Interleague Play - Yay or Nay?

[Deleted]

I think the novelty has run its course. Creates too many imbalances in the schedule, too many matchups nobody cares about...


... discuss.

[Gold Hoya]

I'm sick of 6/yr against the White Sox when the Cardinals get 6/yr against the Royals. Especially when MLB sends a home plate ump to squeeze Maddux.

[TigerHoya]

Interleague is just one more Selig disaster.

Maybe the only thing he's done right has been the Wild Card.

[CAHoya07]

I'm a fan of interleague. I like the intra-city rivalries, mostly. I've been to a few Giants-A's games, and the tensions between fans of each team is fun. It creates some other good match-ups too, like World Series rematches and the top teams from other leagues. And as a fan of a team from a particular league, you'll get to see teams that you wouldn't ordinarily see.

Sure, you get some crappy matchups, but you get those in intraleague play too. The only negative I can see from it is the unbalanced schedules. But while I have no numbers to back it up, it seems to be good for the fans and for attendance, so I say stick with it.

[miamihoya]

I'm a fan..i can see how it creates imbalance in the schedules (although they are so to begin with), but I like being able to see teams i usually wouldnt get to see everyonce in a while. As a marlins fan for example its exciting that the Red Sox are coming to town with Beckett and Lowell. So ya it has its drawbacks, but it's exciting for the fans.

[TigerHoya]

I liked the idea of the World Series always being two teams that hadn't played.

[Joe Hoya]

tigerhoya said:

I liked the idea of the World Series always being two teams that hadn't played.

Me too, but it was cool to see the Nationals lose to the Orioles tonight.

Although the following actually did take place (I've been watching baseball since age 6 months):

Joe Hoya: "Okay so Millar is playing first, Hernandez is catching, so Lopez must...hey Dad, who's the DH?"

Dad of Joe Hoya: "DH? Um, there is no DH."

JH: "Huh? Wha - ohhhhh riiiiiiiight, NL park...."

The shame just keeps coming.

[TigerHoya]

Makes Benson's complete game look even better.... but then again he had to bat last year too.

[VelvetElvis]

F the O's. I went to that disaster. I blame Jack. Him and beer.

[hifigator]

Personally I enjoy the interleague play. The regional matchups like Yankees-Mets or Sox-Cubs are interesting to fans of the sport even outside the region. We all support our own team obviously, but as a fan I appreciate the "novelty" if you will of these handful of weekends a year. I like just about all of the regional matchups ... except for the Marlins-D'Rays, for obvious reasons. Just my thoughts

As for the scheduling imbalance, Colin Cowherd was talking about that yesterday. His point was that the NFL has the largest scheduling imbalance of all but they manage to make it work out quite nicely.

[HoyaSinceBirth]

I like interleague play I'm goign to the O's nats game tonight. Let's go O's!

[Jack]

velvetelvis said:

F the O's. I went to that disaster. I blame Jack. Him and beer.

Blame me all you want, but leave beer out of this. It has always been good to you. Personally, I blame Cristian Guzman.

I am shocked that a lineup featuring the immortal Daryle Ward in the 4 hole, followed by Ryan Zimmerman (he will be a good one, but not a 5 hitter on a legit team yet), Ryan Church (.215 BA), Wiki Gonzalez, Royce Clayton, then the pitcher. Because they aren't on tv ever, I had not realized just how awful that team is until last night. Gawdawful, though perhaps I should save this for the Nats rant.

The worst part of interleague play now is the return of McCarver and Buck to my Saturday afternoon, now teamed with some roving reporter who manages to combine nerdiness with total banality. Of course that has nothing to do with interleague play either.

In summary: Beer good, Nats bad, interleague play good, Fox bad.

[miamihoya]

hifigator said:

I like just about all of the regional matchups ... except for the Marlins-D'Rays, for obvious reasons. Just my thoughts

And what exactly are those "obvious reasons" of which you speak...i dont see them? Marlins-Rays usually play fun series (i.e. last nites walk-off).

