Radical Change to MLB schedule in 2023

[Philsmania]

Whoa, Read about it here.

MLB schedule is out, and there's a twist for '23

[andyb]

This is what they announced previously. I don't mind it. 13 instead of 19 games in division is good I think. There was just a disadvantage getting the wild card when you were in a good division.

The increase in interleague play to 46 is a mixed back. It does make the schedule more fair as the importance of home rivalries is decreased and seeing each team once a year is not awful. The downside of course is that one could have balanced the schedule with a few more games with other divisions within your own league. After all you are playing those teams for the wild card.

In terms of fairness though it is a net plus. Interleague is not going away so we might as well embrace it.

Noticed they have actually scheduled us a split double-header with San Diego on 7/15. Not too much of a disadvantage as it is the second game (Saturday) after the All Star Break. Just seems a little strange.

[phillychuck]

My initial reaction is favorable. Would be fun to be able to see more stars like Trout and Judge regularly. I like the balance...

[Philsmania]

This is what they announced previously. I don't mind it. 13 instead of 19 games in division is good I think. There was just a disadvantage getting the wild card when you were in a good division.

The increase in interleague play to 46 is a mixed back. It does make the schedule more fair as the importance of home rivalries is decreased and seeing each team once a year is not awful. The downside of course is that one could have balanced the schedule with a few more games with other divisions within your own league. After all you are playing those teams for the wild card.

In terms of fairness though it is a net plus. Interleague is not going away so we might as well embrace it.

Noticed they have actually scheduled us a split double-header with San Diego on 7/15. Not too much of a disadvantage as it is the second game (Saturday) after the All Star Break. Just seems a little strange.

I suspect the basic agreement gives the players four days off for the All-Star break (Monday to Thursday) and that weekend was the only place to fit in the Phillies-Padres series.

[andyb]

Most weeknight games will start at 6:40 also. I think this year is an experiment and assume it went well. I like that. Games ending by 10 PM are a good thing. Wish we could do that in the playoffs also. Plus, if I am not home by 6:40 I can always start the game from the beginning on streaming.

[zambonir]

Certainly primes things for expansion/realignment down the line as well.

[andyb]

One thing I think they did by design was keep the division games to an odd number (13 against each team). They could have added a 14th game from the games where they play the other division teams 7 times, but I think they want as many teams as possible to have an odd-numbered season series because there are no longer 1-game playoffs.

Head to head play will settle division and some wild card ties. 3-way ties will be more complicated but they always were. This is good. With the expanded wild card series you can't just delay things by a day or two like they used to. Every other league has tie-breakers and at least baseball seems to be thoughtful in how they designed this.

[schillingfan]

My initial reaction is favorable. Would be fun to be able to see more stars like Trout and Judge regularly. I like the balance...

I agree completely, plus I really hate seeing the Mets and the Braves so much. I really hate it when they do back to back home and away weekends, like they did with the Mets. They have just seen each other and that seems hard on the pitchers.

[zambonir]

I'm agnostic about all the changes, I think we're all but done with really have two separate leagues at this point. But I'd also be fine if it was still like the '70s. I like seeing the division opponents a lot because winning the division should be the big goal/reward. But in the current playoff format that's only true for two of the three.

Have never really cared for interleague West Coast road trips either, and I say that as someone who lives on the West Coast.