Interleague play

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Interleague play is the term used to describe regular season Major League Baseball games played between teams in different leagues, introduced in 1997. Before the 1997 season, teams in the American League and National League did not meet during the regular season. AL/NL matchups only occurred during spring training, the All-Star Game, other exhibition games such as the Hall of Fame Game in Cooperstown, New York, and the World Series. None of these contests, save for the World Series, counted toward official team or league records.

1 History
2 Interesting matchups
3 Arguments
- 3.1 Pros
- 3.2 Cons
4 See also
5 External links
6 References

[edit] History

Interleague or interconference matchups have long been the norm in other professional sports leagues such as the NFL. Regular season interleague play was discussed for baseball's major leagues as early as the 1930s. Bill Veeck predicted in 1963 that Major League Baseball would someday have Interleague play.^[1] The concept did not take hold until the 1990s (at least in part as an effort to renew the public's interest in MLB following the 1994 players' strike). Interleague play was not, and is still not, a universally endorsed innovation. However, it has added a new dimension to the major-league game, creating some matchups that had not been seen before, and some which held special significance for geographical and historical reasons.

The first interleague game took place on June 12, 1997, as the Texas Rangers hosted the San Francisco Giants at The Ballpark in Arlington. There were four interleague games on the schedule that night, but the other three were played on the West Coast, so the Rangers-Giants matchup started a few hours earlier than the others. San Francisco outfielder Glenallen Hill was the first designated hitter used in a regular-season game by a National League team.

From 1998 to 2001, teams from the American League West played teams from the National League West, etc., typically scheduled to alternate between home and away in consecutive years. However, in 2002, the league began alternating which divisions played which divisions, and thus in 2002 the American League East played the National League West, the American League Central played the National League East, and the American League West played the National League Central. Matchups which had been of particular interest prior to this format — mainly geographic rivals — were preserved. This is expected to be the continuing format of the interleague schedule though corresponding divisions were integrated in this rotation in 2006.

Beginning in 2002, All interleague games are played prior to the All-Star Game, mostly in June.

The designated hitter (DH) rule is applied in the same manner as in the World Series and the All-Star Game. In an American League ballpark, both teams have the option to use a DH. In a National League ballpark, both teams' pitchers must bat. Some baseball observers feel it might be fairer to reverse this (in other words, always follow the DH rule of the visiting team instead of the home team), thereby offsetting the home-field advantage.

Through 2005, the National League held an 1,104-1,095 advantage over the American League in interleague victories; this reversed itself in 2006, with AL teams posting a 154-98 record.

As of 2008, the American League currently holds an all-time series advantage of 1,387-1,317. The team with the best all-time record in interleague play is the New York Yankees of the AL, with a record of 113-79.^[2]

Since 2005, interleague games have been played in mid to late May, the earliest scheduled interleague games of the season.

In 2007, two teams -- the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Baltimore Orioles played 6 games with more than one interleague opponent. The former playing both the Toronto Blue Jays and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim while the latter played both the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Washington Nationals.

[edit] Interesting matchups

Several interleague matchups are highly anticipated (and well-attended), for a number of reasons:

Geographical:
- New York Yankees v. New York Mets (Subway Series)
- Chicago White Sox v. Chicago Cubs (Crosstown Classic, Windy City Series, or Red Line Series)
- Los Angeles Angels v. Los Angeles Dodgers (Freeway Series)
- Oakland Athletics v. San Francisco Giants (Bay Bridge Series)
- Tampa Bay Rays v. Florida Marlins (Citrus Series)
- Cleveland Indians v. Cincinnati Reds (Battle of Ohio)
- Kansas City Royals v. St. Louis Cardinals (I-70 Series or Show-Me Series)
- Texas Rangers v. Houston Astros (Lone Star Series)
- Baltimore Orioles v. Washington Nationals (Beltway Series)
  - Because the 2005 MLB schedule was already set when the Montreal Expos moved to Washington, DC, the Orioles did not play the Nationals during the 2005 regular season. The two teams began their rivalry in 2006, and play home-and-home series each year during interleague play.
- Minnesota Twins v. Milwaukee Brewers
  - The Twins and the Brewers were formerly regional rivals in the American League from the Brewers' relocation from Seattle in 1969 as well as divisional rivals in the AL West (1970-1971) and the Central (1994-1997) prior to the Brewers' realignment into the NL Central for the 1998 season.

