There is a strong case to be made that MLB has clutched tradition more tightly than any other major professional sports league in North America.
In particular, with its emphasis on divisional races and the playoffs remaining relatively exclusive, baseball was a longtime holdout with regard to changing its schedule format.
In recent years, however, commissioner Rob Manfred and club owners have loosened that grip. The universal designated hitter makes the American and National leagues functionally the same. A third wild-card team in each league has been added to the playoffs, moving the MLB postseason field closer in size to the other leagues. And in 2023, MLB implemented a more balanced schedule, with all 30 teams playing each other for the first time.
That change advanced the evolution of interleague play and the timing of matchups.
From 1998 to 2012, interleague play was mostly set up as blocks of games in June and July, with divisions pitted against each other. Since 2013, the year the Astros moved to the American League and created two 15-team leagues, interleague games have been played throughout the season. Series between annual rivals have continued (i.e., Yankees-Mets and Angels-Dodgers).
Another effect of every team playing every other team and interleague play more than doubling is the sharp decrease in divisional games. The Yankees and Red Sox, for example, now see each other 13 times a year instead of 19. Their first meeting in 2023 is scheduled for Friday night in New York.
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How does MLB scheduling work in 2023, and what is the 'balanced schedule'?
The biggest change to the MLB schedule for 2023 is the increase in balance. For the first time, the schedule pits every club against every other club during the season.
Here's how the schedule breaks down for each club:
- 13 games against each divisional opponent (52 games)
- 6 games against six teams in the same league (36 games)
- 7 games against the other four teams in the same league (28 games)
- 4 games against a team's interleague rival (home and home) (4 games)
- 3 games against the other 14 interleague opponents (42 games)
Prior to 2023, each MLB club played 76 divisional games and 20 interleague games.
How did MLB scheduling work before 2023?
MLB teams had never played every other team before 2023.
In the early decade-plus of interleague play, games generally were played in June and July. The rest of the year, teams played within their own league. Divisions were assigned to play against each other, eventually on a rotating basis, but the interleague schedule also included an annual series between assigned rivals.
How often do divisional teams play each other?
Teams will play their division rivals 13 times each in 2023, with one four-game set in the season series creating the imbalance. The site of that series will alternate from season to season.
It was initially reported that the new MLB collective bargaining agreement called for 14 division games, but a change to 13 was made between the 2022 agreement and the 2023 schedule implementation.
The change of schedule format means teams are playing division opponents six fewer times each in 2023 than they did in 2022 and previous years.
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How many teams make the MLB playoffs?
Twelve of the 30 teams now make the MLB playoffs, six from each league, after MLB expanded its postseason last year.
Three division winners and three wild-card teams make it in each league. The top two division winners receive byes to the Division Series, while the other four teams compete in the Wild Card Series.
The Wild Card Series matchups are the No. 3 seed (division winner with the lowest winning percentage) vs. No. 6 (the last wild-card team) and No. 4 (first wild-card team) vs. No. 5 (second wild-card team).
In the Division Series, the No. 1 seed takes on the winner of the 4-5 series while the No. 2 seed faces the 3-6 winner. There is no reseeding.
A more balanced schedule will have an effect on playoff races. Teams in the same division now have 91 percent commonality in their schedules vs. 84 percent previously. More dramatically, teams in the same league have 76 percent commonality, up from 52 percent.
Why did MLB implement the balanced schedule?
There are several reasons.
The most obvious one is to boost ticket sales. The Yankees visiting half the NL, for example (New York has played at the Reds and Dodgers thus far), helps those teams. The same goes for superstars like Shohei Ohtani.
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Another reason: it helps to foster parity in baseball. The increase in common opponents reduces the prospect of teams having easier or harder schedules. If one NL team, for example, was playing just the AL East in 2023 and another was playing just the AL Central, that could, in theory, make a huge difference in a wild-card race.
Furthermore, the new schedule format reduces MLB's emphasis on divisions. They are still important, as evidenced by the playoff structure, but the changes suggest a shift toward the NBA's way of thinking, with playoff seeds based entirely on record.
With the advent of the universal DH in 2022 and the necessary move away from designated interleague weekends a decade ago, interleague play has lost some luster. But MLB chose to swap division games for more interleague matchups to help increase parity in each league.
