Let's Discuss SEC Baseball Scheduling

[engie]

Looking at our schedule for this year got me to thinking. The scheduling model for baseball in the SEC needs to be revisited at some point to address the imbalance that's inherent to it. It's always bothered me that we played a full round-robin minus ONE team, since that would have been an EASY fix by just adding one weekend and making the schedule 33 games. However, the competitive advantage/disadvantage in this was inherently pretty small(although it could be argued that it is a deciding factor in who wins divisions most years).

With the expanded SEC, not playing 3 teams every year makes for a HUGE scheduling discrepancy. Here is the cross-division matchups this year:

MSU(Collegiate Baseball preseason ranking):
@ #8 Kentucky
#24 Florida
@ #3 Vanderbilt
#7 South Carolina
We miss #29 Georgia and Tennessee/Missouri(which both fall outside the top 40).

Arkansas:
@ #7 South Carolina
@ #29 Georgia
@ #8 Kentucky
Tennessee

LSU:
@ Missouri
#8 Kentucky
#7 South Carolina
#24 Florida

OM:
@ #24 Florida
#3 Vandy
@ Tennessee
#8 Kentucky

aTm:
#29 Georgia
@ #7 South Carolina
Missouri
@ Tennessee

Aub:
#3 Vandy
#29 Georgia
@ Missouri
@ #24 Florida

Bama:
Tennessee
@ #29 Georgia
Missouri
@ #3 Vanderbilt

Obviously, we got screwed here in a big way... but that is not the purpose of my post.

How do we fix the baseball schedule longterm in order to provide better overall balance? I've got a few ideas, but I'm interested in hearing from others on the topic before discussing them.

 

[dawgs.sixpack]

honestly, i just think we caught a bad break. without a crystal ball, it's impossible to figure out the best balance. furthermore, who is to say tenn or mizzou doesn't have a break out season and maybe usc or florida struggles? you just never know. i just hope when uga/tenn/mizzou cycle onto the schedule they haven't turned it around. do 3 teams rotate every year or every other year? how does the rotation work in baseball?

 

[Railin Jemmye]

Get rid of the SECT for one, to free up another weekend......

I wouldn't mind seeing a couple of 2 game mid-week SEC series near the end of the season, against the other two teams that we haven't played. By playing 5 games weeks for the 2 weeks to end the season, it better prepares the SEC teams for regional play.

Many people like the SECT in Hoover. I'm not one of them.

Just a quick bit on us getting screwed, I don't think we did, just luck of the draw. And we're good enough this year to be a team that's feared, not the other way around - this will help us come postseason. Contrary to popular opinion, neither Slive nor LT would screw us. LT does in fact love MSU, and Slive knows MSU baseball is money to him.

 

[Hump4Hoops]

I honestly don't think it can be fixed. Look at football.

It's possible for one east team to play LSU and Bama in the same year, while another plays Auburn and ole miss, etc. This is no worse. Actually, it's better, as it's a sport with a postseason tournament.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

Maybe UEFA-style tiered scheduling based on previous records?

Tier 1 - Two of Three
Tier 2 - Two of Three
Tier 3 - Two of Three
Tier 4 - Two of Three
Tier 5 - One of Two
Permanent Opponent

 

[Todd4State]

As long as LT is doing the scheduling for the SEC, we are going to get screwed.

I'd like to say a way where every team in the SEC plays every other team each year- which would mean single midweek games against SEC East teams for us. And then play rivalry match-ups twice a year. So, we would play a three game series in Oxford, and then a three game series in Starkville every year.

So, that would make 34 SEC games a year.

6 Rivalry games.
15 against the rest of the SEC West.
13 games against the SEC East. (Three weekend series that are rotated each year and then four midweek games)

That increases the total of SEC games from 30 to 34.

I think that's a good schedule for TV and fan interest because you have twice as many rivalry games on the weekends, you have some interesting midweek games built in- which will help SEC teams as far as regionals because now you have to have a good midweek starter, and I suspect a midweek game featuring MSU and Georgia would probably be a good candidate for TV somewhere, and then you have non-SEC games like the Gov. Cup which are also good for TV even though it's not a conference game. Alabama and Georgia have similar games.

 

[SwingAway]

I don't have a problem with it. Some years you get a good draw some you don't Of course like others said the "top teams" could fall and others step up and make a run.

Either way if you dont want to *****, show up to the park and win and make the schedule irrelevant to your success.

 

[Railin Jemmye]

Bullcrap on the LT part. Not sure who decided around here that you were going to be an expert on baseball, but they failed. Just like the anointment of Coach34 as some sort of offensive football wizard.

