It’s that time of the year again, when I spend a few hours putting together a travel schedule (I call it the “grid”) for the next baseball season. We may be seven months from Opening Day, but it’s never too early to start planning for your weekend getaways or long road trips.
Excerpt from the PDF Travel Grid
As I mentioned on Tuesday, the A’s will take six separate trips to Texas, so there’s no chance of seeing the A’s in both Arlington and Houston in one shot.
The Travel Grid is available in five formats:
My initial take on the full schedule is much similar to that of the A’s individual schedule in that it’s not great for those looking to build road trips. You can get a sense for this by looking at the color-coded regions and trying to find out how many game dates can be strung together diagonally. Having cities and stadiums bunched together helps in the Northeast or around Chicago. Elsewhere it can be quite tough. Nevertheless, there will be many opportunities to see three games in three ballparks in three nights, so if you need to quench your baseball jones you won’t have to work too hard.
If you have questions or need recommendations, drop them in the comments and I’ll field them as best as I can.
newballpark.org 
I’ve already been looking at a potential trip next June that could cross about 8 more ballparks off my list as far as first-time visits goes. Very tentatively:
6/1: game in CLE, TOR, or CHC (which I’ve been to before)
6/2: game in CLE or CHC (but the second one is a day game)
6/3-6/5: games in HOU when the A’s visit
6/6: game in BAL
6/7-6/8: games in MIL when the A’s visit
6/9: game in CHW or TOR (probably CHW for close proximity to MIL)
6/10-6/12: games in CIN when the A’s visit
6/13: game in CHW or TOR (maybe TOR if I do CHW before CIN)
6/14: game in WAS
There could also possibly be a game in Nashville before or after this. It’d be an ambitious trip, larger than the 10-game, 6-city one I did in 2010, but it’d be fun.
I’m too lazy to look. What’s a good weekend for a Cleveland/Pittsburgh trip?
Right before the All Star Break, July 7-10. Yankees @ Indians, July 8-10 Cubs @ Pirates.
Damn 17th Anniversary as to be that weekend?!?!?! I’ll check if I can move that 🙂
I looked it up, there a couple options I am exploring with the brother, you’ll be invited 🙂
No A’s, but I’m knocking some out in a couple weeks:
9/27 Raiders at Browns
9/28 Twins at Indians
9/29 Cardinals at Pirates
9/30 Cubs at Reds
10/2 Cubs at Brewers
10/3 Either Tigers/White Sox or a Blackhawks preseason game (already been to US Cell)
10/4 Raiders at Bears
Well played.
That’s one fantastic ass trip. HAVE FUN!
If you go to st louis or cincinnati take a side trip to “bosse field ” in evansville in.
3rd oldest ballpark in the country and 1st public owned park ever. site of “a league of their own”. 100 years old this year!
Off topic, but KTVU last night said Oakland was dumping Kephart so it could get a new stadium for the Raiders. I thought the whole purpose of Kephart was to get a new stadium for the Raiders? KTVU’s 5-second report gave no clue whatsoever as to how Oakland would actually get a new stadium for the Raiders, something that it has been swinging and missing at for several years now.
I’m sure there will be a post about this soon. But as Mayor Libby said at Dreamforce (paraphrasing)… Someone has to convince Mark Davis that the City isn’t going to build him a $1B football stadium. We can lead him to water but someone has to make Mr. Davis drink.
So, there isn’t one.
*one, a plan to pay for anything
Matier & Ross covered that too. They just say the city is dumping Kephart and going to try to negotiate with the teams directly. They also quote Mayor Schaaf, who reiterated that the city cannot finance it.
Not shocking to anyone who wasn’t deluding themselves. Coliseum City was never, ever going to happen. It was a pipe dream from the very beginning. We’re one step closer to the A’s getting a chance to make something happen. I hope Wolff can do it.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Oakland-dumping-Coliseum-develoment-What-s-6515880.php
The chips are starting to fall. With no private investment and no public investment, a new Raiders stadium will not happen in Oakland. Thus, the Raiders can keep playing in the dump they’re in now or move elsewhere. I’ll bet they stay in the current stadium, with no hope for a new Oakland facility, for at least a couple more years.
Yeah, I am guessing Davis doesn’t do anything for a year or two, if then.
If LA doesn’t happen for him because the Chargers and Rams are the selected teams, Davis gets three choices: stay at the Coliseum until a new A’s ballpark opens and the old stadium gets knocked down; go to San Antonio and play in a 20-year-old stadium there, or – gasp! – share Levi’s stadium as the 49ers tenant and enjoy the red and gold 49ers motif. Sorry, Raiders. You’re in a city that can’t help you.
An option 1b is theoretically possible. A’s build stadium in Malibu parking lot, Raiders stay in existing structure indefinitely.
My sincere thanks to you guys for creating this schedule, truly an awesome piece of work. I’ve knocked out eight MLB stadiums, so many more to go. My favorite is not MLB, but the AAA Salt Lake Bees. The view from the seats behind home plate is like nothing else.
Go Angels.