Interleague Play

[LeftWideOpen]

Alright, so I personally think interleague play is out of control these days. 2 1/2 weeks straight, to me, against opponents from the other league is unnecessary and counter-productive to baseball teams.

so, whats everyone else think? should they shorten the amount of games, keep it the same, or abolish it all together?

[FondestMemory]

i've been against it since the beginning.

sure, cubs/sox and mets/yanks and shit like that are interesting. but we'll live without them.

i'm just not a fan at all. never have been. never will be.

[xbrokendownx]

i fucking hate it.


watching chien ming wang bat was probably one of the most painful things ive ever had to witness

[looksthatkillbn]

The gimmick is over with. They have to either completely revamp the concept and add something new, or abolish it immediately.

Actually Chris Welsh said something during the Reds-White Sox game today that was kind of interesting. He said that we could start playing with the DH in NL parks and playing without the DH in AL parks, in order to try something new and to let fans of teams in either league see the other style of play.

[xbrokendownx]

The gimmick is over with. They have to either completely revamp the concept and add something new, or abolish it immediately.

Actually Chris Welsh said something during the Reds-White Sox game today that was kind of interesting. He said that we could start playing with the DH in NL parks and playing without the DH in AL parks, in order to try something new and to let fans of teams in either league see the other style of play.




yeah, they said that during the yankees game today too.


idk, its too long though. one or 2 series maybe, but thats all i can stomach

[LeftWideOpen]

i'm okay with just one series a year against a "rival". the same series should be repeated every year too ...none of this rotating bullshit.

i think a yankees vs mets, or a cubs vs white sox series is good for baseball ..once a year, as the only interleague matchup for those teams.

right now, even the good matchups seem meaningless.

[FondestMemory]

i think any rule changes would be ridiculous. then it just takes on a pickup softball league kind of feel. the rules need to be consistent all season long.

[looksthatkillbn]

i think any rule changes would be ridiculous. then it just takes on a pickup softball league kind of feel. the rules need to be consistent all season long.

Well yeah, any changes would go into effect for next year. But something has to be done. I am all in favor of killing the idea now, but if they won't do that, and I doubt they will, they have to change SOMETHING.

[FondestMemory]

i'm okay with just one series a year against a "rival". the same series should be repeated every year too ...none of this rotating bullshit.

i think a yankees vs mets, or a cubs vs white sox series is good for baseball ..once a year, as the only interleague matchup for those teams.

right now, even the good matchups seem meaningless.

but for every one of those series, there's five uncompelling matchups. there aren't enough interesting rivalries to keep it going.

i also don't like it beacuse i want every team in the division playing the same competition.

[FondestMemory]

Well yeah, any changes would go into effect for next year. But something has to be done. I am all in favor of killing the idea now, but if they won't do that, and I doubt they will, they have to change SOMETHING.

i know they'd go in to effect next year. but my point is, dh bats in american league parks. it needs to stay that way. there shouldn't be a seperate set of rules for a handful of games.

[looksthatkillbn]

i know they'd go in to effect next year. but my point is, dh bats in american league parks. it needs to stay that way. there shouldn't be a seperate set of rules for a handful of games.

i would rather them do that than nothing at all, to be honest with you.

[LeftWideOpen]

but for every one of those series, there's five uncompelling matchups. there aren't enough interesting rivalries to keep it going.

i also don't like it beacuse i want every team in the division playing the same competition.

i think that there are a lot of series that could become compelling over the years though ...if only for geographical reasons (houston vs texas, oakland vs san fran, cleveland vs cincinati, st louis vs kansas city, anaheim vs los angeles, tampa bay vs florida).

even if you have to pair teams that don't really have a connection (say ...detroit and pittsburgh), there would at least be some consistency to the schedule year in and year out.

i see your point about every team not playing the same competition though, yet that happens to some degree already with, for instance, two teams playing an uneven amount of home and road games against a common opponent (boston might play texas 4 times at home and 3 times on the road, while the yankees play 3 and 4).

[xbrokendownx]

but for every one of those series, there's five uncompelling matchups. there aren't enough interesting rivalries to keep it going.

i also don't like it beacuse i want every team in the division playing the same competition.






each division plays the same teams dont they? like this year the AL east is playing the NL east, and so on

[looksthatkillbn]

If we are getting into the unfair advantage argument, there is absolutely no way in hell a team should have made the playoffs from the NL West last year because of the extra easy competition they got last year getting to play everyone else in that horrific division so often.

