bulldogcountry1
03-14-2015, 08:09 AM
There's been a lot of complaining about how Cohen doesn't schedule a strong enough OOC schedule. The only partial explanation I have heard is that he wants the fans to have as many home games as possible, which is pretty weak. There's been several ideas thrown around about just simply scheduling better, playing in big tournaments, or hitting the road. All are reasonable suggestions, and we should definitely do at least one of those things.
Here's the thing - scheduling isn't always a slam dunk. See Arizona last year. They won the CWS in what, 2012? We schedule them, and they turn into a SWAC RPI killer. You just can't do anything about that, though, right? I think you can.
Cohen loves to front load the schedule. We only have one midweek game after SBW. The problem is that you don't always know what you are going to get a year or more after you pencil them onto a future schedule. There is something that can be done.
My (partial) solution: Create "regional pools" of 6-8 teams that have agreed to play at least a couple games sometime in the latter part of the midweek season on specific dates. All schools agree that teams will be matched up according to RPI: highest two RPI teams play, next highest two, and so on. Home and away can be agreed upon in advance. Maybe all the games can be played at a minor league park. This will help protect those teams fighting for a host site or a regional spot by reducing some of the risk that comes with scheduling OOC.
It's just a small start, but it's something. It could develop into something where teams are in 2 or 3 different pools, amounting to 6 games. That could make a huge difference in RPI.
Here's the thing - scheduling isn't always a slam dunk. See Arizona last year. They won the CWS in what, 2012? We schedule them, and they turn into a SWAC RPI killer. You just can't do anything about that, though, right? I think you can.
Cohen loves to front load the schedule. We only have one midweek game after SBW. The problem is that you don't always know what you are going to get a year or more after you pencil them onto a future schedule. There is something that can be done.
My (partial) solution: Create "regional pools" of 6-8 teams that have agreed to play at least a couple games sometime in the latter part of the midweek season on specific dates. All schools agree that teams will be matched up according to RPI: highest two RPI teams play, next highest two, and so on. Home and away can be agreed upon in advance. Maybe all the games can be played at a minor league park. This will help protect those teams fighting for a host site or a regional spot by reducing some of the risk that comes with scheduling OOC.
It's just a small start, but it's something. It could develop into something where teams are in 2 or 3 different pools, amounting to 6 games. That could make a huge difference in RPI.