Double-Header Schedule ....

[MKG1734]

Double-Header scheduling bug

Teams are scheduled to play a double header on Monday, June 29th when both teams have an off day on the day preceding the start of the series (June 26th)

Screen Shots of both team's schedules attached

[megamanmatt]

When was the game originally supposed to be played because from those screenshots it looks like a game was canceled and rescheduled 2 days later. Basically I fail to see the problem.

[MKG1734]

It was scheduled as of May 1 (I just didn't post the screen shot until I got to the series)

[cheo25]

That's routine for that to be done in the game. The only time I've seen a rained-out game get made up on an off-day in OOTP is when the two teams don't have any more games scheduled against each other. That's when OOTP finds a common off-day to reschedule it. If there's no common off-day, it gets rescheduled for the day after the regular season. Otherwise, it's always made up as a doubleheader and it's usually on the first game of the series unless a doubleheader is already scheduled on that day.

Another quirk I've found is when a rainout occurs the last time a team visits a city, but there is another series left between the two teams at the other city. For example, a Dodgers-Mets game that gets rained out in New York gets made up as a doubleheader during the Mets' trip to LA. But the first game is "played" in New York because the Mets were the home team for the rainout. It drags in typical attendance for the Mets, too. In other words, in OOTP world, the two teams play the first game in New York, then fly cross-country and play in LA that night.

[TLB1975]

I just had an issue with this happen this morning. Home opener vs Cincinnati was rained out. Both teams have an off day after the original scheduled opener (3 game series with an off day in between game 1 and 2). The game was not rescheduled for the off day but instead a double header was scheduled. See screen shot below. Why wouldn't the game have been scheduled on the common off day in the middle of the series?

[David Watts]

I bet if the game did schedule it on a off day there would be someone else posting "why didn't the game schedule it as a double-header." Not making light of the situation, just looking at it from a different angle.

[Matt Arnold]

If you read the actual MLB governing rules, they don't actually provide a way to schedule during a common off-day. The first step is to go for a double-header. This is actually one case where we try to follow the rules where possible.

Official Rules | MLB.com: Official info (see section 4.12)

[Le Grande Orange]

Sorry, Matt, but I don't think you're reading that right. Rule 4.12 is about suspended games, which is something different*. Rule 4.13 is about doubleheaders, but that section simply describes the conditions around them (e.g.. the second game is considered the make up game for record-keeping purposes, the second game should start no later than 30 minutes after the first is completed). It says nothing about the procedures for determining the date for when a game is made up. The rules you linked to are the playing rules; the rules around when a postponed game would be made up is a league operation rule—many, but not all, of these are contained in the Major League Rules, a document which is generally not available to the public.

When a game is made up is at the discretion of the clubs involved, subject to the approval of the players in certain circumstances (such as if the game would break the maximum number of consecutive days of play rule).

In regards to the opening day rain out mentioned by TLB1975, MLB puts in an off day after the scheduled home opener specifically to deal with potential postponements. If the scheduled home opener is rained out, it is rescheduled for that off day.

I have complete statistics for the last six MLB seasons which detail the manner in which postponed games were made up in MLB. Unfortunately, when the postponement/rescheduling feature was being coded, no one asked me about it—even though this is an area I have researched—nor inquired as to the data I had which could serve as a reference.

There is one other glitch in what OOTP does with rescheduled games: it will make up a postponed game after the scheduled end of the regular season even if that game has no bearing on any pennant or playoff position race. That does not happen in real life. From what I understand that is supposedly due to issues involving the financial engine. That's unfortunate, because one of the aspects of having postponed games is that not all clubs will necessarily finish the season with all its games played—this is something that occurs in real life but can't happen in OOTP right now because it mandates all clubs play out their full schedule.


* In regards to suspended games (unless this was changed in beta and I missed it), OOTP gets wrong in that it credits the game and statistics to the date the game was completed.That is not how it works in real life. The game and statistics are always credited to the date the game was started. This does cause some statistical quirks in real life, but that's how baseball has always handled suspended games.