Atlanta Braves schedule: how many games will be lost?

Speculating about Choices

So under these scenarios, we’d been looking at something like this (we’ll stay conservative and figure this based on the existing schedule with no off-day adjustments and no double-headers… and of course, this is ‘educated speculation’):

• Memorial Day weekend start:  57 games lost; 31 gained back: 136 games overall.
• July 4 weekend start (July 3rd):  84 games lost; 31 gained back: 111 games overall.
• July 17 start (post-ASG; July 17): 94 games lost; 31 gained back: 101 games overall.

These counts are all based on the current Atlanta Braves schedule alone and doesn’t account for any changes – just canceled games from the original schedule.

As in 1981, some teams will have a few more games played, some less. But doing so definitely has a host of pros and cons, among them…

• (PRO) Existing travel as booked can be maintained; teams would only have to cancel travel for games to be lost.
• (PRO) It likely avoids most conflicts with other local events… though a full month of October ball might bring that back into play.
• (CON) Any semblance of an ‘equal’ schedule for division rivals is tossed in the trash: teams would have to play the hand they’re dealt… fair or unfair.

So while Atlanta seems to have a relatively easy April schedule, their June contests are largely brutal, with Washingon, Philadelphia, and the Dodgers all set for a pair of visits apieces.

All of these scenarios more-or-less jive with the 103-111 games played per team from 1981 and they all get at least a half season (81+ games) completed.  That said, each game suddenly becomes more important overall.

If you’re looking for some metric for ‘legitimacy’, that’s probably it, though if you’re a player, you’d just as soon get in as much as you can and let others judge the ramifications to baseball history at some other point down the road… they just want to play.

Right now… that’s obviously not something the players can determine.