Brewers/Cubs 9@Wrigley 7@Miller Park

[MUCrisco]

Sorry if this is a pretty obvious answer, but it isn't to me. Why do the Brewers/ Cubs play 9 games at Wrigley and only 7 at Miller Park this year?

[Legacy25GT]

Because someone thought it'd be a good idea to have 4 divisions with 5 teams, 1 with 6 teams and 1 with 4 teams. Most teams play the other teams in their division 18 times (9 home & 9 away) but the brewers play a few less games against each team in the division to make up for the extra team and in this case they play the cubs 2 fewer games at miller park. I'm not sure how they determine which team gets more home games though.

 

I think the system needs to be fixed by moving an NL central team to the AL west (the Astros make the most sense). Then there would be balance between the leagues, each team can play all the division opponents the same number of games with equal home/away, and each team can play the same number of interleague games.

[jhart05]

I think the system needs to be fixed by moving an NL central team to the AL west (the Astros make the most sense). Then there would be balance between the leagues, each team can play all the division opponents the same number of games with equal home/away, and each team can play the same number of interleague games.

 

 

Would be nice, but that would be a scheduling nightmare. You would have to have one interleague series going on every day.

 

Pretty much impossible.

[dadofandrew]

I had never noticed the 9/7 split before now. Odd, but a scheduling quirk.

 

No one wants to be playing an interleague game in September, nor should they.

[homer]

I think the system needs to be fixed by moving an NL central team to the AL west (the Astros make the most sense). Then there would be balance between the leagues, each team can play all the division opponents the same number of games with equal home/away, and each team can play the same number of interleague games.

I don't think the league would want two Texas teams in the same division.

 

If you wanted to get really crazy with re-alignment you could move the Marlins to a western city like Portland, Vegas, or Salt Lake and put them in the AL West and then move Cincy to the NL East.

[cubfan1126]

Why is it that this only becomes an issue when the numbers go against you?

 

I'm sure that some team in the division is visiting Milwaukee more than you visit them.

And next year when the split goes in the other direction, you won't be complaining.

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

I'd rather play the Cubs at Wrigley anyways. It's not like we have any sort of advantage at Miller Park anyways when the Cubs come to town. At least there is less pressure at that pile of iron they call Wrigley.

[pretendastronaut]

Why is it that this only becomes an issue when the numbers go against you?

 

I'm sure that some team in the division is visiting Milwaukee more than you visit them.

And next year when the split goes in the other direction, you won't be complaining.

 

To be fair, nobody is really complaining that the Cubs have more home games, as much as asking and giving reasonable answers and suggestions.

But to your other point, we have/had 9 home versus 6 away with Houston and Pittsburgh this year, while playing 9 in St. Louis and 6 at home.

[pitchleague]

I agree, cubfan. It's not a big deal at all to me. We have had the upside on the Cubs at Miller Park at times, too (maybe even last year?). What goes around, comes around. I haven't complained once about it. Heck, we're 4-2 in Chicago (so far). What's to complain?

[MUCrisco]

To be fair, nobody is really complaining that the Cubs have more home games, as much as asking and giving reasonable answers and suggestions.

 

But to your other point, we have/had 9 home versus 6 away with Houston and Pittsburgh this year, while playing 9 in St. Louis and 6 at home.

Correct. I asked the question because I was curious. I don't think anyone has complained in this thread. Thanks for the answers everyone. I just haven't noticed the unbalanced home/away before. I guess being in a race forces you to look into those types of thngs. They are all new to us, since before last year, we didn't really run into them, due to the fact that we probably didn't run into them in 92.

 

 

(cleaned up code --1992)

[Janelle Larson]

I think the system needs to be fixed by moving an NL central team to the AL west (the Astros make the most sense). Then there would be balance between the leagues, each team can play all the division opponents the same number of games with equal home/away, and each team can play the same number of interleague games.

 

 

Would be nice, but that would be a scheduling nightmare. You would have to have one interleague series going on every day.

 

Pretty much impossible.

Would it increase the chance of one and two game series or any other problems? If not, I'd prefer interleague being apart of the normal schedule instead of the month long circus.

[jeffy]

I think the system needs to be fixed by moving an NL central team to the AL west (the Astros make the most sense).

 

I think moving the Cubs to the AL west makes a lot more sense http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

 

Seriously though, I don't get why interleague games could not be played throughout the season. Why is this any worse than things like the Brewer's Atlanta, Minnesota, Arizona road trip that was probably a result of this "have to play interleague games only at certain times" policy?

 

Another solution would be 4 divisions of 4 teams in the NL and no wild card. This would leave the AL with the newfangled innovations of the DH and the "wild card".

