ON SCHEDULE
Baseball’s switch to a series format emphasizes strategy
This season has been like no other in WPIAL baseball history — and it has nothing to do with COVID-19.
It’s all about the schedule. This is the first year the WPIAL has tried a new scheduling idea, for baseball only. Seriously, it’s a series idea. The WPIAL scheduled all section games with the same two teams playing a two-game series on back-to-back days, on a homeandhome basis, usually on Mondays and Tuesdays.
This is quite a change for WPIAL baseball. In the past, teams usually would be scheduled for a few section games in a week, usually spread out by at least two days. Teams played all section opponents twice, but teams wouldn’t play the same team twice in a row — and certainly not on back-to-back days. They played all section teams once in the first half, and then played the same teams once more in the second half of the season.
This year, most teams are about halfway through section play, or a little more than halfway through. They’ve all been through a two-game series at least a few times. Although it is something that teams have never done before, the new scheduling idea seems to be well received.
New ideas always have the chance of being met with opposition. Some people simply don’t like change. But a sampling of coaches in various classifications shows a strong liking toward the two-game series idea. Coaches believe it has made WPIAL baseball more competitive, brought more strategy into the game and forced teams to develop a deeper pitching staff, where teams can’t rely on one “horse” to throw all the big games.
Jerry Malarkey is in his 37th season as Upper St. Clair’s coach and said, “I actually like it. I think it’s a nice challenge, a fun challenge. I coach third base during games and I like to chat it up with the third baseman during games. One of the things I ask them this year is about the two-game series. They all like it, so I think the kids even like it.”
Montour coach Bob Janeda said, “I really enjoy [the twogame series]. The reason I like back-to-back games is quite frankly, you have to use more strategy. You have to use your bullpen. I think playing these back-to-back games just creates a great feeling for section games, too.”
Union coach Bill Sanders said, “I definitely like it for section play. I like having to see a team’s one, two, three or fourth pitcher. The only downfall I could see is with some smaller schools and the non-section games later in the week. They might be just piecing together pitchers, just hoping to keep the game close.”
North Allegheny athletic director Bob Bozzuto is the longtime chair of the WPIAL baseball committee. The WPIAL has committees for every sport and the committees do everything from decide playoff pairings and seedings to coming up with ways to possibly improve the sport. Their recommendations or changes must be approved by the WPIAL board of directors.
Bozzuto has long been a proponent of series play for WPIAL baseball. He has wanted the WPIAL semifinals and championship to be played in a threegame series. But the league has not accepted that idea.
But Bozzuto led the charge in recommending the WPIAL try the new two-game series on back-to-back days for this regular season. The WPIAL approved it.
“Baseball is supposed to be played in series,” Bozzuto said. “I’ve coached football, basketball, wrestling and pro baseball [ at the minor- league level]. There is nothing like a series. There are just so many more tactics involved when you play a
series that you don’t have when you play a team just once. I’ve asked different groups of people. True baseball people love the series idea. That’s what it’s all about.
“Some people were skeptical about it at first, but I’ve only heard positives about it.”
The main reason for the new section scheduling idea was pitching. If a team had an ace pitcher, they could possibly use him in all four games against the top two teams in the section.
“This gives a team an opportunity where they don’t just see a team’s No. 1 pitcher both times,” Bozzuto said. “They will see the No. 2 and maybe even more. … What a series does is make baseball better because coaches will have to prepare more kids to pitch — and the kids will have to prepare more.”
The WPIAL follows PIAA pitching rules, which are based on the number of pitches thrown. If a player throws 1 to 25 pitches, he needs no rest before he can pitch again. But a player who throws 26-50 pitches needs one calendar day’s rest. Throwing 51-75 pitches requires two days rest, and 76-100 requires three days rest. A pitcher can’t throw more than 100 pitches in a game and not more than 200 pitches in a calendar week.
“We were playing Blackhawk [Monday] and we lost, 6-5,” said Montour’s Janeda. “I had to make decisions on pitchers and think because I knew we were coming back the next day to play them again.”
Montour defeated Blackhawk, 9-8, on Tuesday to hand the Cougars their first loss of the season.
Union’s Sanders said, “You definitely have to now think two games ahead instead of just one.”
Some coaches believe the two-game series idea has made WPIAL baseball a little more competitive.
“I’ve seen a lot of splits this year, whether it’s Class 6A, 2A or wherever,” Janeda said. “That tells me there is more competitive balance.”
Take Section 2 of Class 6A as an example. Norwin and Hempfield both have one section loss, Upper St. Clair three and Baldwin, CanonMcMillan and Mt. Lebanon all have four losses. The top four teams make the playoffs. The section has had six two- game series played through Tuesday. Four of the series were splits.
What also is noticeable this season is there can be drastic differences in scores between the same two teams from one day to the next. For example, on Monday Upper St. Clair lost to Baldwin, 6-5. On Tuesday, Upper St. Clair defeated Baldwin, 14-1.
Earlier this season, Norwin defeated Baldwin, 10-0, but lost to Baldwin the following day, 4-3.
North Allegheny is the Post-Gazette’s No. 1-ranked WPIAL Class 6A team. The Tigers’ only loss was to Seneca Valley, 2-1. The following day, North Allegheny crushed Seneca Valley, 11-3.
“One of the things I like about this system is that you only get 24 hours to get over yourself and you move on,” Malarkey said. “I think it tests a team’s mental toughness more. You can have a great game and very easily be humbled the next day.”
Some coaches said the only drawback with the new scheduling is it might make things difficult for smaller schools that don’t have many players out for the team. Finding enough pitchers when your team has only a dozen or so players can be tough.
“Two years ago, we finished the season with only nine players because of an injury bug and no freshmen came out for the team,” Washington coach Anthony Belcastro said. “We only won three games that year and we probably wouldn’t have won any if we had to play back-to-back games.”
This season, Washington has 20 players in grades 9-12.
“I was really excited for this year when this new scheduling format came out,” Belcastro said. “We have some pitchers. I’m not talking Division I college pitchers, but kids that I know at least have the mechanics where they can actually throw the ball over the plate. I know in the past we’d usually run into teams where we’d see their ace twice. This makes it more exciting and I enjoy it. It does involve a lot more strategy.”
Bozzuto’s idea for the future is to have fewer teams in sections and have the teams play three-game series against each other, possibly on a Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.
“We brought that up to the WPIAL board this time and I think their sentiment was they wanted to go slowly through this process and see how this year went,” Bozzuto said.
What Bozzuto would like to see first, though, is the WPIAL semifinals and championship played in a three-game series.
“One of the things I always hear is we don’t do that in other sports. The bottom line is that baseball is different than other sports,” Bozzuto said.
The three-game series idea won’t happen in this year’s playoffs. One of the criticisms for a three-game series in the playoffs is that it would be more expensive for the WPIAL. More games means more money for umpires and other game workers.
“You would get enough money from the gate to still pay the expenses,” Bozzuto said. “I just think it would create more excitement in the game.”
Janeda said, “When you get in, say, a three-game series, I think you get to see who really has the better team overall.”
“Baseball is supposed to be played in series.” — Bob Bozzuto, chair of WPIAL baseball committee