce travel enough so it’s barely a concern. One plus is a more consistent schedule.
Will that be compelling television? That’s another matter.
The local minor league here, and from what I’m seeing, others as well, now resort to 6-game series, generally with Monday off. Do that in division (and perhaps in league) in the majors and you’ll reduce travel enough so it’s barely a concern. One plus is a more consistent schedule.
Will that be compelling television? That’s another matter.
My proposed alignment turns all series with the road team crossing the CT/MT line into interleague games. 72 of those would have an ET/CT team as the road team, one 3-game series for each team.
The other 72 have the PCL teams as the road team, three 3-game series for each team, all played on one road trip. Under my new schedule format, all interleague games are played in a 42-day stretch from the third Monday in May through the Sunday that falls between June 25 and July 1. PCL teams, as they would only play 18 interleague games, would only participate in the last 21 days of this stretch, while the ET/CT teams, who play 36, would take part throughout the entire period. All interleague games would now be 6-game home-and-homes, with 20 geographic matchups among ET/CT teams taking place on an annual basis.
The other 72 have the PCL teams as the road team, three 3-game series for each team, all played on one road trip. Under my new schedule format, all interleague games are played in a 42-day stretch from the third Monday in May through the Sunday that falls between June 25 and July 1. PCL teams, as they would only play 18 interleague games, would only participate in the last 21 days of this stretch, while the ET/CT teams, who play 36, would take part throughout the entire period. All interleague games would now be 6-game home-and-homes, with 20 geographic matchups among ET/CT teams taking place on an annual basis.
Gnashville
HFBoards Hall of Famer
They play 162 games in some extreme weather conditions (mostly heat) not exactly easy.
Hockeyholic
Registered User
IU Hawks fan
They call me IU
Yes. Lots of us.
KevFu
Registered User
The new schedule is really dumb, but this is how baseball does dumb things: slowly. No one seemed to mind "year-round" interleague when it was introduced because it came 20 years after interleague.
Now that there's been year-round interleague for almost 10 years (or however long the Astros have been in the AL)... playing everyone once isn't cause for freak out. And the Stupid Manfred Plan is probably "after expansion, radical geographical realignment." They're doing this NOW so they can say "well, you play everyone every year anyway, do we really need AL/NL anymore?"
And the answer is yes. There's too many teams to play everyone "the right number" of times. It's terrible for travel. And everyone tends to look at it like "Baseball has 162 games, they can play everyone."
But they really have LESS "schedule inventory" than NBA and NHL. Those leagues have 82 GAMES. MLB has 54 series.
KevFu
Registered User
It's also dumb competitively.
They want to put an emphasis on winning the division so you don't play in the Wild Card round... but then reduce division games by 20? and League games by 24?
So you can play 45 interleague games that don't count toward the wild card standings for your opponent AT ALL?
Plus it's a crapshoot on WHEN you play a team and if you miss their best starting pitcher. For example: You played playoff contender Baltimore in August, while your rival played terrible Baltimore in April. Or you went 1-2 vs the Mets because you faced Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom while your rival played the Mets when both were hurt.
They want to put an emphasis on winning the division so you don't play in the Wild Card round... but then reduce division games by 20? and League games by 24?
So you can play 45 interleague games that don't count toward the wild card standings for your opponent AT ALL?
Plus it's a crapshoot on WHEN you play a team and if you miss their best starting pitcher. For example: You played playoff contender Baltimore in August, while your rival played terrible Baltimore in April. Or you went 1-2 vs the Mets because you faced Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom while your rival played the Mets when both were hurt.
KevFu
Registered User
If they want to change the schedule to be a more balanced schedule within the league, so it's a more fair pennant chase:
16 vs division (64)
8 vs league (80)
4 vs your interleague rival
4 vs 4 interleague opponents that rotate and are created by some relative strength to your rival.
Every series is a four-game series. Which means (a) Less travel. (b) A 20% chance of missing a team's ace instead of a 40% chance.
And of course, the best way do handling baseball is to expand to 32, create a Western League and Southern League and double what MLB was from 1903-1960, only with interleague instead of 22 games vs your league.
16 vs league (112)
4 vs half of each other league (12 opponents) (48)
What MLB has is the perfect foundation, and it would be far better for NHL/NBA to look to copy MLB than for MLB to try and copy NHL/NBA.
There isn't DEMAND to play everyone in baseball. There isn't demand for radical realignment, either. But I'm terrified Manfred is going to screw the pooch.
16 vs division (64)
8 vs league (80)
4 vs your interleague rival
4 vs 4 interleague opponents that rotate and are created by some relative strength to your rival.
Every series is a four-game series. Which means (a) Less travel. (b) A 20% chance of missing a team's ace instead of a 40% chance.
And of course, the best way do handling baseball is to expand to 32, create a Western League and Southern League and double what MLB was from 1903-1960, only with interleague instead of 22 games vs your league.
16 vs league (112)
4 vs half of each other league (12 opponents) (48)
What MLB has is the perfect foundation, and it would be far better for NHL/NBA to look to copy MLB than for MLB to try and copy NHL/NBA.
