Some Scheduling Suggestions

I have to admit I'm not completely in love with all of the changes in Baseball's new CBA that goes into effect next season.  I don't think there's any need for a second wild card team in each league (unless they were looking for a way to make sure that not a season goes by without both the Yankees and Red Sox making the playoffs) and I'm lukewarm about year-round interleague play, but that's something I'll probably get used to.  Besides, it's a necessary evil if there are going to be two 15-team leagues, which there probably should be.  The Astros moving to the American League is kind of weird, but I have no problem with it.  And it's not like they'll all of a sudden start playing the Yankees all the time, so I might not even really notice.  (My only question is this: Why didn't they just move Milwaukee back?)

Now the questions about scheduling will come into play.  When this whole two 15-team leagues talk first came about over the summer, one of the popular ideas was to have everybody play everybody else once at home and once away.  This idea is stupid.  What would be the point of having leagues and divisions then?

Some of Bud Selig's critics say that he's trying to basically eliminate the two leagues and merge them into one entity.  That's not even remotely close to true.  The DH isn't going anywhere and the National League is never going to adopt it, so that's problem number one with that scenario.  But, mostly, you need to have two different "conferences" to have a World Series anyway, so why would you do away with the leagues?  And baseball's still a sport that's pretty rich in tradition.  The National League was founded in 1876 and the American League dates back to 1901.  That means something, and it ain't changin' anytime soon.

Then there are those who wonder if they'll do away with the unbalanced schedule.  That would be a bad idea, and I hope it doesn't happen.  If they're going to put more of an emphasis on winning the division (which is the only positive aspect of the new wild card games), then why would they make it so teams play fewer games against their division rivals?

One element of the schedule that's often criticized (a criticism that I agree with) is the interleague schedule.  Because of the uneven number of teams in each league, some of the National League squads would play 15 interleague games, while others would play 18.  Likewise, teams in the same division wouldn't play the same interleague schedule.  Take last season for example, the AL East played the NL Central, yet the Yankees didn't play the Astros or Pirates (yet did play the Rockies for some reason), while the Red Sox played both of those teams but not Cincinnati (and neither one played the Cardinals!).  The "natural rivalries" obviously cause some imbalance, as well, but there really isn't anything that can be done about those.  Unfortunately for the Mets, they're still going to have to play the Yankees every year.

Personally, I think the NFL schedule is done perfectly, and that's the model they should use when determining how to change the baseball schedule (if at all).  In the NFL, teams in the same division play 14 of their 16 games against common opponents.  Most of the schedule is set up years in advance under this formula.  The best part is that you play one division in the other conference each season and that division rotates, meaning you'll play everybody at least once every four years (and at home at least once every eight years).  Baseball has had interleague play for 15 years, yet Tampa Bay has still never played in Dodger Stadium and the White Sox have never visited the Mets (among other series).  We somehow managed to have a World Series this season between teams that had played once previously, and never in St. Louis!  Now baseball can use the football model to balance interleague play.

With that in mind and using the NFL as a model, here's my proposal for how the baseball schedule should be constructed when the Astros switch leagues in 2013:

• 18 games (6 series) against each of the other four teams in your division
• 18 interleague games (one series against a predetermined division and one against your natural rival)
• the divisions would have a predetermined rotation (2013: AL East vs. NL East, AL Central vs. NL Central, AL West vs. NL West; 2014: AL East vs. NL Central, AL Central vs. NL West, AL West vs. NL East; 2015: AL East vs. NL West, AL Central vs. NL East, AL West vs. NL Central), who ever you play at home in 2013, you play on the road in 2016 and vice versa
• the natural rivalries would also be predetermined (Orioles vs. Nationals, Red Sox vs. Braves, Yankees vs. Mets, Rays vs. Marlins, Blue Jays vs. Phillies, White Sox vs. Cubs, Indians vs. Reds, Tigers vs. Pirates, Royals vs. Cardinals, Twins vs. Brewers, Astros vs. Rockies, Angels vs. Dodgers, Athletics vs. Giants, Mariners vs. Padres, Rangers vs. Diamondbacks), you wouldn't play a home-and-home every year, but would play at home two years in a row, then just on the road in the third year

That gives us 90 games: 15 series (45 games) at home and 15 series (45 games) on the road, leaving 72 games (or, more importantly, 11 home series and 11 road series) against the other 10 teams in your league.  Here's how I propose those games be distributed:

• 7 games against six teams (4 at home against three, 4 on the road against the other three) 
• distribution of these series is the only thing I haven't worked out yet
• 6 games against two teams (3 at home, 3 away)
• 9 games against the team in each of the other two divisions that finished in the same place as you the previous season (for example, this season the Yankees would play the Tigers and Rangers, the Phillies would play the Brewers and Diamondbacks, etc.), with the extra home series and extra road series alternating each season (East hosts Central and visits West in 2013)

My last little change is actually more of a pet peeve.  The start of the season moves back to the first Monday in April, where it belongs.  Maybe the addition of that stupid wild card game in each league will result in that change, which is the only possible silver lining that I can find in that.  I'd also make it so that the No. 1 seed in each league automatically plays the wild card in the Division Series, even if it's a team in their same division.

Feel free to show this plan to the Commissioner and all 30 owners.