Author Topic: NLDS Scheduling (Read 1144 times)

NookLoganMafia · « **Topic Start:** September 28, 2012, 10:19:07 AM »

Not to get ahead of ourselves, but I'm trying to plan my first two weeks of October. Looking at the schedule, am I correct that the following would be the NLDS Schedule (times TBD, home games in bold):

If 1 seed:
NLDS Game One   Sunday, October 7
NLDS Game Two   Monday, October 8
NLDS Game Three   Wednesday, October 10
NLDS Game Four*   Thursday, October 11
NLDS Game Five*   Friday, October 12

If 2 seed:
NLDS Game One   Saturday, October 6
NLDS Game Two   Sunday, October 7
NLDS Game Three   Tuesday, October 9
NLDS Game Four*   Wednesday, October 10
NLDS Game Five*   Thursday, October 11

If 4 seed:
NLDS Game One   Sunday, October 7
NLDS Game Two   Monday, October 8
NLDS Game Three   Wednesday, October 10
NLDS Game Four*   Thursday, October 11
NLDS Game Five*   Friday, October 12

The Chief · « **Reply #1:** September 28, 2012, 10:20:55 AM »

I hate the "home field advantage" setup this year. Why did they change it from the old 2-2-1 format?

NookLoganMafia · « **Reply #2:** September 28, 2012, 10:24:04 AM »

Quote from: The Chief on September 28, 2012, 10:20:55 AM

I hate the "home field advantage" setup this year. Why did they change it from the old 2-2-1 format?

It's apparently just for this year to accommodate the last minute addition of the second wild card. I understand that in years to follow the scheduling will return to a true home field advantage like the 2-2-1.

Baseball is Life · « **Reply #3:** September 28, 2012, 10:25:45 AM »

Quote from: NookLoganMafia on September 28, 2012, 10:19:07 AM

Not to get ahead of ourselves, but I'm trying to plan my first two weeks of October. Looking at the schedule, am I correct that the following would be the NLDS Schedule (times TBD, home games in bold):

If 1 seed:
NLDS Game One   Sunday, October 7
NLDS Game Two   Monday, October 8
NLDS Game Three   Wednesday, October 10
NLDS Game Four*   Thursday, October 11
NLDS Game Five*   Friday, October 12

If 2 seed:

NLDS Game One   Saturday, October 6
NLDS Game Two   Sunday, October 7
NLDS Game Three   Tuesday, October 9
NLDS Game Four*   Wednesday, October 10
NLDS Game Five*   Thursday, October 11

I think that's right. And let's really get ahead of ourselves:

National League Championship Series
(higher seed will have home field advantage; I think format will be 2-2-1-1-1)
EDIT: The format is 2-3-2 for NLCS and WS

NLCS Game One   Sunday, October 14   FOX   TBA
NLCS Game Two   Monday, October 15   FOX   TBA
NLCS Game Three   Wednesday, October 17   FOX   TBA
NLCS Game Four   Thursday, October 18   FOX   TBA
NLCS Game Five*   Friday, October 19   FOX   TBA
NLCS Game Six*   Sunday, October 21   FOX   TBA
NLCS Game Seven*   Monday, October 22   FOX   TBA

World Series
Series   Date   Match-Up   Network   Air Time (ET)
Game One   Wednesday, October 24   AL Champion at NL Champion   FOX   TBA
Game Two   Thursday, October 25   AL Champion at NL Champion   FOX   TBA
Game Three   Saturday, October 27   NL Champion at AL Champion   FOX   TBA
Game Four   Sunday, October 28   NL Champion at AL Champion   FOX   TBA
Game Five*   Monday, October 29   NL Champion at AL Champion   FOX   TBA
Game Six*   Wednesday, October 31   AL Champion at NL Champion   FOX   TBA
Game Seven*   Thursday, November 1   AL Champion at NL Champion   FOX   TBA

expos1994 · « **Reply #4:** September 28, 2012, 10:27:30 AM »

