Back when I was about 9 years old, I really wanted to see my two favorite teams show up on the field and see who was the ultimate Crishad favorite team. I wanted to see the Atlanta Braves with their talented pitching staff of Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, and John Smoltz take on my Minnesota Twins with...um...hang on...Marty Cordova...and Ron Coomer?
OK, maybe it wouldn't have been the best idea to see a Braves/Twins game in the mid 1990's, but seeing the Twins take on a National League team would be pretty cool I thought, and then Bud Selig pulled the trigger in 1997 introducing interleague play to the baseball world.
The idea was pretty good at first, but now it's come under fire for many reasons. There are good things and bad things when it comes to interleague play, so what's the right answer? I'm here to find out!
THE GOOD
1) Interleague Play gives opposing cities a chance to see players they normally wouldn't see.
We always see it advertised on TV that one day we'll tell our kids that we got to see ______ ______ play. What interleague play does is that it gives fans in random cities a chance to see some of the superstars of the opposite league. Without interleague play, fans wouldn't get to see Ryan Braun or Prince Fielder play. Back in 1998, the Twins were able to host Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa at the Metrodome, and if you weren't excited about that, you don't have a pulse (even knowing what we know now).
2) Interleague Road Trips
I've made the trek to Milwaukee to see the Twins play the Brewers, and I'll say that it's a pretty surreal sight to see Scott Baker grab a baseball bat and ground out to first. Fans in American League cities get to see some places they normally wouldn't see. For example, the Twins are in San Francisco tonight. A pretty cool stadium that some people wouldn't want to see if their team wasn't playing in it. It's pretty cool to see a stadium you normally don't have the opportunity to see.
3) Helps Baseball Grow
American League fans get to learn the differences in National League baseball. I didn't even know what a double switch was until I was a junior in high school. Bench moves have to be made more carefully, and there's more strategy. It just gives fans a different taste of what's going on in the opposite league.
THE BAD
1) Pointless Matchups
There are plenty of good matchups in interleague baseball. The Mets-Yankees, Cubs-White Sox, Giants-Athletics...all are good rivalries. But for every good one, some other team plays an absolute clunker. Astros-Blue Jays, Twins-Padres, Brewers-Rays...get the picture?
2) Disadvantage For The National League
Don Mattingly made this point...and he may be right. Mattingly said that he doesn't like interleague play because of the designated hitter rule. In the American League, a team might have a 40 HR guy hitting as their DH because they need one all the time. In the National League, you might be using a utility player. Travis Hafner or Omar Infante? Hmm....
3) Less Matchups That Matter In The Standings
The Twins play the Yankees six times in a season (typically). They'll have one series at home, and then there's one on the road. But in the AL, people want to see the Yankees come to their town. Maybe this is one thing that ESPN has a death grip on is covering the Yankees so much that people want to get to the ballpark so they can scream how much they suck in person. More importantly, if the Twins are chasing the Yankees (or any team outside the division) for a Wild Card spot, they have less chances to catch up and the better team may not advance to the playoffs.
WHAT TO DO?
The reality is that interleague play is not going anywhere. Too many people come in from out of town, especially in the rivalry matchups, to just throw it down the clunker. Way too much money would be lost.
With realignment being kicked around, the current model would suggest that interleague play should be going all season long. I don't think that's the right answer either, especially when a team might be playing an interleague team in the middle of a pennant race. (Example: Imagine the Brewers playing their current stretch of baseball against the AL East in September. Yikes.)
I think interleague should be at least cut down to one "regional rivalry". Yes, you would still have some flaws in that because not every team has a regional rival that's not in the opposite league, but if you gave 6 games to these matchups, you could have more AL games that counted outside the divisions. A team playing 6 interleague games would keep the idea of the money and everything else, but wouldn't dilute baseball to it's current state.
Plus, isn't baseball supposed to be FUN? Fun is getting to play the Brewers six times a year. So what if it doesn't count in the standings? I find it fun to jump in a car 4 hours and go get drunk in a parking lot, then watch my Twins play. It's something I can't do in Minnesota.
So in essence, interleague play can be shortened, but the fact is it makes the game fun, and isn't what it's all about? (Well, unless you're a newspaper editor...)
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