Baseball Schedule to be Reduced from 56 to 52 Games

[SB Shock]

Little tidbit from goshockers said that

The Division I Championships/Sports Management Cabinet has made a recommendation to reduce the maximum number of contests in baseball from 56 to 52. The logic behind this is with mid-week games, reducing the number of days student-athletes would miss class having to travel for possibly Tuesday and Wednesday away games. After the season was condensed with the uniform starting date, Tuesday and Wednesday mid-week games have become commonplace. Expect that to change in the near future based on the recommendation.

http://www.goshockers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=7500&ATCLID=1589257

[CharlieHog]

They've tried to do this before but it didn't pass.

Although 4 games doesn't seem like a big deal, that's quite a bit of revenue at schools with good attendance.

[shock10]

I would not like that! The more games the better.

[mattdalt]

Any chance this was proposed by some of the southern/ west coast schools that now have to compete during mid-week?

[CharlieHog]

Any chance this was proposed by some of the southern/ west coast schools that now have to compete during mid-week?

Not by any with good attendance.

[notquiteBWing]

probably the oppisite. smaller northern schools need to travel more and it will cost more.

[CharlieHog]

There is no rule that says a team has to play 56 games. If a coach doesn't want to play so many mid-week games he is free to schedule fewer of them.

[WSUwatcher]

Fewer

I'm pretty sure Texas scheduled fewer than 56 last year.

They do have good attendance, but I doubt that revenue is a concern for them in any event.

[ShockU89]

Wichita State has had to deal with multiple mid week games for years. The quote that SB Shock has, mentions that the "Tuesday and Wednesday mid-week games have become commonplace." Yeah, so what, they've been commonplace for us for quite some time. What's the problem?

[CharlieHog]

Wichita State has had to deal with multiple mid week games for years. The quote that SB Shock has, mentions that the "Tuesday and Wednesday mid-week games have become commonplace." Yeah, so what, they've been commonplace for us for quite some time. What's the problem?

I guess the problem is for some schools that don't have the tradition and facilities that WSU has, they have to go on the road quite a bit.

Also, of course, in some areas of the country there are more available opponents than others.

[SB Shock]

Wichita State has had to deal with multiple mid week games for years. The quote that SB Shock has, mentions that the "Tuesday and Wednesday mid-week games have become commonplace." Yeah, so what, they've been commonplace for us for quite some time. What's the problem?

The warmer weather climate locations could start earlier and host cold weather schools with schedules that were not compressed. Then when they got to conference season they would only be concerned about conference games and not have to worry about depth of staff.

Overall I don't see it being that big of deal. Personally I saw it as more of power play - the southern school saying "give us back a earlier start date or were going to shorten the schedule". They made such a good argument, they got their schedule shortened. I rather see the common start date that levels the playing field some.

Teams that want to play 56+ games will still be able to do that likely with the non-exempt tournaments.

[CharlieHog]

Personally I saw it as more of power play - the southern school saying "give us back a earlier start date or were going to shorten the schedule". They made such a good argument, they got their schedule shortened.

What do you mean? There is a common start date, it hasn't been moved from where it was set, and the schedule hasn't been shortened.

[ShockU89]

Wichita State has had to deal with multiple mid week games for years. The quote that SB Shock has, mentions that the "Tuesday and Wednesday mid-week games have become commonplace." Yeah, so what, they've been commonplace for us for quite some time. What's the problem?

I guess the problem is for some schools that don't have the tradition and facilities that WSU has, they have to go on the road quite a bit.

Also, of course, in some areas of the country there are more available opponents than others.

I guess what I was trying to say is that since WSU is not a southern school, we were not able to start our season as early as other schools did before the common start date came into place. Which is also why the Shockers have started out in Hawaii and California many seasons trying to play some games until the weather warmed up in Wichita. Southern schools didn't have this problem and could play as many home games as they wanted earlier in the season. All I am saying is that the uniform start date is a step in the right direction. However, if some schools don't want to play all of their 56 games, then they sure don't have to. I believe Texas moved a few of their games to the fall last year (I believe it was Texas, i think there were some other teams as well), those games didn't count toward their win/loss record, but counted against their 56 limit. I suppose some teams could go this route as well.

[SB Shock]

Personally I saw it as more of power play - the southern school saying "give us back a earlier start date or were going to shorten the schedule". They made such a good argument, they got their schedule shortened.

What do you mean? There is a common start date, it hasn't been moved from where it was set, and the schedule hasn't been shortened.

I'm not saying it was. The southern schools have been complaining that the common start date has compressed the season to much for them. They basically said that the NCAA either needs to move the start date earlier so their schedule is not as compressed or shortened the schedule. I believe they expected given the choice, the earlier start data would be given instead of a shortened season. Which will happen if the measure gets passed.

[Shocker85]

Wichita State has had to deal with multiple mid week games for years. The quote that SB Shock has, mentions that the "Tuesday and Wednesday mid-week games have become commonplace." Yeah, so what, they've been commonplace for us for quite some time. What's the problem?

The problem is that within the framework of the common start date and the number of games allowed, several weeks with two mid-week games are necessary to fill out a full schedule. While teams aren't required to play all 56 games, most who want to compete for NCAA regional and World Series play choose to do so. This requires the players to allocate more and more time to baseball and for the majority of schools that means more travel - taking players away from the classroom.

Granted, WSU has grown accustomed to playing multiple games mid-week and has been doing so for a long time. The pressure on the players, however, is great to succeed on the field AND in their classes. Other programs who are not accustomed to the rigors of a compressed schedule and with less committment from their staff and players to succeed in school are undoubtedly playing the price in reduced academic performance.

I don't really see the schedule reduction as a bad thing. Looking at it quite simply, the Shocks could avoid scheduling a game on the Tuesdays following the long Illinois/Indiana road trips (remember the poor performance vs. Oral Roberts after returning for a rain-delayed Evansville series), or after returning from early season series at far away places like Hawai'i or California. Un-compressing the schedule also potentially gives a better opportunity to fill-in for games lost due to weather.

Just my view ...

--'85.