Interleague Play

I have been hearina lot lately that interleague play has run its course. I couldnt disagree more. Major League Baseball is first and foremost a business. Its # 1 goal is to make money and it seems that interleague play is a huge money maker. What National League team doesnt want the Yankees or Red Sox coming to town? I know Pittsburgh sold out three mid-week games versus the Yankees this week. This adds juice to the stadium and it also gets the team pumped up. They can finally play in a sold out stadium that is their own. Watching these games you can see teams like the Pirates or the Rockies last year play in a different gear to try and impress the fans and see how they do versus the best teams.  From a business stand point I belive that Interleague play will be here for a long time.

Besides the money making aspect, I still enjoy watching the different matchups. Sure there are going to be series that don't whet your whistle, Royals-Rockies or Nationals- Astros. But there are also a lot of series that get people excited. Its always fun to hear that the Yankees are facing a certain team for first time since the ___ World Series. It was the Reds first trip to the House that Ruth Built since the Big Red Machine went in and won the Series. And how about Yankees in Pittsburgh for the first time since 1960 and the famous Bill Mazeroski homerun? That homerun means so much to Pirate fans that they still relive it every year and it even put a light hitting 2b into the hall of fame. Any time you get to see Albert Pujols or Derek Lee face pitchers they wouldnt normally see is exciting. It is a new challenge and matchup for every one. It brings a little juice to a time of year where there isn't a lot.

I agree that it is not fair that each team plays different schedules in interleague. I would want to go back to the original format where each division faces each other, IE the AL and NL East face off in a certain year. I would rotate that around. I would also like to see each "rival" (IE Mets-Yankees) face eachother only once but I do not see any change in that since its 6 guarenteed sell outs for those teams.

Two other changes I would like to see added. I think it would be a fun expirement to have the NL stadiums have DH's and the AL stadiums have the pitcher hit. This would allow for a different experience in each leagues stadiums. That is what the goal of interleague play is: to allow fans to see something new. What could more new than seeing a DH in Wrigley Field for a few games? My second idea is more of a local New York idea. I would like to see a 2 stadium day-night doubleheader every year in the Subway Series. I know its an inconvienance for the players but it really is exciting for the city (especially when they have been on a Saturday.) The way to make it seem nicer to the players would be the bonus of a Sunday offday during the 2nd series.