Mom & Pop Schedule Makers

For 24 years, 1981 to 2004, the schedules for all Major League Baseball teams were made by a married couple from Marthas Vinyard. It’s hard to believe that this wasn’t something the league did internally. As it turns out, this is something they farm out to a bidding process. The 2005 season saw the first schedules in over 20 years that weren’t made by the Stephenson couple.
Holly and Henry Stephenson did an amazing job balancing all the things that make schedule making so difficult. First, there are 30 teams, each playing a 162-game schedule which needs to be evenly split between home and away games (81 and 81). Then, each team must play the other teams in their division 13 times each (52 total games against divisional opponents). They also must remember that there are two leagues (American and National). Interleague play, when American League teams play, National League is limited to 6 games against a “rival” team and then 3 games each against 14 other teams from the other league (a total of 64 games). Finally, they need to schedule a total of 46 interdivisional games. This is 6 games each against 8 teams and then 7 games each against 2 teams. If this sounds like a lot and very confusing, it’s because it is.
Adding to the frustrations of making schedules for MLB teams is that you also want to avoid unnecessary travel. For example, you don’t want the Boston Red Sox to travel to Seattle for a three-game series and then travel back home for 3 games against the Yankees. No, it would make sense to bundle some other west-coast teams on that trip and have a longer road trip before returning home. You also don’t want back-to-back series against the same team or to play all your games against your divisional opponents too quickly. Everything should be spread out across the season as much as possible. The last two items to consider are off days. Teams are used to playing 10, 15, and sometimes 17 games in a row, but the players do need days off. And finally, most cities that have teams also have a lot of other things going on during the season and it’s best to avoid too many things in one area at a time. Many cities have multiple teams and multiple sports, some using the same stadiums that also host concerts and other events throughout the year. These are all things that need to be considered while making the schedule.
Today, with computer software, the task isn’t nearly as taxing as it was, but the Stephenson’s, and people before them made schedules by hand and that had to have been a labor of love.