There isn't DEMAND to play everyone in baseball. There isn't demand for radical realignment, either. But I'm terrified Manfred is going to screw the pooch.
I would want expansion to 32 and with it my new alignment to occur in 2029 when new TV deals start. Here's the broadcast rights I would like to see:
Sunday morning (11 AM ET or CT time depending on where the game is played): Peacock (PCL teams not eligible for this package)
Sunday afternoon: ABC (starting third week of May), a national game
Sunday primetime: ESPN
Sunday late night (10 PM ET): Peacock (PCL teams only), package is named "MLB Last Call" and would be created to make up for the proposed exclusion of PCL teams from Sunday Leadoff.
Monday night: Apple TV+
Tuesday night: TBS*
Wednesday night: Peacock*
Thursday night: MLB Network
Friday night: Paramount Network (produced by CBS Sports)*
Saturday afternoon: Fox Sports 1*
Saturday night: Fox, 4 regional games (most weeks with three games at 7 PM ET/6 CT, with a game between 2 Midwest teams, a game between 2 Northeast teams, and a game between 2 Southern teams, all three eastern leagues must be equally represented including during the first three weeks of interleague play which now spans from the third Monday in May to the Sunday between June 25-July 1, with a PCL game at 7 PM PT/8 MT; in weeks where PCL teams play interleague games, all games start at 7 PM ET)
* - indicates doubleheader (except for FS1 in September, single games that month due to college football coverage)
Regular season games on MLB Network, Paramount Network, TBS and Fox Sports 1 are non-exclusive and blacked out in the territories of the participating teams. Games on other pay-TV platforms are exclusive.
The Field of Dreams Game (if it returns to MLB's schedule from 2024 onward) will still be permitted to air on broadcast TV on a Friday night in August opposite Paramount Network's coverage, but it will now alternate between Fox and ABC. As it would now take place when no interleague games are being played at the time, each of the three eastern leagues will alternate participating in the game. A Midwestern team must be the home team, whether it be against another Midwestern team or a team from another region. This means the Twins will always be the home team when the CL has its turn in the Field of Dreams Game.
The playoff TV rotation for the first two rounds would be this
2029/33/37: AL on FS1, NL on TBS, CL on ESPN, PCL on PN
2030/34/38: AL on TBS, NL on FS1, CL on PN, PCL on ESPN
2031/35/39: AL on ESPN, NL on PN, CL on FS1, PCL on TBS
2032/36/40: AL on PN, NL on ESPN, CL on TBS, PCL on FS1
MLB Network airs two exclusive LDS games (both game 1s) - NL and PCL in odd years, AL and CL In even years
All first round (now best-of-3 LDS, first game at lower seed) games would be played at 1 or 7 PM local time, time in ET depends on where the game is played.
Second round (now best-of-5 LCS) games are played at 1, 4, 7 and/or 10 PM ET, PCL can't play at 1 PM, and only PCL can play at 10 PM
The best-of-seven National Semifinal Series, which seeds the pennant winners 1-4 based on regular season record, would air on FS1 and PN in Odd years and ESPN and TBS in even years. Each network can move a game 7 to a sister broadcast network: FS1 to Fox, PN to CBS, ESPN to ABC, and TBS to The CW.
Early round playoff games on weekdays to which FS1 has the rights can be moved to Fox if played in the afternoon, night games remain on FS1 to protect Fox's primetime lineup. ABC on the other hand will usually not air any pre-WS playoff games, as ABC usually has daytime programming 7 days a week. Fox itself would not air any Saturday afternoon playoff games before 4 PM ET, to protect Big Noon Saturday.
ABC would air the World Series in odd years and Fox in even years. The inverse would be true for the All-Star Game.
ESPN can also move broadcasts of early round playoff games to FX or FXX based on its other sports commitments, like college football on Saturdays.
Select games on ESPN, Paramount Network, and TBS can have alternate telecasts produced for kid-oriented sister networks aimed at this audience (Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, and Cartoon Network respectively, with Nick broadcasts featuring Jessica DiCicco in character as Lynn Loud Jr. from the Michigan set series The Loud House whenever the Tigers are involved). Nick would also air a weekly highlights series, MLB Slimetime, which is similar to NFL Slimetime. Special editions of MLB Slimetime would air after each pre-World Series playoff round.
Sunday morning (11 AM ET or CT time depending on where the game is played): Peacock (PCL teams not eligible for this package)
Sunday afternoon: ABC (starting third week of May), a national game
Sunday primetime: ESPN
Sunday late night (10 PM ET): Peacock (PCL teams only), package is named "MLB Last Call" and would be created to make up for the proposed exclusion of PCL teams from Sunday Leadoff.
