вЂњOne, weвЂ™ve made substantial improvements on our side in terms of how we build a major league schedule. MLBвЂ™s Marinak said there were really two developments that allowed the league to balance the schedule. MLB also didnвЂ™t want to increase the number of interleague games played late in the season for fear they would determine the outcome of pennant races. That was true for Yankees-Red Sox matchups but not the case for most intradivision series. In fact, the league was considering playing even more divisional games, believing rivalries drove attendance and television viewership. They didnвЂ™t think they could get the ownersвЂ™ support for it-that the change was too radical.вЂќ Then it was вЂњwe canвЂ™t until we get the DH in both leagues. вЂњInitially there were about extra travel. But nobody ever really wanted to do it.вЂќДePaoli said the league always found reasons to stick with a slate heavy on intradivision games.

And everybody thought it was a great idea. I was on Major League BaseballвЂ™s first scheduling committee and pitched this there. I met with the former Tony Petitti and Chris Marinak. вЂњI talked to Rob Manfred about it,вЂќ he said. He devised a plan that would ensure the Pirates would host top drawing teams more often and presented it to baseballвЂ™s leadership вЂњmultiple timesвЂќ over the next 10 years. There is something wrong with the system.вЂќ (He isnвЂ™t the only one to advocate for scheduling changes through the years.) The Pirates вЂњjust had the Yankees in town for interleague play for the first time that year, and to myself, how can that be? Interleague has been going on since 1997. They went with two and two,вЂќ DePaoli said.ДePaoli embraced a balanced schedule following the 2008 season. His model вЂњhad teams playing their interleague rivals six times a year.

The only difference is the number of rivalry games. He created an almost exact replica of this plan for MLB more than a decade ago. JWSвЂ™ Take: It is no surprise DePaoli supports the scheduling changes.

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