[Le Grande Orange]

1981 MLB Original Schedules

26 teams, 14 teams in the first league and 12 in the second league;
2 divisions of 7 teams in the first league and 2 divisions of 6 teams in the second league

Games: 162
Length: 179 days (AL); 180 days (NL)
Interleague: No
Format: Balanced (AL); Divisional (NL)
AL: A team plays 13 games against each of its 6 divisional opponents (13 x 6 = 78 games)
AL: A team plays 12 games against each of the 7 clubs in the other division (12 x 7 = 84 games)
NL: A team plays 18 games against each of its 5 divisional opponents (18 x 5 = 90 games)
NL: A team plays 12 games against each of the 6 clubs in the other division (12 x 6 = 72 games)

Year starts on: Thursday
Season opens: Wed. Apr. 8 (NL); Thur. Apr. 9 (AL)
Season closes: Sun. Oct. 4
All-Star Game: Tue. July 14

Total scheduled doubleheaders: 48

Average home stand length: 6.9 games
Average of longest home stands: 13.1 games
Longest home stand: 17 games (ML4, MIN)

Average road trip length: 6.9 games
Average of longest road trips: 13.0 games
Longest road trip: 17 games (SEA, SDN)

Average stretch of consecutive play: 8.3 days
Average of longest stretches of consecutive play: 19.0 days
Longest stretch of consecutive play: 20 days (nineteen clubs)

Series scheduled
1-game: 001
2-game: 096
3-game: 467
4-game: 123
5-game: 004
TOTAL:w691


Also included for this year is a strike-shortened version of the schedules. A players' strike which began on Fri. June 12 and ended on Fri. July 31 interrupted the season. The All-Star Game was rescheduled to Sun. Aug. 9, and regular season play was resumed on Mon. Aug. 10. A total of 693 games were affected by the work stoppage, and all were cancelled. This means that the teams will play a varying number of games in the season, ranging from 105-111 games, with the average value being 109 games. The schedule file was created by taking the original schedule and eliminating all games on or between June 12th and August 9th.

In the real MLB, to counter the shortened season, a split-season format was adopted to double the number of teams in the post-season from 2 to 4 per league. Unfortunately, OOTP cannot do a split-season format. However, the increased number of teams in the playoffs can be mimicked by adjusting the playoff settings in the league options to have the top 2 teams from each division qualifying for the post-season instead of just the division winners. Though it won't be the technically accurate first-half and second-half winners, it will at least be the 2 teams from each division, in this instance the top 2 teams at the end of the abbreviated season. The one further drawback is that OOTP simply rates the four playoff teams 1-4 in each league and then matches them up regardless of division. Thus, in the first round you could have an East Division team playing a West Division team, which is also technically incorrect. However, this could be rationalized by saying MLB allowed this for this season only to increase fan interest to counter the effects of the strike.

Personally, I think the expanded playoffs are an important factor in this season, so I would use the method described above. However, if one prefers to only have the division winners qualify for the post-season in spite of it being a shortened season, one is free to do that also. The choice is yours.