[Mick]

Interesting article, but this strategy only works because of the timing of the event.
IMHO Stanford, or cal for that matter, will never be a contender while they are in the ACC. Even great Stanford teams struggled with early east coast games. You simply can't overcome the human body clock. Even the best teams going across multiple time zones and playing very early or very late will not perform at their best and will lose more than their talent and coaching would otherwise predict.

Stanford's optimal strategy is to play all their home games against east coast teams as late as possible, though the early games are probably still harder than the reverse- the numbers suggest the penalty for east coast teams going west and playing late is not as bad as the inverse. Maybe some sort of agreement could be made in the conference for all bicoastal games to start between noon and 4 PM (PST) but of course the TV overlords wouldn't allow that.

July 4, 2015. I lived in Arlington VA, my son had an internship in WashDC, and we got to socialize a fair amount. The SF Giants were visiting the Nationals in the first game of an East Coast road trip. Because DC had planned a fireworks show that they wanted to conclude relatively early, the Giants vs. Nationals game received an 11:30 a.m. start time -> 8:30 a.m. body clock time.

I told my son that, even though the Giants were pitching Bumgarner, they were likely to get clobbered. And clobbered they were.

First batter, Michael Taylor, home run.
Second batter, Yunel Escobar, double (misses a home run by two feet).
Third batter, Bryce Harper, two-run home run.

After five pitches, the Nationals led 3-0. Bumgarner was tagged with six runs. Washington scored nine runs, ultimately.

P. S. I just found out that there were almost identical circumstances in 2012, and the Giants lost that one too, 9-4. Bumgarner started both games.

[Mick]

Interesting article, but this strategy only works because of the timing of the event.
IMHO Stanford, or cal for that matter, will never be a contender while they are in the ACC. Even great Stanford teams struggled with early east coast games. You simply can't overcome the human body clock. Even the best teams going across multiple time zones and playing very early or very late will not perform at their best and will lose more than their talent and coaching would otherwise predict.

Stanford's optimal strategy is to play all their home games against east coast teams as late as possible, though the early games are probably still harder than the reverse- the numbers suggest the penalty for east coast teams going west and playing late is not as bad as the inverse. Maybe some sort of agreement could be made in the conference for all bicoastal games to start between noon and 4 PM (PST) but of course the TV overlords wouldn't allow that.

July 4, 2015. I lived in Arlington VA, my son had an internship in WashDC, and we got to socialize a fair amount. The SF Giants were visiting the Nationals in the first game of an East Coast road trip. Because DC had planned a fireworks show that they wanted to conclude relatively early, the Giants vs. Nationals game received an 11:30 a.m. start time -> 8:30 a.m. body clock time.

I told my son that, even though the Giants were pitching Bumgarner, they were likely to get clobbered. And clobbered they were.

First batter, Michael Taylor, home run.
Second batter, Yunel Escobar, double (misses a home run by two feet).
Third batter, Bryce Harper, two-run home run.

After five pitches, the Nationals led 3-0. Bumgarner was tagged with six runs. Washington scored nine runs, ultimately.

P. S. I just found out that there were almost identical circumstances in 2012, and the Giants lost that one too, 9-4. Bumgarner started both games.