Well this didn't help me much but here's an article about it:
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7942366/owners-approve-wild-card-winners-hosting-games-1-2-division-series

I think it's extremely dumb to allow the team without home field advantage to gain the momentum with 2 home games to start the series. If you ask me, with regards to the playoffs baseball has been making a lot of dumb decisions lately. If it ain't broke, don't fix. It wasn't broke and they shouldn't have tried to fix it.

nfotiu · « **Reply #5:** September 28, 2012, 10:36:19 AM »

A young team like the Nats might be better off starting away from home with a little less pressure. If they can manage a split of the first 2 games, which is probably the most likely scenario, it is a big advantage to come home to 3 straight home games.

1995hoo · « **Reply #6:** September 28, 2012, 10:41:50 AM »

Quote from: Baseball is Life on September 28, 2012, 10:25:45 AM

I think that's right. And let's really get ahead of ourselves:

National League Championship Series
(higher seed will have home field advantage; I think format will be 2-2-1-1-1)

....

No, for some reason baseball insists on using the incorrect 2–3–2 format for both the World Series and the League Championship series. The higher seed hosts Games 1, 2, 6, and 7. I assume that format persists primarily as an historical relic because during the days when teams' travel was predominantly by train it was often impractical to shuttle back and forth for the "1–1–1" portion (and, indeed, the travel issue is supposedly why the NBA switches to 2–3–2 for the NBA Finals after using the correct format for the first three rounds). I know Charlie Ebbets is credited with suggesting the "2–3–2" format sometime in the 1920s, but I don't know what necessarily motivated the proposal.

houston-nat · « **Reply #7:** September 28, 2012, 10:43:49 AM »

Oh my gosh since I got a new job and I'm moving in October I'm gonna be able to watch NLDS Game 5 and all the NLCS and World Series with my best friend who bet me the Nationals would miss the playoffs and now owes me 5 rounds in a bar.

rbw5t · « **Reply #8:** September 28, 2012, 10:45:41 AM »

Quote from: Baseball is Life on September 28, 2012, 10:25:45 AM

I think that's right. And let's really get ahead of ourselves:

National League Championship Series
(higher seed will have home field advantage; I think format will be 2-2-1-1-1)

I think the LCS and WS are 2-3-2. You'll notice games 3 through 5 are played on consecutive days, so travel time is built in for going back and forth.

At least in the WS context, I think 2-3-2 makes more sense than 2-2-1-1-1 because the home field advantage there isn't really earned. (Even with the recent all-star game significance.) You could argue the other way, though, for the LCS.

OldChelsea · « **Reply #9:** September 28, 2012, 10:49:13 AM »

Quote from: nfotiu on September 28, 2012, 10:36:19 AM

A young team like the Nats might be better off starting away from home with a little less pressure. If they can manage a split of the first 2 games, which is probably the most likely scenario, it is a big advantage to come home to 3 straight home games.

The Nats' away record is currently a MLB-best 47-31.

rbw5t · « **Reply #10:** September 28, 2012, 10:51:50 AM »

Quote from: 1995hoo on September 28, 2012, 10:41:50 AM

No, for some reason baseball insists on using the incorrect 2–3–2 format for both the World Series and the League Championship series. The higher seed hosts Games 1, 2, 6, and 7. I assume that format persists primarily as an historical relic because during the days when teams' travel was predominantly by train it was often impractical to shuttle back and forth for the "1–1–1" portion (and, indeed, the travel issue is supposedly why the NBA switches to 2–3–2 for the NBA Finals after using the correct format for the first three rounds). I know Charlie Ebbets is credited with suggesting the "2–3–2" format sometime in the 1920s, but I don't know what necessarily motivated the proposal.

