Interleague Play is Upon Us

I was listening to one of my favorite programs on XM Radio channel 175 (shameless plug lol) called "The Show" with Kevin Kennedy and Rob Dibble and they were discussing interleague play and how they would abandon the idea. That got me thinking about how I feel on the subject of interleague games in baseball...

I am one of the guys who like having it, but wouldn't miss it. I enjoy seeing teams like the Yankees and Red Sox come into Miller Park and take on the Brewers. I enjoy seeing Boston vs. Atlanta or New York vs. New York. I even enjoy watching Tampa Bay vs. Florida because I think that it could forge a rivalry where there really isn't one. Neither Florida nor Tampa Bay really have a team who they are rivals. What about matchups like Toronto and Colorado or Seattle and San Diego? Why not? Players from Toronto wanna have the opportunity to play in Coors. Fans from Seattle don't get to see players like Brian Giles or Jake Peavy. I like the aspect of seeing players and teams that you don't usually get to see. Another matchup that is under scrutiny is St. Louis vs. Kansas City. Well, for this year and the past couple of years it has been awfully lopsided, but 20 years ago this would have been a matchup all of America was paying attention to. Cincinnati vs. Cleveland is a big matchup in the Midwest, and this year fans are oober excited about Cincy taking on Detroit. Cincinnati vs. Detroit! At the beginning of the year nobody would have thought that Detroit was leading their division and Cincinnati was close to the top of the NL Central at the beginning of interleague play.

Rob and Kevin were mentioning how they would like to see interleague play done away with so the division teams could play more games against each other, which in a way I agree with, but at the same time after 19 Yankees/Red Sox games I am a little tired of the rivalry. Especially since they end up facing each other in the playoffs many years so it could end up at 26 games against the same team in a year. It gets a little stale in this columnist's opinion.

One thing that I think would be great about eliminating interleague play would be how teams could play against the teams who are not in their division but in the same league more. As a Brewer fan, I want to see other teams I enjoy watching play against Milwaukee. I wanna see Colorado and Atlanta come into Miller Park or Milwaukee visit Coors more. Being from Montana, I don't have the opportunity to see a whole lot of games, and the ones that I can see are either Colorado or Seattle. I really want to be able to see my Milwaukee Brewers play more often. If there were no interleague play, it could open up the schedule space for Milwaukee and Colorado schedule more games against each other.

There are other matchups that could be rejuvenate by interleague play being abolished. Does anyone remember how the Dodgers and Braves used to be a major rivalry in Major League Baseball? Before the divisions were split and the Wild Card was introduced the Braves and Dodgers were perennial contenders for the National League West.

Another argument for the abandonment of interleague play is how the familiarity between the teams in the World Series is affected. Some individuals are worried that the luster of the World Series could be affected by the AL vs. NL being watered down a little. My question is: How many of the teams who have met in the World Series played against each other during interleague play that season? If that has happened often then I think the interleague situation needs to be dealt with. I think that the World Series is something in sports that needs not be messed with and if the teams are playing against each other before they reach the Series, then baseball needs to address that situation.

All in all, I am excited to see interleague play again because the Minnesota Twins are visiting Miller Park and I get to see how the Brewers fare against the phenom Francisco Liriano. I like seeing that rivalry from the AL be renewed. Interleague play has been good for Major League Baseball. It has brought in more fans and I think it has rejuvenated the players. It will never go away and if it did, meh there are good and bad things about it. But there are good and bad things about everything in baseball...