RC Discussion on FGM Regular Season Schedule (RC Members only please)

[Flash]

I had done some work on a more realistic schedule last offseason but couldn't get my proposal finished before the season started. Now seems like a good time to bring this topic up for next year.

The Current Schedule that FGM uses is the schedule that was developed for Moneyball. This schedule has been used for the last 2 years without a problem.

Currently though there are a few things that I dislike about this schedule. One of these items is that the schedule doesn't contain 162 Games. The other issue I have is that the current playoff format uses the point totals of the last week to settle the WC matchup between the #1 and #2 WC teams.

My proposal is that in 2015 FGM uses a new schedule.

This schedule would contain 162 games and be played in 20 Scoring periods (Current schedule uses 21 periods). The schedule would consist of 18 periods of 8 games and 2 periods of 9 games (18*8+2*9=162). The regular season would end a week earlier then normal but the extra week would then be used to hold a 1 week wildcard matchup between the WC teams without affecting the current playoff format (including the 2 week World Series).

The 162 games would be split up in the following manner:
19 games × 4 opponents in-division (76 games)
6 or 7 x 10 interdivision games within-league (66 games)
20 inter-league games (16 vs a division from the other league (rotates annually) and 4 vs a "natural rival" (See below for a current list of natural rivals))

Natural Rivals:
Baltimore and Washington
Boston and Atlanta
New York Mets and New York Yankees
Miami and Tampa Bay
Toronto and Philadelphia
Chicago Cubs  and Chicago White Sox
Cincinnati and Cleveland
Detroit and Pittsburgh
Kansas City and St. Louis
Milwaukee and Minnesota (Minneapolis/St. Paul)
Houston and Arizona
Los Angeles Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers
Oakland and San Francisco
San Diego and Seattle
Texas and Colorado

This is a more realistic schedule and would give us the opportunity to host a real wildcard play-in. The downsides to this schedule is that it is more heavily weighted to divisional play and not all teams would play every year (Currently we play one game each against teams in the opposite league).

Please discuss this and list any Pros or Cons for changing the schedule. I would like to hold a vote on this proposal before the world series is done.

Shooter

Six of eight eligible voters support the change of schedule, with two abstentions.  Wouldn't this indicate that Shooter's schedule proposal is a go for the upcoming 2015 season?

Rules Committee - Summary of votes
Colby (crs245) Yes
Roy (rcankosy)
Mike (VolsRaysBucs) Yes
Bob (Shooter 47) Yes
Freddy (kungfuwig)
Chris  (papps) Yes
Ernesto (Flash) Yes
Rick (BHows) Yes
 

[MOLI643]

I vote yes.

[BHows]

I vote yes. No problem with the proposal.

[rcankosy]

I was under the impression that the current schedule already mirrors MLB.  As far as the WC, I like the proposal, but it seems to be contrary to real life.

Perhaps, someone could summarize how these proposals compare to MLB's current setup.

[Colby]

FGM is supposed to mirror MLB which is why shooter47's proposed schedule makes sense.  I vote YES.

[shooter47]

My first question is- How did this play-in week come about? I'm of the opinion that the top 4 teams should be in the play-offs. The 4th team's eligibility should be based on the regular season, not just the final week. I'm open to adjusting the schedule to accommodate this and I do like a 162 game schedule for reality sake.

When the real MLB added a second WC team and added the 1 game play-in FGM decided to add a 2nd WC team. At the time with the schedule there was no way to really have a one day play-in because we couldn't add a week to the playoffs without changing the World series from a 2 week to a 1 week matchup. The decision was made to take the scores of the 2 WC teams in the final week and that was the tie breaker for who won the FGM play-in game.

[BHows]

My first question is- How did this play-in week come about? I'm of the opinion that the top 4 teams should be in the play-offs. The 4th team's eligibility should be based on the regular season, not just the final week. I'm open to adjusting the schedule to accommodate this and I do like a 162 game schedule for reality sake.

[VolsRaysBucs]

I love Shooter's idea, even though I greatly prefer a balanced schedule, as I think it better represents the most deserving teams of a playoff spot.  Maintaining MLB duplicity in fantasy is not as important to me as having the best teams have a shot at the title.  I know I am in the minority on this, but since we are voicing opinions, I figured I'd be honest about mine.

[Flash]

I believe Shooter's schedule proposal has a lot of merit:
--1:  Adding a wildcard match-up is much better than the point differential we have right now;
--2:  Every division has two to three stronger teams and playing more divisional games makes the divisional races even more competitive. 
--3:  Not every "Rival Match-up" is a true rivalry, but it certainly reflects more of what happens in the "real-life" MLB.  Personally, I don't really relish the idea of playing my natural rival (Oakland), but again, it adds a competitive spark to our match-up.
--4:  Playing 162 games is a real plus for the entire league.  It's unfortunate we don't get to play everyone every year, but with an annual rotation, we still get to play each other periodically.  I think the 76-66-20 (4) set up is feasible.

I never really had a problem with our schedule, although it was weird sometimes.  I do think that, like other facets of our league, the schedule gives us something that is unique to FGM and I am very much in favor of adopting Shooter's proposed schedule.

[papps]

I'm kinda going back and forth with this one.  I actually like the heavy weighted division play but I would like it if every team has to play each other at least once.  I think the schedule has been fine the last couple years but I do like shooter's ideas below and would be ok with changing the schedule.