The Prospect League has a scheduling problem.
Actually, it has a geographic problem which leads to a scheduling problem.
With eight of the league’s 12 teams being west of Ohio, evenly dividing the league into East and West Divisions has become a bit of a farce.
Butler is the circuit’s only team in Pennsylvania. The West Virginia Miners, located in Beckley, mark the league’s lone team in that state.
William “Wink” Robinson, one of the BlueSox owners, admits that the league could use two more teams in the eastern section of the league — New York, Ohio, West Virginia or Pennsylvania — so it could switch to a more fathomable three-division format.
The way it is now, Indiana-based Lafayette and Kokomo are in the East Division — yet rarely play other teams in their own division.
Kokomo plays the BlueSox five times all season, The Jackrabbits take on Chillicothe six times, West Virginia five times — and don’t play Champion City at all.
Lafayette plays the BlueSox and Chillicothe only four times, yet meets Champion City seven times.
Meanwhile, the BlueSox play Champion City 15 times, Chillicothe and West Virginia 13 times each. Those three opponents comprise two-thirds of Butler’s schedule.
Clearly, travel time is considered heavily when the league determines its schedule.
But when your goal as a league is to develop close, competitive races for playoff spots and division titles, a conflict exists.
Lafayette and Kokomo play more than half of their respective schedules against teams from the West Division.
“This is a situation that has to be addressed,” Chillicothe manager Brian Bigam said recently. “You anticipate another tight race in the second half like we had in the first.
“But, realistically, other East Division teams have no control over what Kokomo and Lafayette are doing. We’re all knocking each other off while they’re both playing other teams. It’s not right.”
The top five teams in the East Division were separated by three and a half games in the Prospect League’s first half. The top five teams in the West were separated by two games.
When a league is showing that much parity, a balanced schedule is sorely needed, in the interest of fairness.
The Prospect League should consider playing more series and allow a visiting team to stick around for two or three days.
Send Kokomo and Lafayette on road trips to the eastern teams — a three-game series in Butler, a three-game set in Chillicothe, etc. — and have the eastern teams return the favor with three-game sets in Kokomo and Lafayette.
If the Prospect League expands and becomes more balanced geographically next year, well, problem solved.
If not, it’s time to adjust.
John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle
