For the first time that I am aware of in MLB history, the exhibition season began with games in late February when a few teams played Thursday February 29 in 1996. Most fans were probably not too bothered by this, after all this would be the beginning of what would be baseball’s first normal season since 1993. When the two division era was in place from 1969-1993, the regular season never began any earlier than April 2, 1984 and prior to 1982, the regular season was always 25 and a half weeks long, typically opening on the first or second Monday in April and ending the last Thursday of September or the first Thursday of October. If the season began on a Wednesday or Thursday, which it did on a few occasions, the final Sunday was usually the first Sunday of October, though I did find a September 29 finish in 1975. From 1982 to 2017, the season was exactly 26 weeks long with games scheduled over 25 and one half of those weeks. The original schedule in all years accept 2011 and 2012 began with opening games on Monday or Tuesday with the special single Sunday contest on the docket for most years from 1994 to 2015 and a trio of such games in 2016 and 2017. A special Wednesday opener was held prior to the league wide opening on Thursday April 5 in 2012, no such game was played prior to the Thursday March 31, 2011 openers.
With yet more additional off days starting with the regularly arranged 2018 schedule, we now have a 26 and one half week program with 26 weeks of actual games. Under the current model, the latest opening day has been April 1, the earliest was to have been March 26 in 2020. It will be interesting to see if the league goes with March 27 in 2025 and March 26 in 2026, or if it goes with later dates of April 3 and April 2 in those years.
In the divisional era from 1969-1984, the two League Championship Series were a best three of five format, so they would typically be done no later than one week following the conclusion of the regular season, take 1984 for example. The season ended Sunday September 30, the final and decisive game in the NLCS was a week later on Sunday October 7, sorry to bring up bad memories Cub fans. When the two LCS series became a best four out of seven, this meant that with more games and travel days built into the schedule, the World Series which typically began 9-10 days after the regular season ended now was always scheduled to start 13 days after the season’s conclusion. In 1984, the World Series began Tuesday October 9 and had it gone the distance, the final game would have been Wednesday October 17, this was the exact schedule five years earlier in 1979. The original 1990 schedule, which ended up slightly modified due to a lockout induced delay would have had a world Series that began Saturday October 13 and concluded as late as Sunday October 21. Those were the earliest years on the calendar with the 1984 and 1990 schedule program, a Monday April 2 to Sunday September 30 regular season. The latest dates during this period were 1985 and 1991, the season opening Monday April 8 and closing Sunday October 6. IN both of those seasons, the Fall classic would go the distance and end on Sunday October 27, the day we were setting our clocks back. The 1981 World Series, which started later due to an extra round of playoffs caused by the strike that summer held the record for the latest ending of a world Series by calendar date at the time, which also happened to be October 27, a Tuesday, that series would have ended the 28th had the Yankees forced a seventh game.
During the period from 1982-1993, spring training now started slightly earlier with the start of the regular season standardized to the first Monday after April 1. This meant that most teams opened exhibition play 30-32 days prior, in 1990 those dates were to have been Thursday March 1 to Saturday March 3. In 1991, they were Thursday March 7 to Saturday March 9.
Things began to creep earlier in 1996. IN 1994 when more playoffs were added, the original 1994 and 1995 schedules were to have followed the plan in prior similar calendar years, 1994 with a Sunday April 3 opener and most others the following day matching the April 4-5 openers of 1983 and 1988 with the regular season ending Sunday October 2. The playoffs would be extended by a week, so now the scheduled final day of the world Series had it been played in 1994 would have been Sunday October 30, while the 1995 series ended in game six Saturday October 28.
