Love or hate the new baseball schedule?
April 14, 2008 @ 11:20 a.m. by Joannaby joanna
I wrote about the new baseball schedule in the City League two weeks ago in baseball notes, now taken over oh-so-ably by Jonathan Long. It didn’t sound as if coaches thought the schedule was the greatest thing in the world.
Some liked it, some didn’t mind it, others were not fans.
But what about you? Do you like the idea and just feel it doesn’t work? Do you love it overall? Do you hate it across the board? Are you irked that you have to pay twice as much to see your kid play the same number of games as usual?
I think for me what would bother me as a parent is the number of nights for games have increased. Whereas you were only losing one night to baseball games (losing sounds harsh, but there is life outside of sports, you know. There’s painting, cleaning, eating still to be done in a daily life), now you’re spending so many more nights.
I wouldn’t mind the 4:30 game start (although I believe that’s a problem for some getting off work), but that 6:30 start isn’t a set time because of the previous game at that site goes long, your game starts late.
Those are just my thoughts. I do think it was a good idea when it was thought about and maybe we just all need to get used to it. I just don’t know. But tell me what you think?
April 14th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
It’s a great idea, but the implementation and game management hasn’t gone so well. games will rarely get over in 2 hours, let alone be ready to start another one. As for the admission, clearly they should have reduced that!
I think 4 games over 4 days is MUCH better for the players. much better for the pitching staff, as a kid should be able to get more rest between starts than the DH format. Think of the ones that pitch, then play SS in game 2……. etc. it works in Oklahoma, where they play more games, and more single dates.
Part of the process needs to include better game management. Once game 1 is over, teams need to clear out within 10 minutes. The next 2 teams should be on and warmed up in the outfield in that 10-15 minute span. Teams don’t need 15 minutes to do in and out, nor do they need to give 3 kids per position, and every player on the roster multiple reps in pregame. Pregame in and out is really for the starters. Shouldn’t take more than 12 minutes, 10 minutes really is enough. This would allow no more than 30 minutes between games. If you are looking to criticize the lack of warm up time, keep in mind there are places to play catch before the end of the 1st game, as well as at school before they leave for the park. Problem is, management isn’t communicating with each other, working with each other to insure the field is cleared and teams hop on and off. Nothing irritates me more than teams screwing around and not getting to their pregame warm up. it’s simple, there should be set times for them to get on and off. a game should not be delayed because of poor time management. Additionally, the games you see where the home team takes in and out LAST…….. huh? The home team goes out first, then the visitors. Home takes the field for warm-up pitches AFTER the umpires and coaches meet. SIMPLE. too many do it bassAckwards.
The nice thing about the single game format is if you get rained one day, you don’t lose (nor have to make up) a DH. Yes, the fields are accounted for the next night, hard to make them up, but it’s no different than before with other teams playing a DH the following night, old format. You might have to inconveinience some to play on Wednesday and Saturday, but it’s better overall for the teams and players. Plus, I like that you can have 4 teams at one site per night, see more teams play, more diverse, better for college recruiting, etc.
keep it, just tighten it up on the management side. 4:30 and 7pm start times. should be able to roll a little smoother. maybe even 4:30 and 6:45 starts, with expected delay for the 6:45……
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April 15th, 2008 at 7:43 am
I think there’s a problem, in that with games scheduled three or four afternoons a week, some players are missing lots of class. Often they need to be dismissed early from school in order to be ready for game time, and for those who may play a combination of JV and varsity, they can be involved in an early start each date.
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April 15th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
The kids in the city still get out only 10 times 30-40 minutes early with the new schedule just like DH in previous years. Time out of the classroom is the same we made sure of that. If the single game schedule stays the 1st game should start at 4pm with the second proceeding the 1st. I agree that starters and only starters should take pre-game. I also feel taht in between games while the 1st game teams are clearing out the dugouts and the 2nd game teams are warming up in the outfield, that someone should drag the infield. The infield is pretty beat up after the 1st game. Just a thought. Plus, vote yes on the bond issue. Some baseball teams may be able to finally get a home field to play on which will do wonders for scheduling instead of having to juggle schedules because of the lack of fields. Baseball is a game that is not an up-tempo type of game, but there are way more things that go on during a game then one fan may see in the stands. The best way to speed up games is to make sure the teams hustle, I mean HUSTLE on and off the fields. That could save 2 minutes an inning a side which totals 28 minutes for a seven inning affair. There are advantages and disadvantages of both types of schedules but talking to my players they like the single games because they can go all out for 2 hours knowing they do not have another one afterward. Another example of our new microwave era, everyone wanting everything as fast as possible. Why do you think people prefer to watch a good basketball or football game over a good baseball game, SPEED.
