Another reform I’d love to see in MLB is the demise of the unbalanced schedule. As of right now, teams play many more games against their division opponents than they play against other opponents in the same league, and play more games against other opponents in the same league than against opponents in the other league.
Let’s ignore the inter-league games right now, because it’s really another issue. Where majority opinion lies in this matter generally depends on the group of people you’re asking. If you’re asking Tampa Bay Rays fans, they might not be happy with having to see the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox more than the Kansas City Royals and the Oakland A’s. Conversely, if you ask the Los Angles Dodgers fans, they’re probably happy then played the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants more often than the Chicago Cubs and the Philadelphia Phillies.
The schedules became even more unbalanced in 2001 thanks to Bud Selig pushing for teams to play even more games against divisional rivals. The general argument is that the unbalanced schedule makes for more exciting baseball because you spend more time playing against division rivals, and these rivalries will increase in intensity. And it’s a good argument. Red Sox and Yankee fans are going to love hating each other six more games a year. The Cubs and Cardinals aren’t going to complain about the added revenue more games between them will create. But the argument is not bulletproof, and I have a couple shots to take at it.
First, intra-divisional games are already set up to create rivalries and are already more important than the other games a team plays. A win against a non-division team is a win, and it’s important. But at most, all you are doing is putting pressure on the other teams in your division to keep pace. It is impossible to leap over another team purely on winning non-divisional games, the other team has to lose their non-divisional games. Playing against someone in the division though, let’s you become the master of your own fate. If you beat the team ahead of you, you gain a game. You don’t have to rely on another team to beat your rival, because you did.
Second, having so many games against divisional opponents allows teams to take advantage of weak divisions, and could keep better teams out of the playoffs. If the last month of the season rolls around and a NL West and a NL East team are tied for the Wild Card lead, the advantage would be with the team out West because they have more games against their division, which has recently proved to be the weaker of the two, while the team out East will have to beat teams in what has recently been the stronger division.
My solution is to try to balance the schedule as much as possible. Why? Because the point is for the best teams to advance to the playoffs and therefore have a more competitive and enjoyable postseason. The divisional rivalries will still be in effect because those games will still have more of a “must win” factor, but the teams making the playoffs will have proved themselves against all of their league opponents, not just those of their division.
