Interleague play

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. Unlike modern interleague play, none of these contests, except for the World Series, counted toward official team or league records.

Contents

History

Early discussions

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.[1] In December 1956, Major League owners considered a proposal by Cleveland general manager and minority-owner Hank Greenberg to implement limited interleague play beginning in 1958. Under Greenberg's proposal, each team would continue to play a 154-game season, with 126 within that team's league, and 28 against the eight clubs in the other league. The interleague games would be played immediately following the All-Star Game. Notably, under Greenberg's proposal, all results would count in regular season game standings and league statistics.[2] While this proposal was not adopted, the current system shares many elements. Bill Veeck predicted in 1963 that Major League Baseball would someday have interleague play.[3] While the concept was again considered in the 1970s,[4] it was not implemented until the 1990s. Interleague play was at least in part as an effort to renew the public's interest in MLB following the 1994 players' strike,[5] but was also necessitated by the 1998 Major League Baseball expansion, which resulted in both leagues having 15 teams.[6]

Interleague play introduced

MLB's first regular season 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 Giants–Rangers matchup started a few hours earlier than the others. Texas' Darren Oliver threw the game's first pitch and San Francisco outfielder Glenallen Hill was the first designated hitter used in a regular-season game by a National League team. San Francisco's Stan Javier hit the first home run in interleague play, and the Giants won the game, 4–3.

From 1997 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. Corresponding divisions however, were skipped once when this rotation began, but were put back in the rotation in 2006.

Since 2002, all interleague games have been played prior to the All-Star Game. Most games are played in June, though May games have been scheduled since 2005.

The designated hitter (DH) rule is applied in the same manner as in the World Series (and the All-Star Game prior to 2010). 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 as well as exposing the fans of the home team to the other league's rules.

After the 2010 interleague play, the American League holds an all-time series advantage of 1,808–1,652 and has finished with the better record in interleague play for 7 straight seasons, dating back to 2004.[7] 2006 was the most lopsided season in interleague history, with American League teams posting a 154–98 record against their National League counterparts.[7] The team with the best all-time record in interleague play is the New York Yankees of the AL at 144–102 (.585), followed by the Chicago White Sox at 143–104 (.579). The Florida Marlins holds the NL's best interleague record at 127–107 (.543), followed by the St. Louis Cardinals at 109–96 (.532).[7]

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.

The first Civil Rights Game was an exhibition interleague game between the Cleveland Indians and St. Louis Cardinals in AutoZone Park on March 31, 2007. The first regular season Civil Rights Game was an interleague game between the Chicago White Sox and Cincinnati Reds in Great American Ball Park on June 20, 2009.

Records

Wins by league

Year Best Record American League National League
1997 National 97 117
1998 American 114 110
1999 National 116 135
2000 American 136 115
2001 American 132 120
2002 National 123 129
2003 National 115 137
2004 American 127 125
2005 American 136 116
2006 American 154 98
2007 American 137 115
2008 American 149 103
2009 American 138 114
2010 American 134 118
2011 American 131 121
Overall American 1,939 1,773

Interleague statistics

The following is text of Major League Baseball's policy regarding the compilation of statistics as a result of Interleague Play:

"For the first time in the history of Major League Baseball, Interleague games are to be played during the regular season. Breaking tradition always brings about controversy and the matter of baseball records is no exception.

"It is the opinion of Major League Baseball that there is no justification for compiling a new volume of records based on Interleague Play. On the contrary, the sovereignty of each league's records will be retained, and if a player or a team breaks a record against an Interleague opponent it will be considered a record in that league. In cases where two teams – as Interleague opponents – break a league or Major League record, that record will be annotated with the phrase 'Interleague game.' Streaks by both teams and individual will continue (or be halted) when playing Interleague opponents in the same manner as if playing against an intraleague opponent. In essence, records will be defined by who made them rather than against whom they were made.

"The official statistics of both leagues will be kept separately as they have in the past. This means statistics for each team and their individual players will reflect their performance in games within the league and also in Interleague games without differentiation."[8]

Interleague-play leaders

A list of leaders in the following categories is available on the MLB.com website.[9]

Geographical matchups / Natural Rivals

Several interleague matchups are especially anticipated because of the relative proximity of the teams involved. In the case of each of these "rivalry" matchups, the two teams play six games (home-and-home series of three games each) every year:

The two remaining West Coast teams (who share a spring training base in Peoria, Arizona) play annual home-and-home series as well:

The following eight teams are not paired up as of 2009:

Scheduling

Interleague play used to be scheduled in June and July. (though as it was today if any teams were involved in interleague play, all teams were, except for the two NL teams that play each other). Later it was changed to occur only in June. In 2005, the format was changed again. Now, each team plays one series during the third weekend in May and plays the rest of their games in June and occasionally early July, usually starting in the second weekend of June, only playing interleague opponents until the interleague schedule is complete for the year. This new format allows for maximized weekend interleague games. In the American League, each team plays 18 games; in the National League, five teams play 18 games, ten teams play 15 games, and one team plays 12 games, or with four teams playing 18 games, and 12 teams playing 15 games for a total of 252 interleague games. They used the latter method in 2011, with the Marlins, Mets, Reds, and Diamondbacks being the four teams to play in 18 games. The reason for the difference is that during interleague play, all teams play interleague games at the same time, except for two NL teams that play each other. This is required because the NL has two more teams than the AL.