The league wanted to avoid having a November World Series game, so if the current scheduling procedure were maintained, this would mean that the latest start to a regular season would have been an opener on April 5 with the season ending October 3 and the final game of the World Series set for four weeks later on October 31. This meant that seasons that used to open April 6-8 would now see their starts pushed up a week to dates of March 30-april 1, which is exactly what the league would do. So in 1996, we had a special Sunday March 31 opener with most other teams opening the next day, which is what brought us those first February games of spring training. The world Series ended in six games on Saturday October 26. The league opted to not open the 1997 season on Monday March 31, moving to a Tuesday opener instead, but teams followed the prior example with spring training, so that most opened Thursday-Friday February 27-28. The World Series went the distance, with game 7 on Sunday October 26. The league again opted to open on a Tuesday in 1998, giving us the first league wide opening day of March 31, though a small number of teams opened the next day. Most teams had opened spring training games by Friday February 27. This meant that the World Series if it went the distance would have ended Sunday October 25, Yankee fans know it was a sweep that ended October 21, we won’t have a world Series end that early again if things don’t change.
The 1999 season returned to what most fans were more familiar with, the 1993 calendar was followed in that the first games of spring were starting March 4-6, the first day of the season for most teams was Monday April 5 with the return of the special prior Sunday opener, the season ending Sunday October 3. The World Series that year was again a sweep, it’s scheduled ending was Sunday October 31. The league would stick with this scheduling process through 2003, with the opening of the season moving earlier and earlier as the calendar dictated, Monday April 3 in 2000, April 2 in 2001, April 1 in 2002 and March 31 in 2003. But an American, in deed a global tragedy on September 11 meant sports had no choice and frankly an obligation to postpone games temporarily. This meant that we would have our first November world Series games. The old mark of October 28, 1995 would be shattered. The 2000 World Series had it gone the distance would have broken that mark with game 7 on Sunday October 29, but that series ended the prior Thursday. The rescheduled 2001 World Series did not start until October 27, the 4th game was ultimately one that went famously into November and one of the great World Series ever played would go to Sunday November 4.
The schedule program keeping with tradition would then readjust to an April 5 opening day in 2004, falling back to April 4, 3 and 2 through 2007. But the post season schedule would be modified in 2007. In 2004 through 2006, the World Series began 20 days after the season’s final Sunday. This meant start dates of October 23, 22 and 21, with final scheduled ending dates had those series gone the distance of October 31, 30 and 29. In 2007, the start date for TV was pushed back four full dates so that the World Series began the 4th Wednesday after the season concluded. The 2007 season ended Sunday September 30 which was supposed to have been the case in 2001, while 2008 ended September 28, matching the dates in 2003. But now instead of the world Series starting on October 20 and 18, it began October 24 and 22 in those two years. This meant that the deciding game if those series had gone the distance would have been on Thursday November 1 in 2007 and Thursday October 30 in 2008. Spring training games during this period continued to follow their typical approach, starting about 30 days prior to the regular season. this meant that some February games again appeared on the schedule for 2002, 2003 and 2008.
MLB still was trying to avoid starting prior to March 31, which was the start date in 2003 and 2008 with a special Sunday game the night prior each year. So the league went back to April 6 in 2009, which would have meant that for the first time under the old scheduling program, a Sunday 7th game of the World Series would have been November 1. But with the new starting window, the first game was not played until Wednesday October 28, which meant the series if it went all the way would have lasted until Thursday November 5, it ended one day prior and matched 2001 for the latest date a World Series had ended up to that time. IN 2010, the season started a day earlier given how the calendar works, so the final World Series game would have been November 4, that series ended November 1.
As for spring Training, 2009 was the second year of the World Baseball Classic, the first was in 2006. So MLB decided that rather than starting spring training games march 5-7, it would start over a week earlier as all teams played their first MLB exhibitions on Wednesday February 25. This marked the earliest date in history a spring training game had been played, and so 2009 held the mark for the earliest exhibition and tied the mark for the latest world Series game, but this was all intentionally designed. With no WBC in 2010, the exhibition slate started for most teams between March 4-6.
MLB trying to avoid a November World Series made an adjustment to the 2011 program, the season would be moved up four days, so the Monday April 4 opening would now be Thursday March 31 and the Sunday October 2 closing would now be Wednesday September 28, which turned out to be one of the great days and TV nights in baseball history. Sorry for opening painful memories Braves and Red sox fans, you both turned out OK in the years that followed. The World Series start date was still on a Wednesday, but it was moved up an entire week and the postseason was returned to more a look and feel fans were familiar with, so that the world Series began exactly 21 days following the end of the regular season on October 19. The 2011 event was scheduled for an October 27 ending, it was pushed back one day to Friday October 28. This was the earliest start to a World Series since the October 18 date in 2003.