[Yankees' #1 Fan]

as long as the red sox get to beat up on the NL East, im happy with it.

[Cocaine&Whiskey]

I would hate if they did the DH in NL parks for interleague. In my opinion the DH is the worst rule in baseball. It just takes a lot of strategy out of the game. But I think interleague is fun, then again the Cardinals always get to beat up on the Royals so i may be biased.

[Broken Parachute]

Who cares?

The DH is something that needs to be taken away, or added to the NL. It's stupid.

[mikeford]

add it to the NL since pitchers batting in 2006 is fuckin stupid.

i HATE interleague play. fuckin despise it. the reason they created the world series was to have the AL and NL face off against each other for that one time. it takes luster and meaning out of the world series when they play these teams during the regular season anyway. and like some people have already said... the schedule is unbalanced as fuck.

[bigmike]

I don't really mind it. I like the NY/NY and Chicago/Chicago matchups. But i'm sure fans could do without the historic Blue Jays/Rockies matchup that kept everyone glued to their seats.

[xThursdayxPTWx]

Here's what interleague should be in my eyes:
NYY v. NYM (that's a given)
CWS v. CHC
CLE v. CIN
LAD v. LAA
STL v. KC
OAK v. SF
FLA v. TB
TEX v. HOU
and then pair up all the other teams left and whatnot
yadda yadda, 2 three-game series' 1 home and 1 away, I don't think it'd be bad. I think interleague play makes it interesting but too much of it takes away from the sport. I've never been an avid supporter of the DH even though my team is an AL team, but the idea of a pitcher batting is 10x worse in my opinion

[bigmike]

Here's what interleague should be in my eyes:
NYY v. NYM (that's a given)
CWS v. CHC
CLE v. CIN
LAD v. LAA
OAK v. SF
FLA v. TB
TEX v. HOU
and then pair up all the other teams left and whatnot
yadda yadda, 2 three-game series' 1 home and 1 away, I don't think it'd be bad. I think interleague play makes it interesting but too much of it takes away from the sport.
FLA and TB should combine franchises or both should be contracted.

[xThursdayxPTWx]

FLA and TB should combine franchises or both should be contracted.
No disagreement here

[DaveFeelsRight]

As everyone else said, keep it crosstown.

[FondestMemory]

cleveland - cincinnatti wouldn't be that great of a rivalry. cleveland - pittsburgh is always going to be much better, no matter what sport.

matchups like that i can understand the appeal to, and others like bal - was. but that leaves too many uninteresting matchups that the world can live without. i'd rather see interdivision rivalries with actual playoff implications, than a meaningless series against a team that doesn't directly affect them.

i just hate interleague.

[thejetstolehome]

FLA and TB should combine franchises or both should be contracted.

or they should move to a more baseball friendly market.

[LeftWideOpen]

or they should move to a more baseball friendly market.

i think the red sox should just buy out the D-Rays and call them Fenway South.

[thejetstolehome]

i think the red sox should just buy out the D-Rays and call them Fenway South.

can the yankees do that w/the marlins? 'cause i really want miguel cabrera. badly.

[we are cured]

yeah, the mets playing the orioles is kind of pointless. except tha anna benson's rack gets to come back to shea.

[justinevans]

or they should move to a more baseball friendly market.

you would think it would be in miami with all the cubans.

[justinevans]

i think the red sox should just buy out the D-Rays and call them Fenway South.

It'd be the Yankees first considering they play in Tampa for Spring Training and Steinbrenner owns half the city lol.

[Brownpants06]

I hate it.

[Adeniz19]

i think they should keep it in the same division maybe just one series per team.

[LeftWideOpen]

i think they should keep it in the same division maybe just one series per team.

yeah, that's my stance. even if it means MLB does a little research and goes out and polls millions of fans, asking them which interleague opponent they'd most like to face annually, then that's a good start. Like FondestMemory said, Pittsburgh and Cleveland is much more of a rivalry then Cleveland and Cincinati, so polling the fans and then trying to work out the best possible pairings seems like a solid idea.

i dunno, i just know that as a sox fan, i love seeing us play the braves just about every year but i could care less about some of the other series. 18 games against the other league is way too much.

[Chriz2z]

I like it right now, with the Tigers dominating. But in reality, it's almost useless, and I think one series a year would work well for me.

