Inter-league Play

[skeeman101]

Ok, I know its good for mid season ratings, but:

What good is inter-league play, really? Does it make MLB more competitive, or is it just a marketing strategy? If we are going to do it, why just the extremely limited basis? Personally, I think there is a lot more aprehension surrounding a World Series between two teams that have never met.

Incidentally: Is it just me, or has the World Championship favorite been almost fully decided by the ALCS since the 60's? (maybe besides the Big Red Machine)

 

[milagros317]

It's just a marketing strategy.

Worse, it makes the schedule unfair.

Here's why: Suppose, in a particular year, the NL West is playing the AL Central in interleague play. But exceptions are always made for the natural geographic rivalries, such as Dodgers vs. Angels and hated jints vs. Athletics. Suppose, in a given year, the Angels have an excellent team, likely to finish with 90 or more wins, and the Athletics are rebuilding, headed for about 90 or more losses. Then the hated jints have an easy 6 games in their interleague schedule along the AL Central while Dodgers have a tough 6 along with the AL Central.

The unfairness is even worse when you look at the Wild Card race in each league.

 

[Mitchell]

Mils makes an excellent point about interleague play being a marketing strategy. I've always been okay with interleague play. I used to love when the Braves would play the Yankees. While the Mets and Yankees always seem to draw large crowds, for all games, interleague play, especially for natural rivalries, seems to increase attendance at stadiums where attendance might have fallen off in recent years, either due to the slow economy, or due to a team's play not being as good.

I dont think they will ever abolish interleague play, but they might do well making it more streamlined. As to how to do this, I'm not sure.

Mitch

 

[MWhoTklsFemFeet]

The only problem I have with Inter-league play is why did it take so long to implament?

Baseball is the only sport that has two different conferences that never play each other and that was never explained to to me why that was. it was just "understood". Football, basketball, and hockey don't do it, they have two conference that play each other. You don't hear Goodell saying "NFC teams play only NFC team and AFC teams play AFC team and that the way it is because we want it like that"

You never get to see the possible "World Series" match in baseball like with other sports. To me its about time they did inter-league play and they should it more often in my opinion.

 

[ticklingfeet4fu]

Interleague is AWFUL!!! Fact is, they say it has helped attendance but until this season when the Florida Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays are both good at the same time, how well do they draw??? How well does the Pirates/Royals draw??? How well does the Cubs/Athletics draw in Oakland??? How about the White Sox/Brewers when they are both bad like in 1998??? Facts are that the only reason attendance goes up is because the Mets/Yankees, Cubs/White Sox, Reds/Indians, Dodgers/Angels sell out for all SIX games!!!

Also to go one step further with Mils point ( which is a GREAT one ) if you get a team that is really good like the Angels and the Dodgers are competing for a Wild Card if they go 1-5 against the Angels and the Rockies play six games against the Mariners and they go 4-2 that is a three game swing in the standings ( wild card or division ). So you are basically penalizing the Dodgers because they have a natural rival. Who is the Mariners natural rival??? Who is the Tigers natural rival??? You have to make it FAIR for all teams. The way they do it right now is they end up picking and choosing. Is that fair???

If you are a White Sox fan and you play the Cubs and the Cubs beat you all 6 games while the Tigers are playing the Giants and Padres and they win 4 out of 6 and you lose the division by one game, how happy are you??? You compete for division titles and wild card births within you division and league. If you lost a playoff birth because your team couldn't beat the National League or vise-versa is that right??? If you the White Sox, you aren't competing with the Cubs for the division or wild card, so why play them???

To me, I don't like inter-league play. I haven't from day one. That is despite being a Mets fan and we play the Yankees 6 times a year. I liked the fact that you didn't see the other league until the World Series. This is overkill!!!

 

[FlockOfSeagulls]

Interleague is AWFUL!!! Fact is, they say it has helped attendance but until this season when the Florida Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays are both good at the same time, how well do they draw??? How well does the Pirates/Royals draw??? How well does the Cubs/Athletics draw in Oakland??? How about the White Sox/Brewers when they are both bad like in 1998??? Facts are that the only reason attendance goes up is because the Mets/Yankees, Cubs/White Sox, Reds/Indians, Dodgers/Angels sell out for all SIX games!!!

Also to go one step further with Mils point ( which is a GREAT one ) if you get a team that is really good like the Angels and the Dodgers are competing for a Wild Card if they go 1-5 against the Angels and the Rockies play six games against the Mariners and they go 4-2 that is a three game swing in the standings ( wild card or division ). So you are basically penalizing the Dodgers because they have a natural rival. Who is the Mariners natural rival??? Who is the Tigers natural rival??? You have to make it FAIR for all teams. The way they do it right now is they end up picking and choosing. Is that fair???

If you are a White Sox fan and you play the Cubs and the Cubs beat you all 6 games while the Tigers are playing the Giants and Padres and they win 4 out of 6 and you lose the division by one game, how happy are you??? You compete for division titles and wild card births within you division and league. If you lost a playoff birth because your team couldn't beat the National League or vise-versa is that right??? If you the White Sox, you aren't competing with the Cubs for the division or wild card, so why play them???

To me, I don't like inter-league play. I haven't from day one. That is despite being a Mets fan and we play the Yankees 6 times a year. I liked the fact that you didn't see the other league until the World Series. This is overkill!!!

I see your point to a certain extent . But the biggest reason the mets/ yankees , cubs/ whitesox and angels/ dodgers sell out is because they are the 3 biggest markets in the country.

