Interleague play

Interleague play in Major League Baseball was introduced in 1997. Prior to that year, teams in the American League and National League did not meet during the regular season (they only met in the World Series, with the leagues being represented by the teams that had won their respective league's pennant). Outside the postseason, the AL and the NL only met during the All-Star Game.

History

The proposal to introduce interleague play was not, and is still not, a universally endorsed one. However, with attendance waning as the result of the 1994 baseball strike, it was judged by many that something was needed to stir up interest in the league. Interleague play created some match-ups 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 (now Ameriquest Field in Arlington).

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 would play 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. Match-ups which had been of particular interest prior to this format (e.g. New York Yankees vs. New York Mets) were preserved. This is expected to be the continuing format of interleague play.

The designated hitter rule is applied in the same manner as in the World Series. In an American League ballpark, both teams use a Designated Hitter to hit for the pitcher. In a National League ballpark, both team's pitchers must hit.

Overall, the National League holds an 869–840 edge over the American League through 2003.

Interesting match-ups

There are several match-ups that are the result of interleague play which are highly anticipated and well-attended for a number of reasons:

• Geographical:
  • New York Yankees vs. New York Mets (Subway Series)
    • The Yankees and Mets played their first interleague game against one another on June 16, 1997, at Yankee Stadium. The Mets won the game 6–0 courtesy of a three RBI performance from John Olerud.
  • Tampa Bay Devil Rays vs. Florida Marlins (Citrus Series)
  • Cleveland Indians vs. Cincinnati Reds (Battle of Ohio)
  • Chicago White Sox vs. Chicago Cubs (ChiTown Series, or The Crosstown Classic)
  • Kansas City Royals vs. St. Louis Cardinals (I-70 Series, or Show Me Series)
    • Surprisingly, Major League Baseball has not made this matchup a regular interleague series, despite the obvious geographic rivalry and the history between the teams, especially the 1985 World Series, won by the Royals with the aid of a blown call in Game 6.
  • Minnesota Twins vs. Milwaukee Brewers
    • Though not named, the Twins and Brewers were formerly fierce rivals in the American League Western and Central Divisions until the 1997 realignment of the Brewers from the American to the National League.
  • Texas Rangers vs. Houston Astros (Lone Star Series)
  • Oakland Athletics vs. San Francisco Giants (Bay Bridge Series)
  • Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim vs. Los Angeles Dodgers (Freeway Series)
  • Baltimore Orioles vs. Washington Nationals (Battle for the Baltimore-Washington Area)
    • This is surprisingly NOT a rivalry series set up to be played every year. The DC team will continue to play against the Toronto Blue Jays for a rival and the Orioles will continue playing the Phillies. It is expected though that this may be changed in time for the 2006 season.
• Historical:
  • Boston Red Sox vs. 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.
  • Toronto Blue Jays vs. Atlanta Braves
    • The Braves were the Jays' victim when they became the first Canadian team to win the World Series, in 1992.
  • New York Yankees vs. Atlanta Braves
    • These teams have met four times in the World Series. In 1957 and 1958, when the Braves played in Milwaukee, the teams went to seven games both times, with the Braves winning the first time and the Yankees winning the second. In 1996 and 1999, the Yankees and Braves renewed their old rivalry from the late 1950s; the Yankees won both times, sweeping the Braves in 1999.
  • New York Yankees vs. Los Angeles Dodgers
    • This rivalry goes back to the days when both teams played in New York. 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).

Pros

• Interleague play increases attendance and interest in baseball.
• Fans can see historic players (like Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Greg Maddux, etc.) they might not otherwise get to see.
• Interleague play allows certain rivalries to be played out during a season, such as New York Yankees vs. New York Mets, that otherwise might not be.
• 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.
• It strengthens the argument in favor of awarding home-field advantage in the World Series to the team with the better regular-season record, since with interleague play most pairs of teams not in the same league will have played approximately one-third of their games against common opponents (indeed, this issue figures to be one of the top items on the agenda at the owners' winter meetings in 2005, as the current procedure, which gives the odd home game to the team whose league had won the All-Star Game played that year, expires at the end of the 2004 season).

Cons

• For every Yankees vs. Mets series, there's a less compelling series such as Pirates vs. Devil Rays.
• 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.
• Some of the mystique of the World Series dies when teams have a regular season record against one another.
• 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 the fact that teams in the same division no longer play all of their games against the same opponents; this can lead to "strength of schedule" disparities like those the NFL has to deal with on a yearly basis (e.g., one NL team might play every AL East team except the New York Yankees, while another NL team in the same division does not play the Tampa Bay Devil Rays instead).

External link

• Interleague stats through 2003