A Close Look at the 2015 Schedule

[SteveA]

Sat down this afternoon and took a close look at the schedule.

A few overall thoughts:

1) We open with 19 consecutive division games, the 3rd highest total in team history since divisional play begain in 1969. (1975 -- 23; 1969 -- 26).

2) For the second straight year we play the 11:05 AM Patriot's Day game in Boston

3) May is an incredibly home-heavy month, with 19 home games and 9 road games. In fact, from April 24 to May 31, we play 25 of 34 games at home.

4) The combination of #1 and #3 above means we better play well early. Most of April is in division, games we need to win. And we need to take advantage of the home-heavy May because starting June 1, only 53 of our remaining 114 games are at home.

5) Between July 2 and July 27, in a stretch of 25 days, we have only 3 home games (vs the Nats).

6) We get the NL East in interleague play this year. Home and home 3 game series with the Nats (at home in July, on the road in late September, our latest interleague series ever). We also play home and home 2 game series with Philly and the Mets. The Philly 4 games are consecutive, while the Mets are a few months apart (the road games vs the Mets are part of a quick NY roadie that also includes the Yankees). We have Atlanta at home and Florida on the road.

7) We are on the road for 2 national holidays (in Chicago on 4th of July, at the Yankees on Labor Day), and home for one (Houston on Memorial Day).

8) It seems to me that the schedule makers are trying harder to give teams day games on getaway days. We have 14 weekday day games this year, seems higher than normal to me. Of course two of those are home openers, and 4 are holidays (counting Patriots Day).

9) One 9 game west coast trip this year to hit all west coast opponents.

Month by Month Breakdown:

April ("AL East Month") -- we stay in Florida for 3 vs the Rays, then come home for the Blue Jays and Yankees. Then we travel to Boston (4) and Toronto. We come home and start a 10 game home stand, our longest of the year, vs the Red Sox and White Sox.

May ("Home Month") -- the homestand continues with the Rays. Then we travel to New York for 6 games (2 vs the Mets, 4 vs the Yankees). We return home for a 9 game home stand vs Toronto, Anaheim, and Seattle. Assuming the New York trip was via train, the team then boards a plan for the first time in nearly a month for a quick 3 game trip to Miami. Then right back home to complete the 19-out-of-28 home stretch with the Astros and Rays.

June -- begins with a 7 game road trip to Houston and Cleveland. Home for the Red Sox, Yankees, and 2 with Philly. We then zip up to Philly for 2 before going to Toronto and Boston. Back home for Cleveland and Texas.

July -- after completing the Texas series, we travel to the White Sox and Twins. Home for a 3 game set vs the Nats, then the All Star Break. Then a 9 game road trip to Detroit, Tampa, and NY. After a stretch of just 3 home games in a 24 day span, we come home for Atlanta and Detroit.

August -- after the Tiger series ends, we make our annual West Coast trip. Then home for our 2nd 10 game homestand of the year, vs the A's, Mets, and Twins. We then visit KC and Texas.

September/October -- 26 of our last 32 are in division, and the ones that aren't are against playoff teams from last year (KC and Washington). A quick homestand vs Tampa is followed by a road trip to Toronto and New York. Then back home for KC and the Red Sox. Then a 9 game road trip to Tampa, Boston, and Washington. Back home to finish the season with 7 vs Toronto and New York.

[TheReckoning]

Orioles don't leave the eastern time zone till June 1st. First west coast game is August 3.

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[Crazysilver03]

Great little bits of info. It is weird with the clumping of away and home games.

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[WEAVERMAN]

Thanks for the summary Steve. You nailed it on #4.

[MurphDogg]

4) The combination of #1 and #3 above means we better play well early. Most of April is in division, games we need to win. And we need to take advantage of the home-heavy May because starting June 1, only 53 of our remaining 114 games are at home.

That is some weird parsing of dates to make the existence of road trips seem meaningful. Starting June 9th, 53 of the remaining 107 games are home. Starting June 17th, 46 of the remaining 100 games are at home. Starting June 26th, 46 of the remaining 92 games are at home. This is just how road trips and homestands work.

[SteveA]

That is some weird parsing of dates to make the existence of road trips seem meaningful. Starting June 9th, 53 of the remaining 107 games are home. Starting June 17th, 46 of the remaining 100 games are at home. Starting June 26th, 46 of the remaining 92 games are at home. This is just how road trips and homestands work.

Well, you can't argue that the April 24 - May 31 stretch has an inordinately high # of home games. 25 home to 9 away... I'll bet you could look at schedules for most years and NEVER see a stretch quite that home-heavy.