[olsonnet]

And next year when the split goes in the other direction, you won't be complaining.

There is no guarantee of that. I'm 99% sure that we played 3 series @ Wrigley last year and only 2 @ Miller Park last year as well.

[Legacy25GT]

Would be nice, but that would be a scheduling nightmare. You would have to have one interleague series going on every day.

 

Pretty much impossible.

Maybe I'm missing something, but why couldn't you still have interleague games all in May and June like it is now only with 16 teams in each league?

 

I don't care all that much if we play more games in wrigley (or wherever) because we'll still always have 81 games at home no matter what. What bugs me most is that we're competing against 5 other teams for the division instead of 4 like everyone else (or 3 in the AL West). This is not as big a deal as it used to be before the wildcard, but it means that there are 25% more teams that we have to have a better record than to win the divison.

 

If having two Texas teams in the AL is a problem, you could instead send San Diego, Colorado or Arizona to the AL West and Houston to the NL West.

[sheethead]

Maybe I'm missing something, but why couldn't you still have interleague games all in May and June like it is now only with 16 teams in each league?

There are 30 MLB teams, not 32. Your idea, to which i gave thought a while back, would put 15 teams in each league. That odd number of teams would require either an inter-league series throughout the year, or two teams not playing for 2-3 days at a time.

 

 

(edit: nested quote --1992)

[Legacy25GT]

There are 30 MLB teams, not 32. Your idea, to which i gave thought a while back, would put 15 teams in each league. That odd number of teams would require either an inter-league series throughout the year, or two teams not playing for 2-3 days at a time.

Ahhhh I see. You are right, that would force interleague all year long then. I suppose that also explains why expansion teams are always added in pairs. I meant to type 15 teams BTW, just didn't realize that they need an even number to all play at the same time..... duh.

 

 

(edit: long nested quote --1992)

[sheethead]

Yeah, remember when the NFL added Cleveland and no other team until the Texans? At least one team had a bye every week, including the first and last weeks, of the season. That was kind of a mess.

[Tbadder]

I've always thought that there should be fifteen in each league. That cycles one team a bye every so often. An excellent idea I think. Then I would reduce the schedule to 154. That would mean (I think, I suck at Math) each team would play every other team 11 times in a 3-3-3-2 series. You get to dump the interleague games (yeah!) or even go to a 4-4-3 series and really save on travel.

[chuckywang]

Because someone thought it'd be a good idea to have 4 divisions with 5 teams, 1 with 6 teams and 1 with 4 teams. Most teams play the other teams in their division 18 times (9 home & 9 away) but the brewers play a few less games against each team in the division to make up for the extra team and in this case they play the cubs 2 fewer games at miller park. I'm not sure how they determine which team gets more home games though.

 

I think the system needs to be fixed by moving an NL central team to the AL west (the Astros make the most sense). Then there would be balance between the leagues, each team can play all the division opponents the same number of games with equal home/away, and each team can play the same number of interleague games.

The reason for the 16/14 split is so there's an even number of teams per league. Otherwise a team would need to have an off day everyday.

[Invader3K]

Some day baseball will expand to 32 teams, and the issue will be fixed. They can drop the Wild Card and go to having four divisions in each league like the NFL. Hopefully they'll implement an international draft by then to help keep the talent pool from becoming too diluted.

[Postseason2006]

Sorry if this is a pretty obvious answer, but it isn't to me. Why do the Brewers/ Cubs play 9 games at Wrigley and only 7 at Miller Park this year?

I guess I miss where the original poster asked a question and didn't say anything about numbers going against us cubsfan? Seems to me there is only one person getting upset.

[LouisEly]

Why is it that this only becomes an issue when the numbers go against you?

 

And next year when the split goes in the other direction, you won't be complaining.

Because this is the second year in a row that the Brewers/Cubs series has had more games played in Chicago than Milwaukee. Last year it was six in Milwaukee, and nine in Chicago.

 

I wouldn't mind it if the split actually did go in the other direction the next year, but it didn't. These two teams are competing for the playoffs and two years in a row they play more games in Chicago than Milwaukee. That makes five more in Chicago in two years, so next year they need to play five more in Milwaukee to balance it out.

[bucks2281]

It's the third year, actually. In 2006, there were 7 games in Milwaukee and 9 games in Chicago.

 

This certainly should be balanced next season -- maybe 3 or 4 more games at Miller Park. It's not exactly fair to the Brewers.

[dlk9s]

Meh, we stink at home against the Cubs, anyway. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[bullox]

I don't think the league would want two Texas teams in the same division.

Why not? There are three California teams in the NL West.