[Deleted]

hifigator said:

As for the scheduling imbalance, Colin Cowherd was talking about that yesterday. His point was that the NFL has the largest scheduling imbalance of all but they manage to make it work out quite nicely.

My problem with the whole "imbalance" issue is that there is imbalance within the division on a rather large scale. When AFC teams, for instance, play NFC teams they play the same four teams. Granted, their out-of-division-but-in-conference foes differ by where each team finished in the division the season prior, but as far as who the NFL teams play interleague it is uniform across the division.

As Gold noted, the Cubs have a bunch of games against the White Sox whereas the Cards play the Royals, etc. While these specific discrepancies aren't significant EVERY year (some years some teams are up, others are down), the fact remains there are numerous mismatches in someone's favor every season.

I've always been a fan of imbalance in favor of division opponents. After all, every team's regular season goal should always be to win the division first and foremost. Best way to settle that is by playing in-divison heavily. Build true rivalries, start some "blood feuds," and so on. The NFL has it right, the NHL finally got it right, and the NBA kinda has it right.

[Deleted]

velvetelvis said:

F the O's. I went to that disaster. I blame Jack. Him and beer.

A true disaster. I was there as well. Were you the drunken jackass in Section 308? Oh, wait a minute....that was me.

Nats recovered well Saturday and Sunday, though. Was that Livan's first good performance of the season or what?

[VelvetElvis]

I think that I was in 317 when my legs stopped listening to my brain. I guess that is what happens when you begin your "evening" @ 2:45 PM!

[hifigator]

miamihoya said:

hifigator said:

I like just about all of the regional matchups ... except for the Marlins-D'Rays, for obvious reasons. Just my thoughts

And what exactly are those "obvious reasons" of which you speak...i dont see them? Marlins-Rays usually play fun series (i.e. last nites walk-off).

I guess the true baseball fan in me should appreciate the competitive nature of the game, it is just so hard to take either the Marlins or the D'Rays seriously when the management doesn't. Neither one is interested in putting a competitive team on the field. Yes the Marlins had their two World Champions which they purchased, but if anything the fire-sale which followed those seasons turns more fans off than on.
As for the particular game in question ... didn't see any of it. I was busy watching our own walk off homer. The Gators put a positive end to a very negative season by winning the last two games and thus the series from LSU. On Friday's game, senior Stephen Barton hit a two-run walk off homre down by one with two outs in the bottom of the tenth. That was truly one of far too few bright spots on the disappointing season.

[miamihoya]

hifigator said:

miamihoya said:

And what exactly are those "obvious reasons" of which you speak...i dont see them? Marlins-Rays usually play fun series (i.e. last nites walk-off).

I guess the true baseball fan in me should appreciate the competitive nature of the game, it is just so hard to take either the Marlins or the D'Rays seriously when the management doesn't. Neither one is interested in putting a competitive team on the field. Yes the Marlins had their two World Champions which they purchased, but if anything the fire-sale which followed those seasons turns more fans off than on.

Marlins purchased the World Series?!?! Are u serious? We won the 2003 championship off of a bunch of no name players at the time (with the exception of Pudge Rodriguez)...Beckett, D-train, Cabrera were all young kids we brought up from the minors...Lowell, Gonzalez, Castillo started thier professional careers in Florida...and Pierre, Encarnacion, and Conine were far from superstars...yes all those guys are now highly paid elsewhere, but in 03 they "shocked the world". Get the facts straight hifi before you start dishing out your rheotoric....btw no one cares how the gators baseball team did last week.

[Boz]

Isn't "Interleague Play" one of the options you can select in the "What are you here for?" category on AdultSingles.com?

But who am I to judge? Whatever blows your hair back.

(by the way, unless you are a cheerleader, it's "Yea or Nay," not "Yay or Nay")

[Elvado]

Interleague play is only good when there are real natural rivals. in New York, Chicago, the Bay area, even KC/StLou, it is great. Everywhere else, it is simply contrived and offers no real excitement.

You can't tell me there is any natural rivalry between the Phillies and Red sox that merits 6 games this year.