Historical:
- Boston Red Sox v. Atlanta Braves
  - This matchup goes back to the time when both teams played in Boston and competed for fan allegiance against each other.
- Boston Red Sox v. New York Mets
  - This matchup is remembered mainly because of the 1986 World Series. In the 10th inning of Game 6 of this Series, the Red Sox came within one strike of their first World Series win since 1918 before losing the lead. Later in the inning, the winning run scored after a ground ball went between the legs of first baseman Bill Buckner. The Mets went on to win Game 7 and the Series.
- New York Yankees v. Los Angeles Dodgers (Crown Jewel Series)
  - This rivalry goes back to the days when both teams played in New York City. Between 1941 and 1956, the two teams played in seven World Series; Brooklyn won only once (1955). After the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, the teams played four more times in the World Series, with each team winning twice (Dodgers in 1963 and 1981, Yankees in 1977 and 1978). The rivalry will perpetuate itself with the addition of 1996-2007 Yankees manager Joe Torre as manager for the Dodgers in 2008.
- Toronto Blue Jays v. Montreal Expos
  - From 1978 to 1986, the teams only met in the charity Pearson Cup in mid-season. They would only have met in relevant play had they both won their leagues' pennants. They played Pearson Cup games again in 2003, only as exhibition games. As the only Canadian teams, it made a natural rivalry that ended with the Expos' move to Washington.

[edit] Arguments

These are just some arguments for and against Interleague play.

[edit] Pros

Interleague matchplay increases attendance. ^[3]
Fans can see players they might not otherwise get to see, especially those who have only ever played in one league, such as Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Greg Maddux, etc.
Certain geographic rivalries are played out during the regular season that otherwise might not happen for years at a time, such as Chicago Cubs v. Chicago White Sox.
It creates matchups that might not have been seen in generations. For example, during the 2004 season, the Giants and Red Sox played each other for the first time since meeting in the 1912 World Series, and the Red Sox had never played at Wrigley Field until 2005. In 2007, the San Francisco Giants hosted the New York Yankees for the first time in the regular season in San Francisco, in which the Giants took the series 2-1.
It allows for a rematch of the World Series. This has occurred in eight of the twelve seasons of interleague play: 1997 (Atlanta Braves at New York Yankees), 2000 (New York Yankees at Atlanta Braves), 2001 (New York Mets vs. New York Yankees), 2002 (Arizona Diamondbacks at New York Yankees), 2005 (Boston Red Sox at St. Louis Cardinals), 2006 (Houston Astros at Chicago White Sox, happened again in 2007), 2007 (St. Louis Cardinals at Detroit Tigers), and 2008 (Boston Red Sox at Colorado Rockies).

[edit] Cons

There are many series that are not considered compelling; for example, series between currently poor-performing teams or teams with no historical or geographic connections.
American League pitchers generally don't like taking batting practice for the opportunity to bat in one or two games. These pitchers are also unaccustomed to running the bases, which can lead to injury and premature fatigue.
With the two leagues not having the same number of teams, and with one division (the National League Central) containing six teams while another (the American League West) has only four (the other two divisions in both leagues consisting of five teams each), various irregularities in scheduling result. Most notably, teams no longer play identical opponents as their divisional rivals, and even where they do, they don't always play them an identical number of times. This can lead to "strength of schedule" disparities like those the NFL has to deal with on a yearly basis. For example, in any given season, one NL Central team might play every AL East team except the (strong) first place team, while another NL Central team plays all but the (weak) last place team. Another scheduling problem is that because the leagues are not equal in size, there always has to be one NL game on interleague days (interleague is done with block scheduling like the NHL, so all the teams play interleague games on the same day, and all the interleague games are played in one part of the schedule (third weekend of May and most of June)
The "rivalry" series that consist of six games a year for some teams leads to further scheduling inequities. For example, the Chicago Cubs play the recently solid Chicago White Sox six times a year, while their division rival St. Louis Cardinals play the recently poor Kansas City Royals six times a year.
The World Series and All-Star game are robbed of some of their mystique that used to result from the two leagues playing completely exclusive schedules during the regular season: in the case of the World Series, the "best in the business" playing the "best in the business" for the only time that whole year.