Ah, yes, it's Subway Series time. The Yankees highly touted starting pitching and the Mets' lineup riddled by a variety of injuries has made it a pretty easy time for the Yankees.I completely agree. It would also help with these stupid unbalanced schedules.
I really think this Interleague play has reached a point where it would be good to call a hiatus. The whole concept behind it was to give fans a chance to see players from the other league that they seldom see play. That was the case in my days when American League fans never to to see Hank Aaron or Willie Mays or Ernie Banks. National League fans seldom saw Mickey Mantle. (Only in October!)
Now with all the games on television that's not the case. It has become an experience players don't enjoy. It only gives the better teams a chance to beat up on weaker rivals from the other league and it distorts the real pennant races. I wish they'd drop it for a while and have teams play more games within their own division.
There are a few exciting matchups, but not too many. Yankees-Mets being at the top of the list, but it's lost a lot of its luster since that first one when I remember Paul O'Neill getting a big hit off Johnny Franco to help the Yankees win that series.
It's not the same anymore.
How do you guys feel about interleague play?
i mean, i don't really have a problem with interleague play. it's cool to see the nl go against the al, even though we embarrass them everytime, especially at the all-star game. but my thing is how they schedule some of the series. like this weekend woulda been perfect for rangers-astros in houston, of course us in citi field, and the white sox-cubs at wrigley. like all the inner city or state series should be played at the same time, and when they are, have the series start on the weekends, and start em' out either at the nl or al ballparks first. but i don't really have a issue about it, even though to me it does seem like now it's just plain boring because of how the american league just dominates
ReplyDeleteI agree, not only is it boring, but I feel it screws up the schedule. I really don't like the unbalanced schedule at all. Getting rid of interleague should help that a little bit.
ReplyDeleteKaat sure has been missed in the Yankee booth.
ReplyDeleteI have always thought interleague play was bad. And what made it worse was the fact that it wasn't properly instituted. If they wanted to do it, each team in each division should play the same amount of games against the same teams. It should be saved for the WS.
The idea for the All Star game deciding home field in the WS is one of the dumbest moves by the idiot commissioner.
Although the AL has won it every time. It was an overreaction to a tied All Star game. Maybe Bud should have looked back through baseball history and realized that it wasn't even the first one. (1961)
Crossfire, agree about the all-star game as well. The only thing that does do is make it slightly more interesting.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it makes it slightly more interesting. I went to the ASG at the Stadium last year and stayed till the end to see the AL win once again.
ReplyDeleteIt is an exhibition game and I don't like the idea that a player that doesn't even make it to the post season could have a say in it.
They should just go back to each league hosting the opener in alternate years.
But there is probably a better way to make it interesting.
Fly all the winners of the winning team to Hawaii after the season or something like that. I'm sure somebody could come up with something even better.
Just don't let Bud have a say. He's the worst commish in baseball history.
I would actually prefer the team with the best record hosts the World Series. I think that's the fairest way to handle it.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest problem with the ASG is the players, they don't care who wins. Years ago the players took a lot of pride in winning the game, to them it said which league was better and they cared. I think free agency has done a lot to put an end to those feelings.
I don';t like the team with the best record getting home field. With the unbalanced schedule, a team can be in a weak division and gather wins by beating up on one team all year. Look at the Nats. Although the Yanks played horrible against them, they absolutely suck. A .292 winning percentage. Teams in the NL east should feast on them.
ReplyDeleteThe AL east is the toughest division in baseball. 4 teams over .500 and Baltimore has a .439 winning percentage.
No division has their last place team within .039 points of that except the NL central and they only have 2 of 6 teams with winning percentages.
That means the AL East will beat up on itself all year while teams in other divisions get to play plenty of games against lousy teams, thus building their record up.
The NL has only 7 of 16 teams with a record above .500. (The mets are at .500)
The AL has 8 of 14 teams over .500 and another at .500.
Since the leagues do not play an even amount of games against each other, giving home field to the team with the best record isn't fair.
Not that alternate years is completely fair but at least it's just the luck of the year.
I see I'm not the only one who reads Jim Kaat's stuff religiously. I also miss him very much in the YES broadcasts- Kaat paired with Kenny Singleton was about the best there was.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the AS game was intended to have the fans 'see' the ballplayers they couldn't see otherwise, but modern technology has overtaken that concept. Since we're stuck with the AS game, I kinda like the idea that the league that wins the AS game also has the home team advantage in game 7 of the WS. It's the best of the bad alternatives to get the players to treat the AS game with any importance at all. Otherwise the AS game can disappear as far as I'm concerned-- just do a HR contest and have a couple days off.
As for interleague play-- I am a baseball purist, so I would much rather not see interleague games at all, and have a schedule that is balanced within divisions. In other words, I think teams should play more games against teams in their own divisions & less against everyone else. It's the only way for a team's won-lost record to have any validity. Unfortunately it'll never happen because some teams are greater draws and the lesser teams will never give those games up. And that's also why we will always have interleague games too, while some games are farces, there's a pretty large sampling of others that get big crowds & lots of attention.
I might as well wish for larger playing fields, higher pitching mounds and umpires calling a high strike zone. I do wish for all that stuff even though I know I'll never see any of it happen. Oh well.