I would rather see some interleague play than playing a couple of teams way too many times in a season. My rangers play the Angels 19 times in a season. How ridiculous is it to play one team 1/8 of a season; it`s completely out of whack.

 

[Heeko]

I agree with Flock. I can see the unfairness to an extent. But if I lose the division by one game in a 162 game schedule, do I really have a right to complain? I had more than enough opportunities against my nearest competitor and 161 other games to make up the difference.

Even a six or seven game swing, you still have over 155 games to make up the difference and you also play your nearest competitor how many times? I really don't see where a team has a huge reason to complain.

Also when 'rivals' play, as every sports fan knows anything and everything can happen. Nothing is a freebie no matter the matchup.

I agree with TF4U in that there needs to some way to distribute fairness amongst all teams, whereas some teams do not have a natural 'rival'.

 

[zepp3320]

well to be honest every sport has their unfair schedules. in the nfl you play one division from the other conference and if that division happens to be horrible then you have an advantage.

 

[FlockOfSeagulls]

If you want to talk about '' fairness'' , let me bring up this aspect of the game.

One of the things I like most about baseball is the history & tradition. I think most will agree that Wrigley Field & Fenway Park are the most unique and special parks around , especially now that Yankee Stadium is about to be a parking lot.

But let`s honest here, there isn`t a bigger home field advantage in all of baseball and maybe all of sports than Fenway Park. The Red Sox know every nook, cranny , angle, and wall that will create weird hops and bounces. They are able to get players that excell at Fenway and use it to they`re advantage so much I figure they get another 5-6 wins a year at home because of it

I mean they have two big time dh`s in Ramirez & Big Papi playing together in the heart of Bostons lineup. The only reason Ramirez can play outfield everyday is because of Fenway`s SOFTBALL-LIKE left field dimensions.

 

[Mitchell]

4u, I agree with you to an extent. I do agree that they should somehow balance out the schedule, to make it more fair, in that you shouldnt have great teams playing awful teams, or such, and interleague matchups that no one cares about.

The only part of your point that I dont agree with is the idea of the unfamiliarity for the World Series. Look at the NBA. Every team plays each other, so that when you get to the Finals, there is some form of familiarity, but not too much. I like that to an extent. What I do think is that maybe they should scale back the games within a team's own division, and not have each of them play each other 18 or 19 times a year. The format that existed for the 1990s seemed to be good. thirteen games against your own division,. twelve against everyone else. Do the Mets, Braves and Marlins need to play Washington 18 or 19 times a year to know that those teams are all better than Washington? I might also schedule the interleague so that the games are more evenly matched. Say, if you have two teams that finished in first one year, have those teams play each other the next year, and then have the first place teams play the 500 teams, and then the last place teams, and so on. Rotate it, and dont make it all by divisions each year.


I'm not sure how to fix it, but that might be one way.

Mitch

 

[MWhoTklsFemFeet]

To those that say that it's a waste of time and like the keeping the divisions separate until the world series, why play the world series at all?

Why not just have the ALCS and the NLCS be all and not play the world series?

 

[ticklingfeet4fu]

To those that say that it's a waste of time and like the keeping the divisions separate until the world series, why play the world series at all?

Why not just have the ALCS and the NLCS be all and not play the world series?

What are you talking about??? You play the World Series to determine a winner. For some strange reason they did fine without interleague play for over 100 years. Just like baseball in the AL did great without the DH for 72 years. And just so you know, they should abolish the DH too!!!

 

[FlockOfSeagulls]

What are you talking about??? You play the World Series to determine a winner. For some strange reason they did fine without interleague play for over 100 years. Just like baseball in the AL did great without the DH for 72 years. And just so you know, they should abolish the DH too!!!

He`s just mad because the American League has beaten the National League

for the last 10yrs

 

[Mitchell]

I dont agree with MWTFF's suggestion. Not playing the World Series would be abolishing something that has existed for 100 years. I actually think that the playoff system is fine how it is. I like the wild card, and the idea of the teams with best record in each league having home field all the way through the playoffs. The only thing I might do differently with the World Series is to go back to the way it was played before the last couple of years, and do the AL/NL home field alternating by years. It doesnt seem right to have one league have home field many years in a row, even though I know this is how its done in the NBA and NHL, where the team with best record gets the extra game at home.

Mitch

 

[MWhoTklsFemFeet]

I dont want to get rid of the world series, Im just saying that if you have two leagues, why not have them play each other? Why keep them separate until the world championship?

Of the four major sports, baseball was the only sport that didnt allow inter-league play at all. The NFL, NBA, and NHL all have it and it seems to work fine for them.

The answer isn't get rid of it, the answer is try and fix it to where it does work for everyone.

 

[Mitchell]

I dont mean to bump this thread, but its the first time I'm coming back to it since our discussion. I apologize for misunderstanding you. I do see your point. It's odd in a way, how all the umpires are now under one umbrella, and the leagues remain seperate.

My father had once suggested something similar to what you proposed. He said to get rid of the leagues, and to do something like putting all the natural rivalries in one division, regardless of leagues. One would think that attendance would spike at Shea and Yankee Stadiums, if the Yankees and Mets played each other 18 times a year.

Chances are, they wont fix it. I will say that there is too much disparity between the big boys and the smaller market teams. In the 80s. the Kansas City Royals were one of the best teams in baseball. Now, they're hardly heard from or known about, because of their small market payroll.

It's doubtful anything will be done.

Mitch

 

[ginbot]

There should be no DH rule in either league. That's baseball in it's purest form.