Odd interleague schedule in 2007

by dma on Sep 10, 2006 12:17 PM PDT

On Ray Fosse's pre-game radio show today, A's director of team travel Mickey Morabito said that the A's will play the NL Central in interleague play in 2007. The A's have home series against St. Louis and Cincinnati, and road series against Houston and ... the New York Mets. Morabito said, "I don't know when the Mets got moved to the NL Central."

A few other notes from an interesting "behind-the-scenes" interview:

The 2007 schedule has gone through two drafts. The A's raised complaints with MLB about some problems they had with the first draft, but the second draft only made those problems worse.
Teams negotiate with other teams to change game times. For example, if the A's have a night game scheduled on the road on a travel day, they might call the opponent and ask for the game to be changed to a day game. In return, the A's might offer to play a home game against that team during the day on a getaway day. (I wonder how much leverage the A's have here, given that they play so many home getaway day games during the day as it is.)
Teams have some flexibility, albeit a limited amount, in asking MLB to shift the dates of series. Morabito gave the example of a team asking for a Tuesday-to-Thursday series to be moved to Monday-to-Wednesday, or vice versa.

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AL West only features 4 Teams

The NL Central features 6.

In Interleauge, normally 5 teams from each division can play each other.

Because of the 4 team AL West, there are always 2 NL Teams playing each other.

Crazy times.

It's It. What is it? aim: encryptthisthat

by Hit4TheCycle on Sep 10, 2006 1:16 PM PDT reply actions

Cubs

How come we don't get the Cubs in Oakland. What a rip-off.

by AlBowe on Sep 10, 2006 2:41 PM PDT reply actions

yeah

i AGREE. i would like an a's game in oakland too

by smasfan on Sep 11, 2006 8:46 AM PDT up reply actions

huh?

Last version of the schedule I heard was road trips to Cincinatti and Milwaukee....

They need to finalize the schedule so I can plan my vacations!!!!!!

There's no crying in baseball!

by gigglingone on Sep 10, 2006 2:47 PM PDT reply actions

Tell me about it!

"We are a complete freak show." -- Billy Beane

by day-to-day on Sep 10, 2006 7:36 PM PDT up reply actions

The A's schedule has gotten worse and worse

I think they WANT us to lose.

by Zonis on Sep 10, 2006 3:27 PM PDT reply actions

Anyone know when the tentative

dates for the Yankee's? Because I really do need to plan my vactions. If my guess is correct, there should be two home series against the Yanks and both should be on a weekend. Anyone know about when they would be?

"You may glory in a team triumphant, but you fall in love with a team in defeat."--The Boys of Summer

by alox on Sep 10, 2006 9:53 PM PDT reply actions

Would your vacation plans be

so you can ATTEND the games, or AVOID the games??

"This is the best hug in the major leagues, right here!" - Swisher Pics

by BobbyCrosbysGirl on Sep 10, 2006 11:36 PM PDT up reply actions

So I can attend of course.

I never miss an opportunity to hurl insults at the Yankee's. It's sort of like breathing, I just have to do it.

"You may glory in a team triumphant, but you fall in love with a team in defeat."--The Boys of Summer

by alox on Sep 11, 2006 1:39 PM PDT up reply actions

Let me know once the schedule comes out

I may have some tickets to get rid of! I avoid Yankee Games at all costs!!

"This is the best hug in the major leagues, right here!" - Swisher Pics

by BobbyCrosbysGirl on Sep 11, 2006 2:17 PM PDT up reply actions

LOL...OK, I will.

Why the case of nerves with the Yanks? With a 200 million dollar payroll, they're the ones expected to beat us. When we crush them, it's an upset. I love that stuff.

"You may glory in a team triumphant, but you fall in love with a team in defeat."--The Boys of Summer

by alox on Sep 11, 2006 5:00 PM PDT up reply actions

2002 and 2004

The other 2 years we were matched up with the central were 2002 and 2004. In 2002 we played @ Pit and Cin and were home to Hou and Mil. In 2004 we played @StL and Chi and were home to Cin and Pit. It would make sense that next year we would be @Hou and Mil and home to StL and Chi (i.e. that would mean that we would have played each team in the NL central home and away) over the 3 seasons.

by Larry E on Sep 11, 2006 2:52 PM PDT reply actions