How to Set up a Schedule for a Recreational Baseball League

There are many conflicts that can cause problems for the person charged with making a schedule for a recreational baseball league. The availability of field space on particular days, the condition of public parks and the need for lights during night games can mean a lot of juggling for the schedule maker. You can set up a sound schedule for your league by nailing down as many details as possible from the start.

Things You'll Need

• List of parks and diamonds
• Maps of host parks
• Spreadsheet software
• Phone tree

Instructions

1. Maintain an updated list of available parks and diamonds in your community that you will use in your baseball schedule. You should name the host park and address next to each game on printed schedules to help players get to the game on time.

2. Generate maps of host parks to determine the logistics of your schedule. This will be especially helpful if your players wish to carpool.

3. Mix up the number of games played during weekend days and weeknights based on the availability of parks with lights. Each team should play at least one game during the weeknight to provide a balanced schedule for every player.

4. Break up your league into divisions and conferences as an organizational tool during schedule setup. You can have division opponents play a higher number of games against each other to help you decrease the burden of setting up your schedule.

5. Bunch your league's double-headers at the beginning of the recreational baseball season to avoid excessive games at season's end. You should arrange for double-headers over the first few weekends of the season to capitalize on early-season energy.

6. Negotiate exhibitions with recreational baseball teams in other communities as a warm-up for the season. You can set up a baseball tournament between leagues as a way of creating a friendly rivalry in the region.

7. Review your league's past schedules to avoid duplication in upcoming seasons. Your league can utilize spreadsheet software to document league events for future use.

8. Create a template schedule for the postseason based on standings and available facilities. Most baseball leagues schedule their off-season events over the course of a single week to decrease facilities costs.

Tips & Warnings

• Set up a phone tree among the players and coaches in your league to deal with emergency scheduling changes. You can initiate the phone tree with a few league officials and spread the word about rain outs, field changes and other scheduling issues before upcoming games.