Interleague Play

[vnodnarb]

I just want to hear what you guys think about interleague play and its fairness between leagues. More specifically, does the AL have an advantage because they have DH on their roster that they pay for that role or does the NL have an advantage because their pitchers hit all year? Or does it even out?

[GrandMasterB]

Personally, I like interleague play. Gives me a chance to see some teams I normally wouldn't watch much. The only thing I don't like about it is the fact that everyone plays different teams. It creates an unfair advantage to the teams that get to play the cupcakes of the other league as opposed to teams that play the powerhouses.

[ATlinVA]

Interleague play is definitely not fair and i think everyone knows that. Its for the fans and gives the MLB more money. Its not an argument about whether its fair but whether the entertainment value is more important than fairness.

[McCarroll21]

Want Chipper's opinion on it?

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2869369

[tnbravesgirly7]

I like Interleague Play, I have nothing against it... But I don't like that the AL get's to have a DH, they should make their pitchers bat just like the NL does

[vnodnarb]

i agree interleague play isn't fair overall because the scheduling isn't the same for everyone, but i wanted to know what you guys think on who gets the advantage on the whole, the AL or the NL mainly based on the DH/Pitcher difference

[ATlinVA]

I don't think anyone has an advantage. Pitchers are good for a hit, what, as often as Ryan Langerhans? Usually an AL team can afford to start a light hitting position player and throw him in the 9 hole. For an NL team playing in an AL park, they can put a defensive liability in the DH spot and put someone else on the field. I think it all evens out in the end.

[BGarrett7]

There is no blanket advantage. Every NL team worth their weight has at least one player on their bench who is capable of either (a)being a DH, or (b)filling in at another position so that another player can DH. On the flip side of that, given the amount of player movement, there is hardly any pitchers around who hasn't at least handled the bat in some manner over the course of their ML career. There are plenty of pitchers on AL teams who have spent the bulk of their career swinging the bat with an NL team, and vice versa.

It simply varies from game-to-game as to who actually has the given "advantage."

[McCarroll21]

I think it's different for different teams. Teams like the Braves have an offense to contend with the AL teams, but some AL teams couldn't move their DH around to not be without a top player for a few games.

Like, Toronto can't keep Frank in the lineup, but Boston can keep Ortiz in the lineup.

Then you have the true NL lineups with the slap hitting SS hitting 8th and the defensive specialist catcher hitting 7th... like the Astros, who really can't put a team together to compete with the AL lineups.

[GrandMasterB]

I would think that NL would have more of an advantage because in NL parks, the DH is not used. For a lot of AL teams, that player is in the middle of the order. So, they either have to put them in the field or sit them. But if you look at the stats, you'll find there's really not much of a difference in wins between the leagues.


Wins by League:

<table style="background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" width="285"><tbody><tr style="background-color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"><td class="compHdrW"> YEAR</td><td class="compHdrW"> AL</td><td class="compHdrW"> NL</td></tr><tr style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><td>1997</td><td>97</td><td>117</td></tr><tr style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><td>1998</td><td>114</td><td>110</td></tr><tr style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><td>1999</td><td>116</td><td>135</td></tr><tr style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><td>2000</td><td>136</td><td>115</td></tr><tr style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><td>2001</td><td>132</td><td>120</td></tr><tr style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><td>2002</td><td>123</td><td>129</td></tr><tr style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><td>2003</td><td>115</td><td>137</td></tr><tr style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><td>2004</td><td>126</td><td>125</td></tr><tr style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><td>2005</td><td>136</td><td>116</td></tr><tr style="background-color: rgb(204, 204, 204);"><td class="compHdr">Totals</td><td class="compHdr">1,095</td><td class="compHdr">1,104</td></tr></tbody></table>

[BGarrett7]

Want Chipper's opinion on it?

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2869369Funny, I don't seem to recall Chipper bitching and moaning about what is or isn't fair when we were playing the Orioles and Tampa every year. Everything's all gravy until a little adversity gets thrown your way. Get over it, play the damn games, and shut the hell up.

[McCarroll21]

I really do wish we would all play the same teams though. The whole AL East rival thing doesn't fly with me. At least the Mets aren't getting a cake schedule too.

[Preacher]

Funny, I don't seem to recall Chipper bitching and moaning about what is or isn't fair when we were playing the Orioles and Tampa every year. Everything's all gravy until a little adversity gets thrown your way. Get over it, play the damn games, and shut the hell up.


What are you talking about?? Chipper never bitched because the system used to be differant. They just added a "rivalry" wrinkle to interleague. It's not fair and he'll have a hell of an argument if the Phils come back and beat us by a couple games in the standings on the strength of playing the Royals instead of the Bo Sox.

[JayDonnelly10]

I am going to Friday nights game and saturdays afternoons game versus the Red Sox in Boston....I have seats 3 rows from the field.....

Saturday might be a match-up of Smoltz versus Dice-K

Pictures will be posted when I get back from Beantown

[MSU Bulldog]

I am going to Friday nights game and saturdays afternoons game versus the Red Sox in Boston....I have seats 3 rows from the field.....

Saturday might be a match-up of Smoltz versus Dice-K

Pictures will be posted when I get back from Beantown

Nice, have fun!

[DanielW4444]

Funny, I don't seem to recall Chipper bitching and moaning about what is or isn't fair when we were playing the Orioles and Tampa every year. Everything's all gravy until a little adversity gets thrown your way. Get over it, play the damn games, and shut the hell up.



LOL, but Tampa usually beat up on us.



My opinion is, there is no real way to determine whos going to be a good team and who isnt. Obviously, you can have some idea of which teams are going to be good and which arent. But like last year, take Detroit or even the Brewers this year. No one could have really predicted them to be as good of a team as they are/were. And the Indians of 06 and the Yankees of this year are/were underachieving. The Indians werent a favorite, but were expected to be a wild card team for the entire year and the Yankees of this year looked to be great, but havent performed.

[TheMatrix31]

I've hated the idea ever since it was incepted. I don't even know if I can give reasons in words as to why, I just have.

[Nasadega]

I like interleague play, what I don't like is their rivalry thing. We should just play a different set of teams each year...

[Jsh1284]

Personally I'm a huge fan of the whole "Natural Rival" thing. I mean, all of these rivalries make perfect sence .. and bescides, who can't appreciate the fierce rivalry between the Padres/Mariners? It's a beautiful thing. :)

[BGarrett7]

That's the thing about the "natural" rivalries. Sure, you have some good ones out there -- Yanks/Mets, A's/Giants, ChiSox/Cubs, Angels/Dodgers, Orioles/Nats, even Royals/Cards -- but for everyone of those, you get a series like the M's/Pads or Rays/Marlins. You absolutely have to keep some of those natural rivalries going, but at the same time, a lot of them are a complete waste. I would imagine it would be quite difficult to work Rivalry Weekend into the schedule if some of them were dropped, however. At least with the matchups that are currently in place, there is at least some reasoning or logic behind it, regardless of whether the fans or players take to it or not. I would much rather see the two Florida teams play each other during the rivalry series, than say, a Pirates/Blue Jays matchup at the same time. So, yeah, some of them don't make any sense, but from a scheduling stand-point, they should be kept.