After 2018's scheduling difficulties, where the Cubs lost pretty much every off day for the final two months of the season to make-up games, I would have thought this would have been observed and addressed. It hasn't been.
I think the Cubs are tied with like four teams for the fewest games played through April 30th. And I bet that, if you looked at the total number of games scheduled to have been played as of September 1st, the Cubs will still be tied with like four or five teams with the fewest games. And while the rest of the league gets three or four off days in September, the Cubs get to play that month with only one or two. If they run into any rain in August, that shrinks to none.
That seems to be a built-in scheduling bias against certain teams, the Cubs included. I get that the Cubs play home games in an open-air stadium, that they tend to start the year on the road against teams who always schedule a home opener and then an off day, etc. But you know, there are enough stadia with roofs that you could actually schedule a full series, with no off day after the home opener, in a lot of them. And have northern city open-air stadium teams like the Cubs play them in early April.
If I were Theo or the Ricketts, with two straight years of a schedule whose off day scheme is provably biased against them, I would consider making official complaint to the League office. And maybe think about legal action. It's not a level playing field, and while some things, like juicing baseballs going to specific ballparks, could be happening behind the scenes with no way to prove it, this bias is out there for all to see. It's not just provable, it's just plain fact. And needs to be addressed.
-Doug