But MLB now had another issue on its hands, it was about to add a wild Card game to the playoff program in 2012 and it still wanted to avoid a start prior to March 31, so that season the start was now pushed back a week to Thursday April 5 for most teams. The season would end on Wednesday October 3, under the old format, this season would have actually and concluded three days earlier. The World Series thus began late in 2012, an October 24 start just like we had five years prior in 2007, which would have meant a November 1 ending, but it was a sweep that was wrapped up October 27, just like the 2007 series.
MLB would return to the Monday opener we all were more accustomed to in 2013 on April 1, the look and feel of this schedule calendar was just like 1996 and 2002. The world Series start would still be in the middle of the week, but now another layer was added to the opening of the playoff procedure, which meant such a time frame was unavoidable. The 2013 series opened Wednesday October 23, it would have concluded no later than March 31 and did so on the 30th. IN 2014, the league removed an off day in the post season, so that the World Series began on a Tuesday, October 21 to be exact and it ended with the 7th game October 29. MLB would do something else though in 2014, it played games to count for the regular season in Australia. These games were 10 days prior to the opening game in the US, meaning the first games that counted were being played officially March 21-22, a new earliest marker. MLB had gone abroad previously to Japan in 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012, but those games were only five days prior to the start of the season and as a result, the earliest games played were the 2008 contests March 26-27.
Spring training in 2011 started with some teams playing as early as Saturday February 26, some did not start until Monday. In 2012, those dates were a week later, with starts of between March 3-5. In 2013 due to the return of the WBC, some teams began exhibition play as early as Friday February 22, a new record, 2014 exhibitions began February 27.
The 2015 season was a return to the scheduling used by MLB in 2009, which was a surprise to some. It was clear the league still didn’t want a North American start prior to March 31, which was the start date in 2014. So the regular season ended October 4 and this meant the World Series would have gone as late as November 4, potentially tying that record, it ended November 1. Spring games that year began for most teams between Tuesday March 3 and Thursday March 5, in 1987 and 1992 with an April 6 opener, the earliest games were March 5 for a few teams.
The 2016 and 2017 seasons would maintain the approach with adjustments for the calendar. Spring training in 2016 began during the middle of the week with teams playing games starting March 1-3, the season opened April 4 for most. The 2017 season brought the next installment of the WBC, so the league again went with an earlier start to exhibition play, some teams on Friday February 24, all others the next day. The regular season for most opened April 3. The World Series in both of these years went the distance, which meant a November 2 finish in 2016 and November 1 in 2017.
It was prior to 2018 that MLB added four regular season off days to the schedule, spreading games out ever so slightly. The 2018, 2019 and 2021 seasons maintained the scheduling approach used in prior years, as did the original 2020 program before it was scrapped due to COVID-19. So what would have been opening dates of April 2 and 1 in 2018 and 2019 became March 29 and 28. The 2020 program before it was revised would have been the first March 30 start under the old formula, now it would have been March 26. IN 2021, the start that would have been April 5 was now April 1. The world Series started October 23 and 22 in 2018 and 2019 and in 2021 it started on October 26. The 2018 series could have gone all the way to October 31, 2019 would go the distance to October 30 and 2021 which could have concluded November 3 ended a day prior.
With the earlier start to the season, MLB decided to keep the last weekend of February start to spring training that had been introduced in 2017. The whole league was playing exhibition ball by Saturday February 24 and 23 in the 2018 and 2019 seasons, February 22 in 2020. The revised 2021 program was a February 28 start.
