Thoughts from Tom Giffen

May 6:
    Just want to remember Don Leshnock tonight ... he lost his battle with cancer Saturday. He will be missed ... he was a gentle giant on the baseball field but quite a competitor and was one of the fortunate ones who at least got a cup of coffee in the BIGS ... He made a lot of us baseball folks richer by his presence and his example. Rest in Peace Don, my bet is you're starting Sunday!

April 12:
Scheduling issues
    Rob and John have been working diligently to get the first 5-6 weeks of the schedule completed and you should have seen that data for the 25s and 38s as it is on the NEORH website … and 48s mid-week next week.
    Quite a bit of creative thinking has gone into the schedule, especially since we started the process with 7 teams in 38s and 7 teams in 48s, which, as you know, creates scheduling nightmares and unappetizing options. We believe we have solved that issue, many thanks to Kevin Shemuga and the 38s Padres.     Here's a look at how the schedules will look in each of the divisions...
Open Division
    We are moving forward with the plan to have the 25+ teams play 8 weekends of DHs with the AAA Division. Opening Weekend is April 21-22, and 25+ teams will play double round robin among the 4 teams through May 23, so all teams will have 6 games, five on weekends and one weeknight game. All those games are scheduled for 9s. Starting Memorial Day Weekend, the Open teams will join the AAA teams and play double-headers over the next 8 weekends, taking June 30-July 1 off. All rainouts will be played on the June 30-July 1 weekend as well as weeknights as 7s.
    The Regular Season will end the Weekend of July 22, although rainout makeups could be played the following 4 weeknights. The AAA overall group will play double-elimination playoffs, with berths in the NEO Wood Bat Classic available. Following the playoffs, the 4 25s teams can play two more regular season games if they wish. We will cross that bridge sometime in July.
    It appears we will have 12 AAA teams, so with the 25s that will be a 16-team division. We are awaiting a decision from the 4 remaining AA teams as to whether they will join NEO for the 2012 season. If they do, we will have a 20-team division and will split it into two separate divisions, based on competitive levels and balance. We have given the existing AA teams an April 25 deadline to decide whether to make the move. If they don't, we still will consider a divisional set-up.
Veterans & Masters
    The Odd number of teams issue was addressed by a combination of a) the North Coast Padres moving from 38s to 48s and b) a limited crossover schedule between the two divisions. For the sake of overall scheduling, 38s will have 6 teams in their division, 48s will have 8 teams. While the Padres will have some underage players for the Masters Division, the Masters managers signed off on the plan and have welcomed the Padres full participation in their division.
    Here are some of the aspects of the scheduling plan:
    First, the Padres: The Padres paid the 38s fee so they will play 17 regular-season games. Five (5) games will be against 38s teams; 12 will be versus 48s teams, playing all 48s once and 5 of the 7 twice.
    Second, each of the teams in the 38s will have 2 crossover games: 5 teams will play the Padres and one other 48s team; the sixth 38s team will play 2 other 48s teams. Overall, the six 38s teams will play triple round robin within the division. The playoffs will be double-elimination throughout, meaning the losers' bracket winner must beat the winners' bracket survivor twice to win the championship. 38s rainout weekend will be June 30-July 1 with subsequent rainouts played on weekdays when possible.
    Third, each of the teams in 48s will play 1 crossover game (except the Padres, of course). The 48s division, signed up for a 15-game season, then will play, for all practical purposes, double round-robin, with the two teams that only play the Padres once facing each other for a third game -- for example, teams 1-thru-5 play double round-robin plus one crossover game; teams 6-7 play the Padres once, play teams 1-thru-5 twice, each other 3 times and one crossover. At the end of the season, there will be single-elimination playoffs with a best-of-three championship series. The Masters Division will have a rainout weekend early in August.
    Veterans open the weekend of April 21-22.
    Masters open the weekend of May 5-6, but two Masters teams will play one game vs. the Padres April 22 and April 29 to help balance the schedule and keep us away from DHs and night games.
    The upshot of all this is that we seemingly have avoided scheduled double-headers and the weeknight games we discussed with 38s at the January meeting... of course, everyone knows that rain issues could force some DHs or weeknights, but at the beginning, NO scheduled weeknight games or DHs in the 38s and 48s divisions.
    Finally, since all teams advance to the season-ending playoffs, all games will count in the standings in all divisions.
    I think that covers the territory, and again I want to...
    1) thank Rob and John for their hard work on putting this plan together...
    2) thank the 25s for picking up the challenge of playing the younger division...
    3) thank the Padres for leaping humbly into the breach...
    4) thank the Masters managers for welcoming the Padres...
And finally
    5) thank everyone for being so patient with this process. It has taken some time and work, and we thin the result is worth the effort.
Cheers
TG