Odds and Sods

Major League Baseball instituted Interleague Play in 1997.  In Selig-speak this would be an astounding innovation to greatly enhance our national past-time as it moves into the 21st century.  In reality, it is a shameless PR plug that was designed to help recoup reduced attendance and viewership numbers in the immediate Post-Strike Era.  As it reaches its ten year anniversary, it is time to put this crackpot abomination to rest.

For one, the supposedly novel matchups have become staid and flaccid.  Mets-Yankees or Cubs-White Sox still possess some juice, but not nearly as much as when they initially started.  What was once a dream subway series in October, is now, for all intents and purposes, a division rivalry.  Teams without geographic rivals are forced to sit through drudge fests like Detroit-Arizona.  The division matchups once had the “wow I never got to see this team before” factor, but teams are now cycling through these “unfamiliar” cities for the 2nd and 3rd times.  Attendances are still up for these matches, but eventually any novelty factor will be removed.

Secondly, it detracts from traditional interleague venues like the All-Star game and the World Series.  The All-Star game was once an historic and memorable event, and often the only arena where fans could see the best from the NL face off against the best from the AL in dream pitcher-batter matchups.  Now, these players often face eachother several times a season.  Baseball has had to resort to yet another gimmick (giving the winner homefield advantage in the World Series) in order to maintain interest.

It also detracts from the World Series.  There would have been a special quality to seeing two traditional franchises like the Cardinals and Tigers, had they not already played about a million times in Interleague play in the last few seasons.  Interest in the playoffs, sans a story like the Red Sox, has flagged so much that they had to bring out a senile and obese Tommy LaSorda to encourage even hardcore fans to continue to watch when their team didn’t make the playoffs.

Finally, and most importantly, it unbalances the schedule and can affect pennant races.  Teams like the Mets are instantly disadvantaged by having to play six games against the Yankees every year while the Cardinals get to cruise through six against Kansas City.  Even worse are the non geographically assigned games.  Teams in the division playing the AL East can draw the Red Sox and the Yankees, as opposed to the Devil Rays and the Orioles, and that fact can sway a tight pennant race one way or another.  Interleague play is not just annoying but an unforunate draw can kill a pennant run.

Interleague play should be removed because its novelty value has worn off, because it detracts from some of the game’s greatest spectacles, and because it unbalances scheduling to the point where it can affect the outcome of a pennant race.   Unfortunately, this would involve long-term strategic planning and turning down the quick buck, which is completely impossible as long as Bud Selig is commissioner.  Enjoy this festering cold sore on the luscious lips of the MLB season, because it is going to be here for a while.