[fromwithin]

I love it cause I got to see the Twins, and the Tigers and White Sox are coming to town.

[mikeford]

facing the same team annually is fucking stupid. so, lets say this had been in practice since the beginning of interleague

the red sox would be facing the braves, who won like 10 division titles between the start of interleague and now

the yankees would be playing the mets, who have pretty much sucked ass for the past ten years, til right now


yeah, sounds like balanced and even way of distributing opponents.

[LeftWideOpen]

facing the same team annually is fucking stupid. so, lets say this had been in practice since the beginning of interleague

the red sox would be facing the braves, who won like 10 division titles between the start of interleague and now

the yankees would be playing the mets, who have pretty much sucked ass for the past ten years, til right now


yeah, sounds like balanced and even way of distributing opponents.

we already do it, even within the American League. For instance, we play the Rangers 6 times at home and only 3 times on the road. That means Texas hasto play us 6 times on the road and only 3 times at home. The Yankees, at the same time, play the Rangers 6 times on the road and 4 times at home. They dont even play the Rangers, regardless of home or away, the same amount of times as the Sox.

So the schedule will never be perfect, unless they make the leagues 15 teams each again and have the season either be 140 games or increase it to 168, that way every team plays every other team in the league an equal amount of time, both at home and on the road. Otherwise, it will never be balanced perfectly. Until MLB decides to do that, I don't see the issue with one interleague series a year.

[livethesounds]

Im not sure why all you AL team fans hate interleauge, latley the AL has been killing the NL every night. Other than the fact you dont get to use your pudgy, cant play in the field (although thats not the case with a couple of them) DH's. I really dont mind it besides the fact that the astros have played every division at least twice now, and NO winning or elite AL teams have come to Houston, they are allways away games.
my only gripe.

[LeftWideOpen]

Im not sure why all you AL team fans hate interleauge, latley the AL has been killing the NL every night. Other than the fact you dont get to use your pudgy, cant play in the field (although thats not the case with a couple of them) DH's. I really dont mind it besides the fact that the astros have played every division at least twice now, and NO winning or elite AL teams have come to Houston, they are allways away games.
my only gripe.

the AL, with their "pudgy cant play in the field DH's" have won 70% of the WS titles in the past 10 years, including the last 2 in which we swept the NL both years. the AL has had no problem adjusting without those guys ...it seems to be the NL who can't find enough hitters to matter.

[histrionics22]

facing the same team annually is fucking stupid. so, lets say this had been in practice since the beginning of interleague

the red sox would be facing the braves, who won like 10 division titles between the start of interleague and now

the yankees would be playing the mets, who have pretty much sucked ass for the past ten years, til right now


yeah, sounds like balanced and even way of distributing opponents.
There's no way to completely balance the schedule.

[histrionics22]

the AL, with their "pudgy cant play in the field DH's" have won 70% of the WS titles in the past 10 years, including the last 2 in which we swept the NL both years. the AL has had no problem adjusting without those guys ...it seems to be the NL who can't find enough hitters to matter.
It's so different. You don't need good position players defensively off your bench in the AL. Well at least, they are not used as often as in the NL.

[FondestMemory]

It's so different. You don't need good position players defensively off your bench in the AL. Well at least, they are not used as often as in the NL.

that's what i like about the leagues, both of them are completely different. it takes a lot of strategy to try to play the other league's style.

there shouldn't be any time to practice that before the world series. there should only be one interleague series the entire season, and it should be in october.

just get rid of it. at least temporarily. see how the league does a few seasons without it. i think it'll be more than fine.

[LeftWideOpen]

It's so different. You don't need good position players defensively off your bench in the AL. Well at least, they are not used as often as in the NL.

yeah, i know. I don't think the AL plays a better game of baseball because of the DH, which is what it might have sounded like, I just don't like that he was implying the American League is inferior because they use DH's by referring to them "as pudgy guys who can't play the field". In most cases, they just fit into a team's plan as a DH because they have a surplus of good hitters at one position and the DH may be a good fielder, but worse than the guy who plays in the field full-time.

[livethesounds]

the AL, with their "pudgy cant play in the field DH's" have won 70% of the WS titles in the past 10 years, including the last 2 in which we swept the NL both years. the AL has had no problem adjusting without those guys ...it seems to be the NL who can't find enough hitters to matter.

