All 30 Major League Baseball teams to play one another in a season for first time in 2023

Iceland12

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As a result, division opponents will play each other just 13 times -- down from 19..

The new balanced schedule for 2023 has each team hosting a three-game series or playing a three-game series on the road against every team from the opposite league. Natural rivals -- like the Mets-Yankees, Dodgers-Angels and Cubs-White Sox -- will play each other four times, twice at home and twice on the road. (Milwaukee Brewers-Minnesota Twins)..

Division games: There are 52 total games against divisional opponents, down from 76. Teams will play six or seven home/road games against divisional opponents.

Intraleague games: There are 64 total games -- 32 home and 32 away -- against non-divisional league opponents, down from 66. Teams will play six games against six league opponents and seven games against four league opponents. This is a reversal of the previous format, which had six games against four league opponents and seven games against six league opponents.

Interleague games: There are 46 total games against interleague opponents, up from just 20. Teams will play 42 games against other interleague opponents, including seven series (21 games) at home and seven series (21 games) on the road.

 

I think this new system sucks. No division games the last 2 weeks of the season.


Conversely I think it's crazy that the SF Giants are making their first appearance at Target Field EVER this weekend, but this was an overcorrection.
 

on the surface, it might help attendance. Let's face it, I get tired of the Twins playing KC, the White Sox, Cleveland and Detroit all the time.

instead of another series against KC, Twins fans will get a series against the Mets, the Cubs, the Giants, etc. that might bring out some casual fans or fans of those teams.

the new schedule still has teams playing 32% - roughly one-third of the schedule - against teams in their own division, as opposed to 47% of divisional games under the old format.

and by playing all the teams, it eliminates the argument that some teams got an "easier" schedule because they missed one of the top teams from the other league.

so, on first glance, I like it.

BTW - the first "unbalanced" schedule was adopted in 1969. before that, you played every team in your league the same number of times. 1969 was the first year with West and East divisions.
1979 - the schedule was adjusted - still unbalanced, but more non-divisional games
1994 - both leagues moved to 3 divisions
1997 - inter-league play adopted with an unbalanced league schedule
2001 - the present schedule format was adopted with a higher % of divisional games.
 

on the surface, it might help attendance. Let's face it, I get tired of the Twins playing KC, the White Sox, Cleveland and Detroit all the time.

instead of another series against KC, Twins fans will get a series against the Mets, the Cubs, the Giants, etc. that might bring out some casual fans or fans of those teams.

the new schedule still has teams playing 32% - roughly one-third of the schedule - against teams in their own division, as opposed to 47% of divisional games under the old format.

and by playing all the teams, it eliminates the argument that some teams got an "easier" schedule because they missed one of the top teams from the other league.

so, on first glance, I like it.

BTW - the first "unbalanced" schedule was adopted in 1969. before that, you played every team in your league the same number of times. 1969 was the first year with West and East divisions.
1979 - the schedule was adjusted - still unbalanced, but more non-divisional games
1994 - both leagues moved to 3 divisions
1997 - inter-league play adopted with an unbalanced league schedule
2001 - the present schedule format was adopted with a higher % of divisional games.
For those reasons, I like it. But it will make it harder for a team from the Central to win a WC spot most years.
 



on the surface, it might help attendance. Let's face it, I get tired of the Twins playing KC, the White Sox, Cleveland and Detroit all the time.

instead of another series against KC, Twins fans will get a series against the Mets, the Cubs, the Giants, etc. that might bring out some casual fans or fans of those teams.

the new schedule still has teams playing 32% - roughly one-third of the schedule - against teams in their own division, as opposed to 47% of divisional games under the old format.

and by playing all the teams, it eliminates the argument that some teams got an "easier" schedule because they missed one of the top teams from the other league.

so, on first glance, I like it.

BTW - the first "unbalanced" schedule was adopted in 1969. before that, you played every team in your league the same number of times. 1969 was the first year with West and East divisions.
1979 - the schedule was adjusted - still unbalanced, but more non-divisional games
1994 - both leagues moved to 3 divisions
1997 - inter-league play adopted with an unbalanced league schedule
2001 - the present schedule format was adopted with a higher % of divisional games.

For every Mets, Cubs & Giants series there will also be a (yaaaaawn) series against the Reds, Pirates & Marlins.
 


I'd still rather see the Marlins once than the Tigers a 3rd time.
Fair enough. I prefer the rivalries within the Division, but can understand it if others are tired.

In short the schedule change dilutes the achievement for winning the Division, but makes it more equitable for the Wild Cards.
 
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Also dumb, 2 game middle of the week series both Home & Away against "NL Rival" Milwaukee.
 



I like it. Helps mitigate against crappy divisions stealing wild card spots, and we still see our division plenty.
 

I like it. Helps mitigate against crappy divisions stealing wild card spots, and we still see our division plenty.
Wild Cards suck. Teams that don't win their Division should go home and feel shame, not advance to the Postseason.
 

Wild Cards suck. Teams that don't win their Division should go home and feel shame, not advance to the Postseason.
to quote Denis Lemieux: You do that, you go to the box, you know. Two minutes, by yourself, you know and you feel shame, you know. And then you get free.
 







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