As of 2010, every Major League team has had interleague series with each team in the opposing league. Some clubs have not hosted every team at their home ballpark. The New York Mets have never hosted the Chicago White Sox. The 2 teams have only played once in Chicago in 2002. The Atlanta Braves have not hosted the Minnesota Twins since the 1991 World Series, although the teams have met in Minnesota. The Los Angeles Dodgers have never hosted the Tampa Bay Rays. This makes the Rays the only American League team to have never visited Dodger Stadium. The Yankees have also not hosted the Dodgers in an interleague series, although they have played in Los Angeles twice since 2004.[11] This makes the Dodgers the only current Major League franchise to have never played a regular season game in the original Yankee Stadium. The Kansas City Royals have never hosted the Atlanta Braves. The Toronto Blue Jays have never hosted the San Diego Padres. The Oakland Athletics have never hosted the Chicago Cubs. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have never hosted the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals have never hosted the Texas Rangers during the regular season, however they hosted the Rangers during the 2011 World Series.

Starting in 2013, the Houston Astros will join the American League, giving each league 15 teams. This will force interleague play throughout the season. For the first time ever, teams will play interleague games even on opening day and during key division races all the way to the end of the season. There will likely be 30 interleague games for each team, but it has not yet been announced how the matchups will be rotated.

Arguments

Since its introduction, regular-season interleague play has continued to be a source of controversy among baseball fans and others both inside and outside the sport. Among the arguments used in favor of (and opposition to) interleague play are the following:

Pros

Cons

See also

External links

References

  1. ^ "Owners Back Inter-League Ball Series". Chicago Tribune. 1933-08-23. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/443114482.html?dids=443114482:443114482&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Aug+23%2C+1933&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=Owners+Back+Inter-League+Ball+Series&pqatl=google. 
  2. ^ Drebinger, John (1956-12-06). "Player limit, Interleague Games Top Issues on Majors' Agenda". New York Times. http://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F10A11FF3B5A137A93CBA91789D95F428585F9. Retrieved 2009-10-02. 
  3. ^ Hurwitz, Hy (1963-05-04). "Veeck Predicts Big Time Will Adopt Interloop Play". The Sporting News. pp. 4. 
  4. ^ Koppett, Leonard (1976-02-18). "Drastic Changes Seen For Baseball". New York Times. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60E16FD3C5F167493CAA81789D85F428785F9. Retrieved 2011-10-01. 
  5. ^ "Baseball Approves Interleague Play". New York Times. January 19, 1996. http://www.nytimes.com/1996/01/19/us/baseball-approves-interleague-play.html. Retrieved 2011-10-01. 
  6. ^ Bodley, Hal (January 14, 1997). "Alignment of expansion teams a hot topic". USA Today: p. 9.C. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/USAToday/access/16431439.html?dids=16431439:16431439&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jan+14%2C+1997&author=Hal+Bodley&pub=USA+TODAY+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&desc=Alignment+of+expansion+teams+a+hot+topic&pqatl=google. Retrieved October 28, 2011.  (subscription required)
  7. ^ a b c "Interleague History: All-Time Club Records in Interleague Play". MLB.com. Major League Baseball. 2010-06-28. http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/history/interleague/records.jsp. Retrieved 2010-06-28. 
  8. ^ Interleague History (MLB.com/News/Awards/History/Interleague/Home). MLB Advanced Media, L.P. Retrieved 2009-08-31.
  9. ^ Interleague History: Interleague Play Leaders (MLB.com/News/Awards/History/Interleague/All-Time Leaders). MLB Advanced Media, L.P. Retrieved 2009-08-31.
  10. ^ Kovacevic, Dejan (2009-06-23). "Ten reasons to get excited for Pirates-Indians". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09174/979278-63.stm. 
  11. ^ Kline, Jez (2010-06-15). "Behind Enemy Lines: Dodgers vs. Yankees". Scout.com. http://dodgers.scout.com/2/977636.html. Retrieved 2010-06-17. 
  12. ^ The Enid News and Eagle, Enid, OK – Rivalies add to interleague play