So when a stretch like that comes early in the season, I don't think it's a "weird parsing of dates" to look at the remainder of the season -- a 4 month chunk, and see that because of the early stretch, the 4+ month remainder of the season is fairly road heavy.

Look at it this way. The season is exactly 26 weeks long. We play MORE than one third of our home games in the first 7 weeks and less than two thirds in the last 19.

I believe that point is worth noting.

[MurphDogg]

Well, you can't argue that the April 24 - May 31 stretch has an inordinately high # of home games. 25 home to 9 away... I'll bet you could look at schedules for most years and NEVER see a stretch quite that home-heavy.

I guess so. Last season from June 6th to July 3rd they played 20 home and 6 away. 25 and 9 is not too far out of line of that. Focusing on this too much just seems like an arbitrary endpoint kinda deal.

Look at it this way. The season is exactly 26 weeks long. We play MORE than one third of our home games in the first 7 weeks and less than two thirds in the last 19.

I believe that point is worth noting.

That might be worth noting if it were true. We play 24 home games in the first 7 weeks. That is 29.6 percent of our 81 home games. Not MORE than one third.

[SteveA]

I guess so. Last season from June 6th to July 3rd they played 20 home and 6 away. 25 and 9 is not too far out of line of that. Focusing on this too much just seems like an arbitrary endpoint kinda deal.

That might be worth noting if it were true. We play 24 home games in the first 7 weeks. That is 29.6 percent of our 81 home games. Not MORE than one third.

OK, I did botch that.

We play 30 home games in the first 8 weeks, and 51 in the last 18.

[isestrex]

I knew about a few of these but it's great to have it all laid out and explained in such an easy to read format.

I'm definitely most excited about the heavy home stretch in May (a great opportunity to pull ahead in the division early), and the single west coast road trip only lasting 9 games.

We all knew looking at the 2014 calendar that the West Coast Road trip out of the gate after the All Star break was going to be the lynch pin of the season and it turned out to be just that. This year it looks like the lynch pin is around the same time in July but not with the same circumstances.

[MurphDogg]

OK, I did botch that.

We play 30 home games in the first 8 weeks, and 51 in the last 18.

For the 8 weeks between July 28th and September 21st last season the Orioles played 32 home games. It happens.

[UpstateNYfan]

Doesn't all the home dates so early screw with attendance? Kids in school, fewer out of town fans not on vacation yet and the lack of perception that a game or series is really important that time of year. Think it's going to cost the O's.

[SteveA]

Doesn't all the home dates so early screw with attendance? Kids in school, fewer out of town fans not on vacation yet and the lack of perception that a game or series is really important that time of year. Think it's going to cost the O's.

Yeah, it has an effect. We probably have a higher proportion of home dates while school is in session than most teams.

Maybe about a 50 to 100K down bump in attendance due to that? So that's probably over a million in revenue lost.

But we've still good all that MASN money, right?

[fearthenoodle]

OK, I did botch that.

We play 30 home games in the first 8 weeks, and 51 in the last 18.

Is that really that far out of line?

We play 37% of our home games the first 31% of the schedule and 63% of our home games the remaining 69% of our schedule.

[PaulFolk]

Doesn't all the home dates so early screw with attendance? Kids in school, fewer out of town fans not on vacation yet and the lack of perception that a game or series is really important that time of year. Think it's going to cost the O's.

It'll hurt walk-up sales, but it sounds like season tickets sales are up this year (based on the new holders who joined for 2014 postseason tickets). So the overall impact on attendance might not be too bad compared to last year.

[MurphDogg]

Yeah, it has an effect. We probably have a higher proportion of home dates while school is in session than most teams.

Maybe about a 50 to 100K down bump in attendance due to that? So that's probably over a million in revenue lost.

But we've still good all that MASN money, right?

No way it costs them that many fans.

The Orioles have 36 home dates and 28 road dates between the beginning of the season and June 19th, the last day of school in Baltimore County. Schools reopen the week of August 24th. They have 16 home dates and 23 road dates between August 24th and the end of the season. So they have 52 home dates and 51 road dates when kids are in school.

There may be a slight uptick in attendance in September compared to April but the difference isn't that great. Last season from September 2nd to 4th the Orioles drew 56,000 over a 3-game mid-week series against Cincinnati. They also drew 69,500 for a mid-week 4 game series the last week of August against Tampa Bay. The only 3-game mid-week series in Aprl last year was against Tampa and drew 38,000 over 2-games with the third game rained out. They also drew 91,000 for a mid-week series against Detroit in May.

The fact of the matter is, season tickets account for 70 percent of sales and the walkup in September and April are both minimal. Fortunately, they play almost the same number of road and home games during this period.