One of the nice things about a relaxing blowout performance by the A’s is that I can hunker down and get some work done while the game is going on in the background. In this case, it meant finishing the Travel Grid schedule for MLB’s 2014 season. The last two times I made the grid, it took a while to get a system down to automate much of the work. Thankfully I was able to get a copy of the league’s master schedule, which made the cut-and-paste actions extremely easy. As a result I’ve finished the 2014 edition about twice as fast as previous versions.
If you’re not familiar with the previous work, the premise is simple. I’ve taken all of the team home schedules, arranged them by region, and put them in a grid format so that you can plan baseball trips next year. Whether you’re trying to do a weekend, a week, or a 30-team tour, the Travel Grid should help you pick the best dates to attend, especially if you’re trying to fit as many games as possible into a certain window.
Sample of Travel Grid poster view
For your convenience, the schedule is available in four different formats:
Mid-late May looks like a good time to catch multiple teams in the Northeast. All four Rust Belt teams (Tigers, Reds, Indians, Pirates) will be at home around the Fourth of July. And if you want to follow the A’s around the state of Texas, you’ll have two chances in late April and late June. The third weeks in July and August are good for a Chicago-Milwaukee trip since all three teams will be at home, and if you want to catch all three SoCal teams in one shot you’ll have multiple chances to do that throughout the season. Hopefully the A’s will still be able to call the Coliseum home in 2014. While that gets figured out, feel free to grab a copy of the Travel Grid and start planning.
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Note: The master schedule shows a spot for a TBA game on Sunday, March 30. When that game is announced, I’ll update the grid.
newballpark.org 
Thanks for the Travel Grid. CHW, CHC and MIL are on my calendar and hopefully more to be added. I’ve gotta Grand Canyon trip in March, so it’d be great to catch my first Spring Training game too.
I was going to do a week in AZ for spring training. I might cut it back to a weekend and save the week for a Montreal trip. That’s right, I’m seriously thinking of seeing the exhibition games at Olympic Stadium. Then I can go to Detroit/Pittsburgh/Cincinnati to watch additional games during the first week of the season.
@Briggs – I’ve got a lot of tips for how to do the Chicago-Milwaukee trip, so fire away if you have any questions about that.
Don’t feel bad ML, I’m also trying to sell my wife on the Montreal trip as well. I never caught an Expos game there before they were unceremoniously dismantled by MLB and it’s always been a regret.
@ML – switching topics – were you going to do the Yankee stadium story? also, how to you rank it compared with other ballparks?
@duffer – I have a bunch of notes, written and mental. Haven’t written the article yet. In due time.
ok – thanks
Jeffrey, Thanks so much for this brilliant grid. I’ve been planning MLB trips over the past 5 years and downloading schedules team-by-team is tedious.
My sons and I have been on a quest to visit every MLB park, and we completed the journey last month. Our travails are on: wayland01778.net.
Best, Randall
Nevermind on Montreal. Can’t justify paying more than ticket value to have tickets shipped to me. Shame that French Canadian Ticketmaster is even worse than regular ticketmaster.
Fantastic – thanks for this. I have visited 20 and 12 ballparks to go. This will make it easier to combine other travels with a game.
BTW – you missed the season opening in Sydney, Australia … too far to go?
This is brilliant — thank you! Do you have a schedule with game times as well?
@Bobby – Some teams have times already. Most don’t and they usually aren’t published until after the New Year.
Thanks, ML. Will you have game times posted in a simple format when they’re released? If not, do you know if there’s a central repository where I can find all game times?
With the MLB schedule and the distance + travel time matrices you have shared, I want to mathematically determine road trip itineraries that hit all stadiums while minimizing driving distance.
Something similar to this: http://fastestthirtyballgames3021.wordpress.com/2013/09/06/the-traveling-salesman-problem-30-mlb-stadiums-in-record-time/
Love this site. My son and I are trying to see a game in all 30 MLB parks. I’ve used this spreadsheet to help plan our trips. Last year, in 6 days, we managed to see 5 games (DC, Bal, Phili, Pitts, Cinn). Starting to examine the schedule to see what kind of road trip we can plan this year.