Unbalanced
Schedule
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1
These circumstances make
travel difficult, especially with the declining efficiency and rising cost
of air travel leading to more frequent delays and longer overall trips as
fewer scheduled flights necessitate more connections and plane-switching.
"I'm pretty sensitive
about what a player goes through there. I've also been in it as a manager
and now as an administrator," said Tommy Jones, the Diamondbacks' player-development
director. "It's not a PCL problem or a city problem. It's an airline
problem. The situation hasn't changed much since I managed Calgary in 1990
or played for Phoenix in '80 and '81."
The travel changes don't
help all teams equally. South Division mates Fresno and Tucson aren't close
to major airport hubs and often must make at least one connection for every
flight, whether they travel to play each other or have to cross the country
to reach Memphis.
Meanwhile inter-conference
matchups between Las Vegas and Nashville are easy on travel because of the
size of their airports. Some clubs have the benefit of bussing between games
in Fresno and Las Vegas or Omaha and Des Moines, where the Iowa team is based.
The non-balanced schedule
was a league compromise aimed as easing these travel problems associated with
the balanced slate that saw each club face division rivals 16 times each with
eight games against the other 12 teams.
The PCL has waffled back
and forth between a balanced and unbalanced schedule since it ballooned from
12 to 16 teams following the dissolution of the American Association following
the 1997 season.
The league featured a
balanced 16-team schedule in 1998, switched to an unbalanced one in '99 and
reverted back to the balanced format from 2000-2002.
"It didn't go over
well in the league the first time we did it," Rickey said. "There
was a disappointment in not seeing all the other teams. In the minds of some
it was one of the big benefits of putting all 16 teams together--you get to
show off 16 sets of prospects.
"Now the greater
force is the efficiency in accomplishing the travel in light of the changes
in the airline industry that cause us to be more cautious and streamlined
in battling some of the downsizing."
The PCL didn't lose any
games because of travel complications in 2003. It lost three in 2002, but
each case came in games involving teams in the same conference and not on
trips that required the extra travel time and distance that the new schedule
was implemented to lessen.
Still on some of those
occasions in 2002, teams had to cancel or postpone promotional nights that
had attracted large crowds. It left fans disappointed and losing that specific
event's gate receipts also hit the teams in the pocketbook.
"After that happened,
we felt that we blemished the club and the league," Rickey said. "We
realized that we needed to make some changes."
The league even went
so far as to form the first travel subcommittee, one that includes player
development directors. Bill Bavasi (Dodgers), and Tim Purpura (Astros), along
with Jones, sat on the committee last year.
"I love Branch's
leadership and the teamwork involved in it," Jones said. "All the
guys just say how can we make this better for the players, then working with
the (minor league) operators and the major league teams. I get more communication
in this league than in the five others I work with. Some of that's because
I'm on the committee, but it's also a credit to Branch."
Story
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