 

[patdog]

The really isn't any way to fix the imbalance with a 10-series schedule and a 14-team conference. We just got the bad draw this year. Which is really kind of inexcusable this year since it's not an already established rotation that just happened to fall the wrong way for us this year.

 

[engie]

Goat and Todd are the closest to my thoughts on this, although I'm not a fan of eliminating the SEC tourney.

My idea was to play 6 single SEC games in the midweek, or approx 1 every other week during the SEC season, with this happening in back-to-back weeks once(10 week season)-- which ends up equaling a home and home against each of the 3 teams you miss on the regular weekend schedule. This takes the total SEC schedule to 36 games and balances it to a bit better degree. You can even match it up geographically to cut down on the travel. For instance, we play @ Tennessee on Wed on our way to Lexington for the weekend series. Then Tennessee plays us in Starkville on their way to Tuscaloosa, etc...

This is marginally harder on a pitching staff and team -- but it's still fair since it applies equally to everyone. You can even discuss adding back a double-header Saturday when you have an SEC game the following Tuesday... or manipulating the schedule to Thurs, Fri, Sat or Sat, Sun, Mon schedules for an additional day's rest around the SEC midweek games.

Why do I think this idea has merit beyond simply "balancing the schedule"? The coming SECnetwork. It's going to air SEC baseball constantly during the spring. Setting this up correctly potentially allows SEC in-conference baseball to be seen 7 days a week on tv. What would you pay for this service? It would be worth $10/mo to me EASILY. I'd watch Ole Miss vs Arkansas Pine Bluff on Tuesday night as well -- but you get the point of why more quality matchups have alot of value to the channel.

The obvious downside is it sucks to an extent for the fans that actually try to attend all the games(much like TV in general most of the time), and it takes a grinding schedule and makes it even a bit tougher. Still, nowhere close to the grind these kids see at the next level, however...

 

[SwingAway]

You can even discuss adding back a double-header Saturday

I wish we could implement this regardless of anything else.

A. Easier to put butts in seats from out of towners making it an all-day event
B. I'd prefer to spend an entire Saturday watching the double header than coming on an empty Sunday. Much better atmosphere, more food, more beer, more fun.

 

[engie]

I wish we could implement this regardless of anything else.

A. Easier to put butts in seats from out of towners making it an all-day event
B. I'd prefer to spend an entire Saturday watching the double header than coming on an empty Sunday. Much better atmosphere, more food, more beer, more fun.

Agreed on all. I still can't figure out why it was changed in the first place...

 

[Todd4State]

Well, at least they got you being bipolar right

Bullcrap on the LT part. Not sure who decided around here that you were going to be an expert on baseball, but they failed. Just like the anointment of Coach34 as some sort of offensive football wizard.

LT may love MSU, although it sure is hard to tell, but he also loves Ron Polk. He screwed us over in football too- where do you think Scott got the "we're playing Vandy in 2013 so we can schedule Oklahoma State" idea from?

 

[Todd4State]

Agreed on all. I still can't figure out why it was changed in the first place...

The double headers used to be seven innings apiece and coaches thought it hurt SEC teams in regionals because it caused our pitching staffs to not be as deep and you had to play nine to win a regional game. And so that there would be a Sunday game for TV.

I think the SEC should allow MSU to play 9 inning double headers on Sat. as part of our tradition much like they allow LSU to play night games at Tiger Stadium in football.

 

[maroonmania]

Will the man NEVER show us mercy...

LT may love MSU, although it sure is hard to tell, but he also loves Ron Polk. He screwed us over in football too- where do you think Scott got the "we're playing Vandy in 2013 so we can schedule Oklahoma State" idea from?

and retire???

 

[QuaoarsKing]

We could do it without cutting the SECT and without playing anyone in midweek.

The season is 14 weekends long: 4 non-conference and 10 SEC. We aren't playing anybody all that notable in the nonconference, and neither is anyone else. Why not just scale it back to 1 non-conference series and 13 conference series, for a full 39-game round robin? It will still give one week to play a good (or lame) non-conference series, and there's still always the midweek.

Seems like it would help everyone's RPI too.

 

[AFDawg]

I like this.

 

[patdog]

That schedule would be insane. 39 SEC games and only 17 non-conference games. Plenty of SEC teams that would go to a regional under the current format would be left home.

 

[QuaoarsKing]

I doubt it would make a difference in the number of SEC teams that get in. 18-21 SEC would probably get you in, maybe even as low as 16-23 (the committee regularly takes SEC, ACC, and Pac-12 teams with similar winning %). If anything it would raise the SEC teams that get in because the increased SOS would raise everyone's RPIs.

 

[patdog]

Some teams that would make the tournament in the current format would finish with a losing record in that format. And even though a team barely above .500 that was deserving would be left out by the committee, and that would happen to at least 1 SEC team every year, if not more.