Yea no crap, the AL has killed the NL, i allready said that. Not talking shit really, just dont like the DH. i figure if jason giambi can work on his swing now hes off the roids, he can work on picking the ball out of the dirt. thats all. same said for ortiz.

[bigmike]

or they should move to a more baseball friendly market.
The Marlins will not ever be able to hold a fan base, regardless of the city. No one wants to watch a team have one great year and 5 shitty 100+ loss seasons.

[bigmike]

Yea no crap, the AL has killed the NL, i allready said that. Not talking shit really, just dont like the DH. i figure if jason giambi can work on his swing now hes off the roids, he can work on picking the ball out of the dirt. thats all. same said for ortiz.
Ortiz is more than adequate defensively. that's a pretty big misnomer. Is he derek lee? No. but not many 1B are.

[histrionics22]

yeah, i know. I don't think the AL plays a better game of baseball because of the DH, which is what it might have sounded like, I just don't like that he was implying the American League is inferior because they use DH's by referring to them "as pudgy guys who can't play the field". In most cases, they just fit into a team's plan as a DH because they have a surplus of good hitters at one position and the DH may be a good fielder, but worse than the guy who plays in the field full-time.
Haha Ok. It's funny. I was just thinking the other day that the AL seems weak this year. I mean the Yanks and Red Sox clearly are not what they have been last few years, the west is up for grabs, and the central is a surprising Tigers team and legitimate defending champion white sox. I was thinking this could be the NL's year.

Then I looked at the NL. The Cardinals can not keep going without Pujols and once you get past the Mets there is no one.

[LeftWideOpen]

Haha Ok. It's funny. I was just thinking the other day that the AL seems weak this year. I mean the Yanks and Red Sox clearly are not what they have been last few years, the west is up for grabs, and the central is a surprising Tigers team and legitimate defending champion white sox. I was thinking this could be the NL's year.

Then I looked at the NL. The Cardinals can not keep going without Pujols and once you get past the Mets there is no one.

yeah, parity is certainly "in" this season, especially in the AL. If Cleveland and Anaheim ever get going, the AL would have 9 teams fighting for 4 playoff spots. In the NL, it's pretty much St Louis, NY and everyone else.

[livethesounds]

Haha Ok. It's funny. I was just thinking the other day that the AL seems weak this year. I mean the Yanks and Red Sox clearly are not what they have been last few years, the west is up for grabs, and the central is a surprising Tigers team and legitimate defending champion white sox. I was thinking this could be the NL's year.

Then I looked at the NL. The Cardinals can not keep going without Pujols and once you get past the Mets there is no one.

As far as elite teams go? there isint.
Teams I think really have a chance:
White Sox
Tigers
Red Sox
Yankees
Mets
Cardinals (when they get Puljols back)
Astros (If everyone gets healthy again)

[LeftWideOpen]

As far as elite teams go? there isint.
Teams I think really have a chance:
White Sox
Tigers
Red Sox
Yankees
Mets
Cardinals (when they get Puljols back)
Astros (If everyone gets healthy again)

nice job slipping in the astros ...

oakland, toronto, los angeles and even texas have a better shot then the astros at this point.

[bigmike]

nice job slipping in the astros ...

oakland, toronto, los angeles and even texas have a better shot then the astros at this point.
what? there was no bias from him to slip the disastro's into the "elite team" category. no way.

[LeftWideOpen]

what? there was no bias from him to slip the disastro's into the "elite team" category. no way.

yeah, i mean all they have to do is revamp their roster ..then they'll be fucking SICK!

[bigmike]

yeah, i mean all they have to do is revamp their roster ..then they'll be fucking SICK!
hell yeah man. there only about 15 moves from being right there with the mets.

[PlaCracktheSky]

I love interleauge play. Its interesting when teams who never play meet up. Its better than playing the same teams over and over which is fine just lacks variety.

[bigmike]

I love interleauge play. Its interesting when teams who never play meet up. Its better than playing the same teams over and over which is fine just lacks variety.
yeah man. Nothing better then watching that exciting Blue Jays/Rockies rivalry rekindled. :rolleyes:

[Kram41]

I say keep it as it is.

There are already enough divisional match-ups throughout the year. I really don't need to see the Giants play the DBacks/Padres/Rockies/Dodgers anymore times than I already do. I don't need to see the Giants play another series against the Marlins or the Brewers.

