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The 2008 Northern League
schedule was released recently. You may recall that, after
considerable posturing back and forth, it was announced that
Edmonton and Calgary were leaving for the warmer climate (and
presumable warmer feeling) of the Golden Baseball League. This
left the original independent league back where it started
with six teams. The difference now is that, in 1993, the
longest trek was from Thunder Bay to Sioux City -- a 643-mile
drive. The new six-team configuration stretches from Winnipeg
to Schaumburg -- some 843 miles as the crow flies. That stroll
down the highway makes the drive to Fargo -- four hours away
-- seem like a trip to the suburbs.
Mix those cities in with the three Chicagoland cities
(Schaumburg, Joliet and Gary) and you have the potential for a
very messy schedule. Not wishing to show weakness, the league
is bravely going forward with the same amount of games as in
the recent past -- 96 games. But, after scouring the schedule
a bit, one wonders how it will take before weariness takes a
toehold in the league.
The Kansas City T-Bones will get an early look at how that
817-mile bus ride to Manitoba shapes up when they open the
season in Winnipeg, May 15. It is the first of four trips they
will make to Canada -- one for each month of the schedule. It
is only on their last trip that they get to stop as well in
Fargo. Bring a lot of DVDs with your passports, boys.
By the way, one wonders if the league schedulemaker knows the
average high on May 15 (the scheduled opener) in Winnipeg is
17 degrees while the average low is six? (Editor's note:
The last time we were in Winnipeg on May 15 we were snowed in
after more than a foot of snow fell overnight.)
Gotcha. That’s Celsius temps. (The Fahrenheit translation for
Winnipeg is 62 and 43. In Kansas City, the averages are 74 and
54.)
A six-team league means you have five opponents. Since 96
divided by five comes out to 19.2, a balanced schedule was out
of the question. By all reports, juggling with one hand is
difficult. A check of this slate reminds one of the old
spinning plate trick from the Ed Sullivan show 40 years ago.
It never worked the way it was supposed to as a plate always
fell off.
Nobody fell off the schedule but you have the following idiosyncrasies:
-
The Goldeyes host Kansas City 13 times but only play seven games in return.
-
The Goldeyes and Fargo are quite the rivalry. But will they get tired of each other after they play 26 games together?
-
In a move reminiscent of PCL teams playing in Hawaii, Fargo hosts Kansas City, June 11-15. The T-Bones get to be on the other end of things when Gary drops by in August for a five-game stay. The five-game series is Gary’s second visit to Kansas City in August.
-
It may make sense that Schaumburg and Gary play 23 times. But is there really a good reason why 15 games are in Illinois and only eight in Indiana?
-
Joliet and Schaumburg are a comfortable 42 miles apart from each other. So why is it they meet each other just three times in June and none in August?
Just asking.
The point of all this is a six-team league is, indeed, a tough
nut to schedule. Whether it is fan fatigue from seeing the
same team so many time you know the visiting first base
coach’s name as well as you know your spouse’s or player
fatigue from seeing the world through the prism of a bus
window, it eventually becomes a tough sell for everybody
involved.
No matter how you cut it, the lads are going to spend a lot of times on buses this summer. For example, Fargo opens the season with a four-game set at Schaumburg, 617 miles away. The final game of that series is a Sunday afternoon. The next night, they are due in Winnipeg. For their sake, one hopes they have enough money to pay the tolls on I-90. If not … well … watch the movie Blazing Saddles sometime to see the consequences of such a financial mistake.
One can’t totally blame the schedulemaker, though. To make chicken soup, you need a couple of basic ingredients.
The South Coast League -- one
of the other six-team circuits in independent baseball -- had
some similar difficulties. Anderson, S.C. to Port Charlotte,
Fla. is 639 miles, a relative stroll by comparison to the
Winnipeg-Schaumburg haul. But that league played just 88 games
in 2007 and indications are they won’t be stepping up to more
games next season. A similar fate could befall the Can-Am
Association; the league footprint is considerably more compact
than that of the Northern League.
Years ago, the major league baseball schedule was made by a
couple in Delaware. As expansion and the west coast seeped
into play, it became too complicated and it is now basically a
full-time job. Inevitably, when it is released, there are some
oddities. For example, in the season just ended, Detroit made
two trips to the west coast to play just one series and then
came right back home.
(Here in Minnesota, they have been grumbling for years about
the fact that the Yankees and Red Sox, two big gate
attractions, have only been making one visit a year to town.
There were also mutterings about a lousy interleague schedule
as example of bias against the little franchises. In 2008, the
Yankees come to town twice. The interleague schedule includes
a visit from NL runnerup Arizona as well as a trip to champ
Colorado. Be careful what you wish for.)
No matter what the level, the of a schedulemaker is a
difficult one, indeed.
It was noted here a few weeks ago the Northern League was
living dangerously by shrugging their shoulders at the
departure of the Canadian teams as no big deal. Barring any
last-minute additions (or subtractions), we have an idea of
the consequences of shrinkage.
There is a theory held by many minor-league GMs and marketing types that the actual opponent doesn’t matter because people come just to be at the ballpark or to witness the marketing event du jour. This thought will get a good test in the Northern League this summer. Not much is riding on it, however -- only the future of the league.
(Dave Wright is senior editor at August Publications in Minneapolis.)
--Oct. 30, 2007
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