The postseason would expand again in 2022 and because of a lockout, the season would be starting and ending late. The 2022 season was basically a 26 week program like what we were used too through 2017, The world Series though would now start 22 days after the season’s conclusion, Friday October 28, This meant that if things went the distance, that November 4 record would be broken again, but it held, the series ended on the 4th in six games. In 2023, the league kept the Friday start, so now the World Series was back to a start date of 26 days after the regular season ended, two days longer than what we had during the period from 2007 through 2010 when that peaked at 24 days. The 2023 season began on schedule using the current approach, with a Thursday March 30 beginning and a conclusion on Sunday October 1. The 2024 season will start March 28 and end September 29, matching the approach used in 2019. Spring training games in 2023 and 2024 like 2019 began the last weekend of February with games for most on Saturday, a few the prior Friday. What is not known yet, when the 2024 post season would be. If the league keeps in line with the 2023 calendar, the Wild Card rounds would be October 1-3, the divisional playoffs between October 5-12. This would mean the two LCS would be October 13-21 and 14-22, giving us a world Series that could go October 24-November 1.
IN my opinion there are too many spring training games and too many off days. When you look at the 2024 schedule for instance of the Astros, assuming no postponements, they will have played 57 games at the end of play on May 30. IN 2013, with the season starting four days later, they had played 54. Given the poor weather in November and late October that can be like early April, it is dangerous to be playing your most important games regularly after November 1, even with the climate warming and a quarter of the league playing in climate controlled venues. I would propose that spring training exhibition play be capped at a start of 30 days prior to the regular season and start the regular season in North America no later than April 4 and no earlier than March 29. The schedule would return to it’s typical calendar format used from 1982-2017 and the squeeze week where teams play an extra series would be resolved by having every team playing its chief interleague rival in a home-away series slated for Thursday-Sunday or Friday-Monday, a Thursday-Monday with an open Saturday could also be used if required. Since tie break games are not being used to decide the season standings anymore, two wild card series would be played the Monday-Wednesday following the season and those surviving teams would then open the division series against two hosts on Thursday. IN the opposite league, this timeline would be Tuesday-Thursday with the LDS opening Friday. The league with a Monday wild card would be pushed to Tuesday if makeup games were needed to settle regular season ties and the ALDS would also be pushed back a day accordingly. This would have the best teams that got previous byes starting their playoffs by Thursday or Friday as they used too, not waiting until Saturday.
Using 2024 as an example, the ALWC round could be September 30-October 2 with the ALDS October 3-4, 6-7 and 9. The NLWC would be October 1-3, with the NLDS October 4-5, 7-8 and 10. The ALCS would then be October 11-12, 14-16 and 18-19, with the NLCS October 12-13, 15-17 and 19-20. The regular season would end as it is scheduled too September 29, but it could have started on April 1 like it did in 2013, some special Sunday premier games could be scheduled, which I found to be a nice kickoff to the season that the league used in 2016 and 2017. The first games of the exhibition season in 2024 using my proposal would have started Saturday March 2 or Friday March 1 if a team was opening on Sunday March 31, with all teams as is now practiced having an open date between the final exhibition games and the start of the regular championship season.
Based on my proposal, the latest regular season start of Monday April 4 would result in teams playing their first exhibition games on Saturday March 5, with the regular season ending Sunday October 2. The playoffs would provide wild Cards October 3-5 and 4-6, LDS matchups October 6-7, 9-10 and 12 on one side, 7-8, 10-11 and 13 on the other. The two LCS matchups would be October 14-15, 17-19 and 21-22, as well as October 15-16, 18-20 and 22-23. The World Series would be October 25-26, 28-30 and November 1-2. This was what we had in 2016 for the World Series.
At the other end of the spectrum, the season that started Monday March 29 would have spring training for most teams starting Saturday February 27, with the regular season ending Sunday September 26. The wild card series would run September 27-29 and 28-30, with the LDS going September 30-October 1, 3-4 and 6, as well as October 1-2, 4-5 and 7. The two LCS matchups would be October 8-9, 11-13 and 15-16, as well as October 10-11, 13-15 and 16-17. The World Series would go October 19-20, 22-24 and 26-27. This would match 2011 in terms of what a mid-week World Series would have felt like and if using the Tuesday start, it is what 2010 and 2021 would have been like.
During the division era from
Blind Baseball Perspective 