At least with interleague play the way it is now, I get to see the Yankees or Sox(s) every once in a while.

[PlaCracktheSky]

yeah man. Nothing better then watching that exciting Blue Jays/Rockies rivalry rekindled. :rolleyes:

ur an idiot. I didnt say it was a rivalry. how could it be if they never played. By the way, Rockies swept the jays and ended the A's 10 game winning streak last night. Bring on the American league.

[bigmike]

ur an idiot. I didnt say it was a rivalry. how could it be if they never played. By the way, Rockies swept the jays and ended the A's 10 game winning streak last night. Bring on the American league.
yeah, because the A's and Blue Jays are clearly the upper tier teams in the AL. But I guess i'm wrong, since i am an idiot.

[PlaCracktheSky]

yeah, because the A's and Blue Jays are clearly the upper tier teams in the AL. But I guess i'm wrong, since i am an idiot.

oh yeah I forgot that the rockies make their own schedules. They played who was on it and beat them.

[bigmike]

oh yeah I forgot that the rockies make their own schedules. They played who was on it and beat them.
well you may want to wait on gloating until you beat a team that can actually contend in the AL.

[Adeniz19]

yeah, that's my stance. even if it means MLB does a little research and goes out and polls millions of fans, asking them which interleague opponent they'd most like to face annually, then that's a good start. Like FondestMemory said, Pittsburgh and Cleveland is much more of a rivalry then Cleveland and Cincinati, so polling the fans and then trying to work out the best possible pairings seems like a solid idea.

i dunno, i just know that as a sox fan, i love seeing us play the braves just about every year but i could care less about some of the other series. 18 games against the other league is way too much.i think you misunderstood me. i meant that they play each team in the opposite division but just once. like the red sox will play all the teams in the NL east at least once or the Giants play all the teams in the AL west only once. But your idea would be good too... i dunno MLB's schedule is fucked up either way and they need to get rid of this unbalanced schedule.

[PlaCracktheSky]

well you may want to wait on gloating until you beat a team that can actually contend in the AL.

Your right I cant be happy when my team is 5-0 against the American League. Thats just no good.

[bigmike]

Your right I cant be happy when my team is 5-0 against the American League. Thats just no good.
there's a difference between being happy that you beat a couple of pretenders in the AL and coming across like the Rockies are going to win it all this year.

[PlaCracktheSky]

Well I didnt mean to come across that way. But for a Rockies fan thats exciting. When have we ever put together even a respectable team minus our first year. I understand you took my comment to be offensive. Reach in your pants and check to make sure you still have a pair. My comment was pathetically harmless

[bigmike]

Well I didnt mean to come across that way. But for a Rockies fan thats exciting. When have we ever put together even a respectable team minus our first year. I understand you took my comment to be offensive. Reach in your pants and check to make sure you still have a pair. My comment was pathetically harmless
it wasn't offensive. nothing in the sports forum is 'offensive' it came acrossed as retarded. "yay, we beat two AL Pretenders"

Get back to me when you get a real team with a legit shot at winning anything.

[PlaCracktheSky]

it wasn't offensive. nothing in the sports forum is 'offensive' it came acrossed as retarded. "yay, we beat two AL Pretenders"

Get back to me when you get a real team with a legit shot at winning anything.

ooohhh.a closet tigers fan. Awesome.

[bigmike]

ooohhh.a closet tigers fan. Awesome.
yeah bud. I'm such a closet tiger fan. You got me. Someone should give you a prize sherlock holmes. I mean, i've never even watched baseball in life before the tigers got 20 games over .500.
In fact, i don't even like sports. I'm really a 6 year old girl who can't tell a hockey puck from a tennis ball. I just like to pretend so people accept me in this forum. You're right.

[PlaCracktheSky]

yeah bud. I'm such a closet tiger fan. You got me. Someone should give you a prize sherlock holmes. I mean, i've never even watched baseball in life before the tigers got 20 games over .500.
In fact, i don't even like sports. I'm really a 6 year old girl who can't tell a hockey puck from a tennis ball. I just like to pretend so people accept me in this forum. You're right.

jackpot

[bigmike]

Seems like you've got some insecurities there bud. Not the first time you've heard that huh?
Oh man. again, you caught me. What can i say? You just read me like a book.

[PlaCracktheSky]

Oh man. again, you caught me. What can i say? You just read me like a book.

Well bigmike you just make it so obvious.