The WS was historically 2-3-2 because that was the most fair they could make it. There was no attempt to reward the team with the better record with home field advantage -- the advantage just alternated between leagues every year. In 2-3-2, the potential home advantage outcomes are exactly even, in that if the series goes either 4 or 6 games, both teams have an equal number of home games, and if it goes 5 games Team B has the advantage, whereas if it goes 7 games Team A has the advantage. The NBA and NHL use 2-2-1-1-1 to preserve a true home field advantage based on regular season records, but baseball never did that before divisional play. Baseball now has a weak version of it by giving ostensible advantage to team emerging from the league that won the all-star game, but I don't think having your league win one exhibition game is really justification for going away from 2-3-2 to give the stronger home field advantage.

Count Walewski · « **Reply #11:** September 28, 2012, 11:02:44 AM »

Apparently it is extremely onerous for a baseball TV crew to move from one city to another. This is why baseball has repeatedly rejected the proposal of moving to NBA-style home game advantage for the LCS and World Series, because the media says it would be burdensome to play 3 consecutive games in different places.

OldChelsea · « **Reply #12:** September 28, 2012, 11:07:14 AM »

Well, they could always do what Whitey Herzog was advocating back in the 1980's (largely after seeing his Cardinals lose the 1987 World Series to the Homer Domer Twins, in a Series in which home teams won all seven matches)...play the MLB post-season in neutral cities.

[N.B. I AM ABSOLUTELY NOT ADVOCATING THIS!]

Baseball is Life · « **Reply #13:** September 28, 2012, 11:12:28 AM »

Quote from: OldChelsea on September 28, 2012, 11:07:14 AM

Well, they could always do what Whitey Herzog was advocating back in the 1980's (largely after seeing his Cardinals lose the 1987 World Series to the Homer Domer Twins, in a Series in which home teams won all seven matches)...play the MLB post-season in neutral cities.

[N.B. I AM ABSOLUTELY NOT ADVOCATING THIS!]

Whitey was one of those managers who thought he was smarter than anybody else. He was a great manager but cocky in a good ol' boy kind of way. Davey is kind of the same way and they were fierce competitors in the '80s when DJ was with the Mets.

Slateman · « **Reply #14:** September 28, 2012, 11:13:54 AM »

OP, thanks

OldChelsea · « **Reply #15:** September 28, 2012, 11:15:21 AM »

Quote from: Baseball is Life on September 28, 2012, 11:12:28 AM

Whitey was one of those managers who thought he was smarter than anybody else. He was a great manager but cocky in a good ol' boy kind of way. Davey is kind of the same way and they were fierce competitors in the '80s when DJ was with the Mets.

Herzog's reasoning in this case was 'the fans don't get to attend anyway' ([i.e. the baseball post-season is just like the Super Bowl, a Sunbelt vacation for fat cats for whom the match is merely background).

Smithian · « **Reply #16:** September 28, 2012, 12:40:34 PM »

For someone who is having to fly in for games, this little back and forth with the Reds is becoming pricier by the day.

1995hoo · « **Reply #17:** September 28, 2012, 01:23:39 PM »

Quote from: rbw5t on September 28, 2012, 10:51:50 AM

The WS was historically 2-3-2 because that was the most fair they could make it. There was no attempt to reward the team with the better record with home field advantage -- the advantage just alternated between leagues every year. In 2-3-2, the potential home advantage outcomes are exactly even, in that if the series goes either 4 or 6 games, both teams have an equal number of home games, and if it goes 5 games Team B has the advantage, whereas if it goes 7 games Team A has the advantage. The NBA and NHL use 2-2-1-1-1 to preserve a true home field advantage based on regular season records, but baseball never did that before divisional play. Baseball now has a weak version of it by giving ostensible advantage to team emerging from the league that won the all-star game, but I don't think having your league win one exhibition game is really justification for going away from 2-3-2 to give the stronger home field advantage.

That's a fair point about the lack of a real home-field advantage in baseball and it's one I hadn't considered. I agree with you that the All-Star Game doesn't really "earn" a team the home-field advantage because the team's own players didn't do anything to earn it.