Monday night: Apple TV+
Tuesday night: TBS*
Wednesday night: Peacock*
Thursday night: MLB Network
Friday night: Paramount Network (produced by CBS Sports)*
Saturday afternoon: Fox Sports 1*
Saturday night: Fox, 4 regional games (most weeks with three games at 7 PM ET/6 CT, with a game between 2 Midwest teams, a game between 2 Northeast teams, and a game between 2 Southern teams, all three eastern leagues must be equally represented including during the first three weeks of interleague play which now spans from the third Monday in May to the Sunday between June 25-July 1, with a PCL game at 7 PM PT/8 MT; in weeks where PCL teams play interleague games, all games start at 7 PM ET)
* - indicates doubleheader (except for FS1 in September, single games that month due to college football coverage)
Regular season games on MLB Network, Paramount Network, TBS and Fox Sports 1 are non-exclusive and blacked out in the territories of the participating teams. Games on other pay-TV platforms are exclusive.
The Field of Dreams Game (if it returns to MLB's schedule from 2024 onward) will still be permitted to air on broadcast TV on a Friday night in August opposite Paramount Network's coverage, but it will now alternate between Fox and ABC. As it would now take place when no interleague games are being played at the time, each of the three eastern leagues will alternate participating in the game. A Midwestern team must be the home team, whether it be against another Midwestern team or a team from another region. This means the Twins will always be the home team when the CL has its turn in the Field of Dreams Game.
The playoff TV rotation for the first two rounds would be this
2029/33/37: AL on FS1, NL on TBS, CL on ESPN, PCL on PN
2030/34/38: AL on TBS, NL on FS1, CL on PN, PCL on ESPN
2031/35/39: AL on ESPN, NL on PN, CL on FS1, PCL on TBS
2032/36/40: AL on PN, NL on ESPN, CL on TBS, PCL on FS1
MLB Network airs two exclusive LDS games (both game 1s) - NL and PCL in odd years, AL and CL In even years
All first round (now best-of-3 LDS, first game at lower seed) games would be played at 1 or 7 PM local time, time in ET depends on where the game is played.
Second round (now best-of-5 LCS) games are played at 1, 4, 7 and/or 10 PM ET, PCL can't play at 1 PM, and only PCL can play at 10 PM
The best-of-seven National Semifinal Series, which seeds the pennant winners 1-4 based on regular season record, would air on FS1 and PN in Odd years and ESPN and TBS in even years. Each network can move a game 7 to a sister broadcast network: FS1 to Fox, PN to CBS, ESPN to ABC, and TBS to The CW.
Early round playoff games on weekdays to which FS1 has the rights can be moved to Fox if played in the afternoon, night games remain on FS1 to protect Fox's primetime lineup. ABC on the other hand will usually not air any pre-WS playoff games, as ABC usually has daytime programming 7 days a week. Fox itself would not air any Saturday afternoon playoff games before 4 PM ET, to protect Big Noon Saturday.
ABC would air the World Series in odd years and Fox in even years. The inverse would be true for the All-Star Game.
ESPN can also move broadcasts of early round playoff games to FX or FXX based on its other sports commitments, like college football on Saturdays.
Select games on ESPN, Paramount Network, and TBS can have alternate telecasts produced for kid-oriented sister networks aimed at this audience (Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, and Cartoon Network respectively, with Nick broadcasts featuring Jessica DiCicco in character as Lynn Loud Jr. from the Michigan set series The Loud House whenever the Tigers are involved). Nick would also air a weekly highlights series, MLB Slimetime, which is similar to NFL Slimetime. Special editions of MLB Slimetime would air after each pre-World Series playoff round.
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Division heavy schedules are a soft form of welfare for the shitty central divisions. My interest in baseball is lessened whenever I see the Blue Jays playing the Yankees or Red Sox
I want the NBA to go to a division heavy schedule when they go to 32 teams with the addition of Seattle and Vegas, with the latter joining the California teams in the Pacific Division and the other 5 MT/PT teams forming the Mountain Division, along with Minnesota moving into the Central and Oklahoma City into the Southwest.
Teams would play all non-division opponents, even those in the same conference, just twice each for 52 or 54 games depending on the size of the division a given team is in. Teams in the 5-team divisions would play each other 7 times for a total of 28 division games, and teams in the 6-team divisions would play each other 6 times for a total of 30 division games. This would be an effective way to make divisions matter in the NBA again.
Teams would play all non-division opponents, even those in the same conference, just twice each for 52 or 54 games depending on the size of the division a given team is in. Teams in the 5-team divisions would play each other 7 times for a total of 28 division games, and teams in the 6-team divisions would play each other 6 times for a total of 30 division games. This would be an effective way to make divisions matter in the NBA again.
PCSPounder
Stadium Groupie
MLB should be forced to relegate a major market team, and promote an old Appalachian League market into that slot, every time they enable a threat to leave a market.
Hockeyholic
Registered User
Tv ratings and attendance suggest otherwise.
Look at the attendance records baseball was shattering in 2007. Compared to now.
IU Hawks fan
They call me IU
Average in 2007 was 32,770, today it's 26,937.
I wouldn't equate an 18% drop coming out of a pandemic and in the middle of a recession to "nobody cares anymore".
Hockeyholic
Registered User
Ok. Look at 2016-2019.
Attendance was slipping before pandemic.
By no means am I suggesting baseball has zero fans. The big, and mid markets, will always survive.
Just it's not what it once was.
