Quote:
Originally Posted by clamel
My try will be to setup minor leagues as they should over the years. Do I have too big problem.
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Depending on the year you're starting with, probably yes. The minors have also changed alignment and/or schedule lengths fairly often, especially in more recent years.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gmo
Somebody (*whistles*) should compile a list of the minors configurations through the years. There probably are fictional schedules out there for most configurations where the historical schedules are not yet constructed.
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Historically, by far the most common configuration for a minor league was a league consisting of eight teams arranged into a single division.
From 1902-1957, comprising some 1,757 league-seasons, this is what I found:
4 team league (single division): 123 (7.0%)
6 team league (single division): 565 (32.2%)
8 team league (single division): 1033 (59.1%)
10 team league (single division): 8 (0.5%)
Other (all single division): 18 (1.0%)
The "Other" category usually consisted of leagues which operated with an odd number of teams.
Eight-team leagues usually played balanced schedules of either 126, 140, or 154 games; six-team leagues usually played balanced schedules of either 120, 130, or 140 games.
Divisional alignments in the minors didn't become common until the 1970s. Offhand, I'd estimate the most common divisional setup in the minors is either two 4-team divisions or two 5-team divisions. Of course, there have been numerous other alignments (e.g. 6-6, 7-7, 6-8, 8-8, 4-4-4, 5-5-4, 6-4-4). In terms of the number of games scheduled, it has, barring a few exceptions, been between 136-148 games since the mid-1960s.