tec and Alcheez..... now we're on to something.  It's fine to disagree, but I just cannot STAND IT when the only argument against something is "that guy is stupid." 

So if nothing else, thanks for being logical, if not practical ;)

Al - You are right, I did make a mathematical error in that there would be 45 interleague games (15x3) instead of 14x3 like I originally stated.  What I had in mind is that the interleague series would rotate home and away each season.  Which means odd years a team would have more home games than in the even years (or vice versa).  That is a problem.   I'm curious.... why do you think one interlerleague series at all times is a problem?  I think it makes road trips less complicated.  The Braves could play the Angels and and A's on their road trip out west the same time they play the Giants and Padres.  

As for the 8 intraleague games, it could be scheduled as two 4 game sets home and away, or one 4-game home set and two 2-game road sets. 

tec- Oh man don't get me started on the DH.  Being an American League guy, I love the DH and I hate that the pitcher bats in the NL.  But you know what I hate even more than that?  The fact that there are 2 different sets of rules for the two leagues.  It's absurd to me to have interleague play, and even a World Series, when the two leagues have different rules.  If I were commisioner, I'd push for a schedule like the one I talked about... but I wouldn't do that until I first could settle the DH fiasco.  Either the NL has to add it, or the AL has to drop it.  That should happen anyway, regardless of whether the schedule changes or not.

Posted by grivfmd1 on 12/18/2010 8:40:00 AM (view original):

Posted by grivfmd1 on 12/12/2010 12:03:00 PM (view original):
I know this is not the 1st comment on the present schedule but I don't think I have seen a specific alternative - so here is an option

division titles do not mean much when the schedule is balanced at 10 games per league opponent and 3 per non-league opponent - at present this is 18.52% of games

How about:
                  18 games against 3 divisional opponent  =  54
         8 games against 12 other league opponents  =   96
               3 games against 4 non- league opponent  =   12
                                                                        total games  162        this would be 1/3 of a teams games

Make the divisional title MEAN something

since my intent was only to make the division title MEAN SOMETHING and not balance the whole schedule (or accoount for bad divisions/tanking which should be dealt with on a league basis) I am going to repropose my original schedule which would be reasonably simple to implement:

the interleague remains unchanged rotating through the 4 divisions - total 12 games
the intraleague out of division games are played as home/away 4 game series = 8 per opponent - 96 total
the intradivisional are played as 3, 3 game home/away series totaling 18 per opponent - 54 total (33.3% of the games instead of 18.5%)

this fits the 162 game schedule - and the division title should mean that you are the best in the division

Again, if you just trash interleague and turn those games into division games, you add 12 games that weren't against like opponents(for the wild card) and have more say in your division.    Realistically, you have to ask for something you can get.   I think WifS would consider my idea(and easy schedule change) whereas your idea can easily be dismissed as "too unbalanced".   As tec said, one size won't fit all in this case.

@jimmy - for the record, I never said that you were stupid.  I just said your ideas for expanding interleague play and effectively doing away with division rivalries with an unbalanced schedule in MLB were dumb.  There's a difference.

Also, I probably shouldn't have said they were dumb.  I should have said they were REALLY dumb.  Because they are.

jimmy - One interleague series at all times isn't a problem in and of itself - it's just one more constraint on the schedule that will make it more difficult to make one that works - especially when the interleague series have to be 3 games and none of the others are.  Your travel scenario with the Braves sounds great by itself, but that's not the only consequence of the setup.  It's already a challenge to schedule baseball since you have to have everyone playing 6 and 7 nights a week - the more requirements you put on it, the tougher it gets.

And of course, you can do 8 game intraleauges with a combination of 4 and 2 game series - the problem is that making the two game series a regular occurance increases the amount of travel, and what I said was that the players are never going to sign off on a schedule that makes a situation where they are traveling 3-4 times in a week with only one off day a regular occurance.  I really think if someone actually went to putting your idea to paper, they'd find that at the very least it would be hell to work everything out, and potentially impossible.

Also - I think you are very wrong about new rivalries being created and old ones not suffering.  You're not going to create any new rivalries with all the interleague play - it takes special circumstances for anyone to becoming rivals in baseball playing once a year.  And I remember when they went to 3 divisions, unbalanced the schedules, and in the NL we basically went to playing everyone outside the division 6-7 games a year - the Phillies lost some rivals - the games are curiosities now, but not rivalries anymore.  Adding one or two games back isn't going to fix that, and you're going to going put all the division matchups in the same boat now.  Familiarity breeds contempt.

Posted by grivfmd1 on 12/12/2010 12:03:00 PM (view original):
I know this is not the 1st comment on the present schedule but I don't think I have seen a specific alternative - so here is an option

division titles do not mean much when the schedule is balanced at 10 games per league opponent and 3 per non-league opponent - at present this is 18.52% of games

How about:
                  18 games against 3 divisional opponent  =  54
         8 games against 12 other league opponents  =   96
               3 games against 4 non- league opponent  =   12
                                                                        total games  162        this would be 1/3 of a teams games

Make the divisional title MEAN something

I totally agree with this suggestion.  Division titles mean nothing right now.  Under the schedule right now you might as well get rid of the divisions and just rank everyone 1-16 based on number of wins, with the top 6 making the playoffs.

Division record certainly does mean something, seeing that it is the second tiebreaker and is very often used.  How you do in those 30 games often makes or breaks a potential playoff berth.