Well, the A’s season may be slipping away with three weeks left in the season – after Sunday’s game their elimination number is 14 – so it’s near time to look forward to next spring even as that itself is quite daunting. During these recent dog days I started playing around with next year’s Travel Grid. If you were paying attention, you’ll know that the 2021 edition was delayed. Mostly it was due to my unease with traveling during the pandemic. Hope springs eternal for 2022 though, right? Right?
Anyway, here it is. I recognized that when I usually do this every August/September, I re-engineer how I work with the data, making it a slightly custom effort every time. This time I have taken steps to automate data gathering and assembly so it can be repeated more readily on an annual basis. Plus there will be additional things to look for as the data is supplemented (game times, metadata) and I decide to add features.
Supplemented data? Features? Look for that in the coming months. For now I’ll put out the grid. And maybe, just maybe, things will feel normal enough next year for fans to feel comfortable making trips. Here are the links.
Google Sheets versions:
Excel
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Now for a few notes on the data.
At the end of April there’s a two-day stretch in which the Giants and A’s both play on the same day. After the A’s invade SF on April 26-27, on April 29-30 the Giants host the Nationals while the A’s entertain the newly-renamed Cleveland Guardians. The best candidate for a DH day is Saturday, April 30, with times TBD. I’m not sure how many people took advantage of a day-night doubleheader on both sides of the bay, but it is pure bliss regardless of how the games turn out. There are opportunities for such day-trips in New York and DC-Baltimore, none in Chicago or LA.
The schedule is not as neatly set up for long regional trips as it was in previous years. (You could see this in the grid by the seeing “waves” of available games in each region. The early A’s-Phillies series in April could be a decent jumping off point for trips. The annual trip to see the Yankees is good too (June 27-29), as the Mets host the Astros at the same time while the Philles host the Braves. The Nats are also at home during that stretch. Separate A’s roadies in July, August, and September bring on the Texas two-step with the A’s visiting the Rangers and the Astros in the same week. The 2021 schedule allowed for only one such trip, which was probably a big headache for A’s traveling secretary Mickey Morabito. Early August has the A’s in Anaheim, with the Padres hosting the Rockies followed by the Dodgers hosting the Giants.
Detroit has a scheduled doubleheader on July 23 vs. Minnesota. The 2022 Field of Dreams game in Dyersville, IA, will feature the Cubs and Reds. The Little League Classic will have a game on August 21 (Red Sox-Orioles) in Williamsport, PA.
As usual, if you have any formatting requests or want to see other data, let me know in the comments. Happy planning!
newballpark.org 
WAY O.T. Marinelayer, and since it’s been so damn quiet around here: this Casey Pratt character over on Twitter is delusional as $#@! when it comes to Howard Terminal. His (or her?) happy talk about the prospects of this thing getting done is soo alternate reality it’s amazing! (or disgusting) And BTW, if the NL West (and MLB) don’t want the giants to have the entire Bay Area all to themselves, and they don’t want to lose possible relocation fees in the future?… why not just open up $an Jo$e?, especially since HT isn’t gonna happen. (over the years thought about getting a Twitter account myself, but I’d probably be banned on the first day)
Dude Im so done with the A’s. Just build a ballpark either at the Coliseum site or Howard Terminal. The A’s lose too much. Meanwhile the SF Giants are having a magical year depending on if they can finish. The A-s dont have leverage. Figure something out or move out A’s
Since it’s (still!) utterly quiet around these parts, question ML: Does Houston EVER retract their retractable roof at Minute Maid? Seems to me that a fixed roof ballpark, with some outfield “lanai” doors, could work in Vegas; since it obviously works in Houston.
Hey ML, not on Twitter so question: doesn’t Alameda County’s inclusion in an EIFD require voter approval from 2/3 “supermajority” of AlCo voters? If so, don’t see this being brought up by HT supporters. Would appear to be a complete show stopper if that’s the case.
There are some mistakes in the data. Just to start with, you have the PIT playing against both STL and CIN on April 3rd. I didn’t check the rest to see if there’s a pattern to what went wrong, but it seems there are many more mistakes.
Thanks for catching that. I’ll take another look at the data and how I assembled it.
I found two errors in the CIN and CLE schedules. The source data was fine, but I goofed when I moved those entries into the aggregate schedule. The reason is that the first two weeks of every schedule has the greatest amount of exceptions and schedule variability, due to staggered Opening Days and mid-series off days, which generally don’t happen after April 15. There is one oddity on Monday 4/11, when STL ends a home series with PIT. It’s an occurrence far more common in AAA schedules. All versions are now updated. Thanks again.
Is there a way to donate more or less than $10? Your PayPal link only allows a donation of $10. Thanks
Let’s see if the season starts on time, then I’ll see how much I have to change the schedule. Then I can modify the limit.
Any plans to update with the new schedule?
Before Opening Day.
Hi Rhamesis –
Any plans to do a 2023 travel grid? I look forward to it every year and appreciate you putting it together.
Thanks,
Brian
Probably not a full season grid. The new schedule format where all teams play each other somewhat obviates the need for it. However I’m looking into other situations that may merit creative solutions. Come back over the weekend, I may have something.