I do recall that for a time in the mid-1990s the NHL changed the format for playoff series between Central Division and Pacific Division teams to a 2–3–2 because of travel distances and they gave the higher-seeded team the choice of whether they wanted to start at home or on the road. That was later scrapped. The worst format was what the NHL did to the Capitals in 2000. Old Chelsea can provide more specific details, but basically, the owners of Pittsburgh's arena booked a dance contest that would interfere with the playoff schedule, so the league forced the #2 seeded Capitals to play a 1–2–2–1–1 format with games 1, 4, 5, and 7 in Washington. What made it all the more obnoxious is that the dance contest was promptly cancelled once the screw-job schedule was in place.

Out of curiosity I just looked up what MLB did in the years when the World Series was best-of-nine. In 1921 it didn't matter because the Giants and the Yankees shared the Polo Grounds and they simply alternated the "home team" designation. In 1920 the first three games were at Ebbets Field and the next four in Cleveland and I have no idea what would have happened for Games 8 and 9; in 1919 they did a 2–3–2–1 (with the "2" portions in Cincinnati and the "3" and the "1" in Chicago) and I assume Game 9 would have been in Chicago. In 1903 they played 3–4–1 with the first three and the last one in Boston; Game 9 would have been in Boston as well but wasn't needed.

(BTW, the other times the World Series was played all in one ballpark were 1922 between the Yankees and Giants when they alternated home-team status for each game like in 1921 and the 1944 Series between the Browns and the Cardinals when they allocated that status via the 2–3–2 system.)

imref · « **Reply #18:** September 28, 2012, 01:28:00 PM »

Quote from: rbw5t on September 28, 2012, 10:51:50 AM

The WS was historically 2-3-2 because that was the most fair they could make it. There was no attempt to reward the team with the better record with home field advantage -- the advantage just alternated between leagues every year. In 2-3-2, the potential home advantage outcomes are exactly even, in that if the series goes either 4 or 6 games, both teams have an equal number of home games, and if it goes 5 games Team B has the advantage, whereas if it goes 7 games Team A has the advantage. The NBA and NHL use 2-2-1-1-1 to preserve a true home field advantage based on regular season records, but baseball never did that before divisional play. Baseball now has a weak version of it by giving ostensible advantage to team emerging from the league that won the all-star game, but I don't think having your league win one exhibition game is really justification for going away from 2-3-2 to give the stronger home field advantage.

i've always thought 2-2-1-1-1 is the fairest way to run the games, but i can see how the players would hate the additional travel.

miller10 · « **Reply #19:** September 28, 2012, 01:32:42 PM »

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KnorrForYourMoney · « **Reply #20:** September 28, 2012, 01:58:05 PM »

But...but...day games are REAL baseball! Self-righteous people on the Internet told me so!

spidernat · « **Reply #21:** September 28, 2012, 01:58:53 PM »

Quote from: KnorrForYourMoney on September 28, 2012, 01:58:05 PM

But...but...day games are REAL baseball! Self-righteous people on the Internet told me so!

OldChelsea · « **Reply #22:** September 28, 2012, 02:10:46 PM »

Quote from: 1995hoo on September 28, 2012, 01:23:39 PM

[...]The worst format was what the NHL did to the Capitals in 2000. Old Chelsea can provide more specific details, but basically, the owners of Pittsburgh's arena booked a dance contest that would interfere with the playoff schedule, so the league forced the #2 seeded Capitals to play a 1–2–2–1–1 format with games 1, 4, 5, and 7 in Washington. What made it all the more obnoxious is that the dance contest was promptly cancelled once the screw-job schedule was in place.[...]

Quite right, unfortunately...my first playoff series following starting my season ticket, and it seemed to set a pattern....

DPMOmaha · « **Reply #23:** September 28, 2012, 03:24:24 PM »

Why is 2-2-1-1-1 more fair than 2-3-2?

NatsDad14 · « **Reply #24:** September 28, 2012, 03:26:11 PM »

Quote from: DPMOmaha on September 28, 2012, 03:24:24 PM

Why is 2-2-1-1-1 more fair than 2-3-2?

Its the same exact thing exact Game 5 and 6 are switched. Its no fair that the Road team has an advantage in home games thru 5 games rather than the home team.