I’ve been an Orioles fan all my life and I can’t remember the last time the O’s opened the season on the road. How does the league decide this? It seems like it would go back an forth but apparently not.
The Commissioner’s Office asks the teams early in the year what their scheduling preferences are:
Do you want to open at home or on the road?
Is your stadium going to be booked for something else at some time?
Do you want to end the season at home?
Whom do you want to play in the opener?
Which holidays do you want to be home for?
Presumably the Orioles want to open at home in the second week of the season so the weather will be a bit better. If the Orioles wanted their opener to be at home, they would be granted one if it were feasible.
The MLB schedule is not made with the aid of a computer. I believe it’s a couple who just crunch it all out on paper. They are the lowest bidder every year for the job.