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April 16th, 2008 at 9:17 am
Sophie, you make some great points, and are obviously very well versed on the goings on.
Right on for class time, as it was they were leaving 2 days per week to attend a DH, so it’s the same for the single series.
The pace of the game should fall on coaches, but umpires can do a better job. First off, make sure only 5 warm-up pitches are thrown between innings. This is where most time is wasted.
Dragging the field is probably an obsticle that won’t get overcome. The “city fields” won’t get touched, heck they don’t work on them hardly as it is. Westurban likely won’t do it either. They probably would if it were paid for (understandably), but I don’t know that it would ensure manpower is available to do it.
You are right, home fields through the bond would be a HUGE help in scheduling. That said, the field at South is already a joke. The mound there is deplorable. It’s much easier to build it right and tend to it daily, than to slap dirt in and watch it wash out. Mounds HAVE to be big enough, built correctly, and have clay on them. They need to be packed by the team after each use. Simple to do, just has to be done. It needs a big enough area to land on pick-offs, and not have a kid break an ankle just trying to step off the rubber.
It all comes down to GWAL coming together to insure proper game management.
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April 17th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
The class time issue as it really plays out is that certain students are now in fact missing class almost every school day. If it wasn’t intended to happen that way, then something has gone wrong with the plans, or possibly a program isn’t following stated policy. A player who may play varsity or may play JV misses class whether or not his team’s VARSITY game is the early one or the late one on a given night. While I am a big supporter of City League sports, the baseball schedule as it is playing out right now is in my opinion an unacceptable infringement on certain students’ opportunity to be successful in certain classes. It needs to be addressed by the ADs.
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April 18th, 2008 at 12:11 am
I am a coach in the city and I know my varsity does not get out at all unless they have the 4:30 game in which they are let out at 2:30 to beat the traffic out of the parking lot. School ends at 3:10 so by the time the kids go to their lockers and get changed they are leaving the school just before 3 to beat the traffic. I do agree with you with our JV/C team games. No matter what time the varsity plays the JV kids get out at 2:30pm. This is only because the JV games are played at the high schools in which only one school has lights. They have to play early or they will run out of daylight. Maybe the JV and C teams should stick with DH so the loss of time in the classroom is cut in half. We used to have a JV tourney on a Saturday in which all the teams played 3-4 games. That cut down on loss of classroom time a bunch but the tourney had to be cancelled because of the new schedule this year and every team having their 20 games scheduled. The C- teams have a tourney at Heights this year so maybe we should bring back DH for the JV and the C-team kids and have a tourney for each level also. That should fill up their schedules and cut the loss of classroom time dramatically.
The single game schedule is an experiment on the varsity level. For this schedule to work, the games need to be spread out more throughout the season. This week and next week is busy for every school because they are scheduled to play 5-9 games. The kids seem to like the single games. I myself am on the fence. Some things need modification. An example would be for the spectators. Currently fans are paying $5 a game to get in which if they have to pay this everytime to watch their son play, they are paying $100 a piece. We should cut the gate price to $3 for single games and $5 for a DH if the same team is playing the DH. I think the gate price stayed at $5 because someone could still see 2 games if they wanted to but most parents just come to watch their son play in their game and now they pretty much have to pay double. Not every person that comes is a parent but that is one area we need to discuss and modify.
The coaches voted yes to the single games so Mr. Faflick gave us the single game schedule. We just need to modify some things.
Again, vote yes on the bond issue so we can maybe have more fields with lights to play on so kids won’t miss anymore time than they already do in the classroom.
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April 26th, 2008 at 8:54 am
How about selling a discounted “season pass” through the school? HS baseball does not get much walk-up traffic from the general public looking for entertainment, so something needs to be done about the pricing structure.
Have JV/C teams started playing more than 10 games a year? Not long ago, they weren’t playing more than that, and starting at 4pm. There is plenty of time to play a single non-varsity game that way. Additionally, you can not play more than 2 games in a day. NCAA does not allow, nor does KSHSAA. NO WAY they could play 3-4 on a saturday tournament.
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