LISTEN: Buster Olney of ESPN Discusses the Negative Side of the Balanced Schedule
When we found that the 2023 baseball season would be played with a balanced schedule, I was excited. I think a lot of baseball fans were.
1) The new balanced schedule would allow teams to get out of historically tough divisional matchups. If you are a Red Sox fan trying to get out of last place, the idea of playing the Yankees, Blue Jays and Rays six fewer times is a good thing. If you're a Mariners fan who gets the less of the Astros, the same. If you're a Marlins fan who is tired of the Mets and Braves, I get it...
2) The new balanced schedule also would allow more of the games great stars to come to your city more often. Mike Trout playing against the Marlins? Great. Shohei Ohtani against the Mets? Awesome. Ronald Acuna in Seattle every other year? That's good too.
3) It also would allow more reunion and rivalry games... Manny Machado needing to go back to Boston, where he's hated? Spicy. Mookie Betts going back to Boston? Also spicy. And how about Fernando Tatis Jr., going everywhere? How about the Yankees going everywhere? That would be good for revenue and storylines around the league as well. Same with the Red Sox, Mets and Cubs.
But there is a downside that's come with the balanced schedule. The idea of getting back into a race is now harder, which I wasn't really expecting.
If you are a Mariners fan (11-13 entering Thursday) or a Phillies fan (12-13), or a Red Sox fan (13-13), life is now harder than you realize. In the past, you could point to later-season divisional matchups as a way to get back into the race, but you don't have as many of those now and the road to getting back to contention is more difficult.
Buster Olney of ESPN discussed this very thing on 'The Brady Farkas Show' on WDEV Radio on Thursday afternoon.
"It's part of the reason I don't like the new balanced schedule. I like the idea of the Jays having a chance to catch the Rays late in the year, or the Red Sox having a chance to make up ground, rather than it depending on other teams, but that's exactly what's going to have to happen later in the year. I just find when division rivals play each other to be a lot more compelling..."
You can listen to the full clip below:
For teams that have had a tough April, it's definitely going to be a more daunting task that I thought it would be. It makes those limited divisional matchups you do have all that more important. Those Astros matchups I was trying to get out of as a Mariners fan? You now need them, and you need to win them. No small feat.
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