I always considered myself a baseball purist, but I don't mind inter-league play. However, MLB did screw it up. Yanks/Mets, Cubs/White Sox: these games are no longer a novelty. They play each other every year. MLB says its inter-league play, but it's really "rivalry week." What they should really do is, for example, rotate the games: In 2010 AL East vs. NL Central, 2011 AL East vs. NL West, 2012 AL East vs. NL East. Very similar to an NFL set up for out of conference games. That way, if the Yanks/Mets don’t play for a 2 or 3 years, it still has a novelty. Also, should the teams actually meet in the World Series on a year they don’t play in the regular season, that too has an element of freshness rather then, ‘been there, done that.’
ReplyDeleteI have hated interleague since day one. Because they play against teams like the Nats or the Marlins, that means that they only play west coast teams at the west coast team's home park for one series.
ReplyDeleteI live in northern California, and the Yanks only come to Oakland once a season, so I don't get to see them play as often as I would like. Also, if they do happen to be on TV, I end up watching them at 10:00 in the morning.
I also really hate watching AL pitchers bat.
Every team should play every team. It's ridiculous that we have to see the same opponents such as the Orioles andJays every other weak.
ReplyDeleteInstead of the current system, it should be mixed throughout the entire schedule, similar to the NHL and NBA.
Regarding the All-Star game deciding homefield, I think they should wait til the World Series is about to be played, and ask the team from the league that one what they wont to do. Play at home 1st or do they want the chance to clinch at home? Know what Im sayin'?
ReplyDeleteWhoa, the Budweisers are getting to me already, won* not one and want* not wont.
ReplyDeletei say put it away, and play more games against the West and Central divisions. plus, i'm in full support of the DH. and that can only take place in AL ballparks.
ReplyDeleteI don't hate the concept of Interleague play but it needs to be changed. I know it would be difficult to pull off with the uneven amount of teams in each league but I think the first place teams have to play all the first place teams of the year before. Second place teams, the same thing. The third place teams as well. Then for the fourth and fifth place teams, they would have to scramble the schedule around to make it work. I know Selig would hate this because the Padres, for example, would hardly ever get Boston or New York but it would force them to play better. Then each team would play one series against their rival, making four series in total. Finally instead of clumping the series up at one time, they could spread them throughout the first four months. Wherever they fit, they should be placed. For example, they could have the Dodgers visit New Yankee Stadium to open up the season or if they are scheduled to face the Angels in LA then the nest series they could play the Dodgers in LA.
ReplyDeleteI used to be skeptical of interleague play. It's OK, but there is one tragic flaw to it:
ReplyDeleteRainouts.
Before interleague play, every team in the league played at least 2 series at every other park in the league. Therefore, if a game was rained out during the first series (as rainouts are more common earlier in the season), there was always another series where the game can be rescheduled.
With interleague play, not only do the teams in the other league only have one series in the home park, but some teams in your own league have the same issue. And its not necessarily balanced by division.
Also, since there are 14 AL teams and 16 NL teams, the interleague series aren't scheduled evenly. Since interleague play started in 1997, the Yankees still haven't hosted 2 teams: the Dodgers and the Brewers (The Yankees last hosted Milwaukee in 1997 when they were in the AL). The Los Angeles Dodgers are the only team to NEVER play a regular season game at the original Yankee Stadium. That's wrong!
I'm sorry, but the whole interleague play is ridiculous. Want an interleague game? It's called the World Series.
ReplyDeleteThe All-Star game determining home-field advantage is garbage, and while I'm at it, the wild card is garbage too.
This is what needs to be done:
a) End Interleague play.
b) Return World Series home-field advantage to NL for even years, AL for odd years, thus removing the influence of the All-Star Game.
c) Re-align each league back to two divisions; winners of each division play for their league's pennant in best of 7-series.
d) Balance the schedules:
AL: a team plays each team:
same division: 13 games;
other divsion: 12 games;
= 162 games
NL: a team plays each team:
same division: 14 games (7h, 7a);
other division: 8 games (4h, 4a);
= 162 games
e) When it becomes practical to do so, add two teams to AL, so each league has 16 teams. AL at this point adopts the 14,8-style NL schedule (see #d above). Thus, most games, in each league, will be intra-divisional, strengthening the continuity of the heirarchy between division and league.
f) Play more 4-game series than 3-game series during the regular season.
i.e. following the NL 14,8-style illustrated above, each team could be scheduled 14 three-game series, and 30 four-game series. This will reduce number of travel days, thus giving more available free days to re-schedule rainouts.
Specifically:
Intra-divisional: each team plays a 3-game series and a 4-game series at their park and at the opponent's park; inter-divisional: each team plays a 4-game series at their park and at the opponent's park.
f) Bring back scheduled double-headers. This, along with the removal of an entire round of playoffs, would allow the schedule to be 'compressed' enough so that the World Series can be guaranteed to be finished by second week of October. (while it is still 'baseball weather' in the north.)
(n.b. these would be "real" doubleheaders, as under
Rule 4.13c: second game starts 20 minutes after end of first game, not as a day game and a separate night game.)
g) At the very least, those Pennant and World Series games, that are played on weekend dates, must begin in the afternoon.
h) For continuity and familiarity, return Umpires to AL or NL designation.
i) Instead of trying to homogenize the two leagues (as Selig is attempting), keep the flavour of each league distinct by encouraging minor rule differences, beyond simply the AL's DH.
(e.g. I recall that the AL used to allow a certain number of players to have a conference at the mound at any one time; the NL had a different maximum.)
Well, it ain't gonna happen, but regardless, that's my two-cents worth.