I Love You, Now Change

Now that Interleague play is upon us, it’s time to make clear a few things about the concept.

1) It’s needed and should stay a part of the game
2) It should be radically changed

Major League Baseball was the only sport that, for the first 90 years of its existence, prevented many of its fans from seeing many of its players. I mean, it’s a good thing that the Pirates made the World Series in 1927 or no one in that part of Pennsylvania would ever have seen Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig play. The nature of the two leagues lack of in-season play meant that many fans could never see all the stars of the game. Interleague play solves that inequity.

So what if it goes against “tradition.” Every other sports league allows their star players and teams to be seen by every fan at some point. The Bears hosted Elway. The Bulls hosted Cousy. The Red Sox never hosted Sandy Koufax. That’s a crime. Chicagoans and New Yorkers are lucky – we have two teams and can see all the stars. Minnesotans and Kansas City folk are not so lucky. They need Interleague play to see Mark Prior. Major League Baseball needs this.

Where it needs to be radically changed is in the schedule inequities. What the NFL does right is that each team in a division plays, essentially, the same schedule. The Bears and Packers both play the Colts next year. Shouldn’t the Cubs and Astros both have to face the same opponents? There is no way the Cubs should face the White Sox 6 times per year while St. Louis gets the Royals for the same 6 games. Schedules need to be balanced.

Here’s how the schedule needs to change.

1) As is done now, each division will play teams from one of the other league’s divisions in a given year with the divisions rotating over a 3-year term.
2) Each team will play an interleague opponent six times per year consisting of two 3-game home-and-home series.
3) Specific rivalry matchups will be eliminated, except when naturally occurring.

To handle this schedule, several other changes need to be made:

1) Each league must have 15 teams in it comprised of 3 divisions with 5 teams in each division.
2) Each teams’ schedule would be as follows: 18 games against each of the four divisional opponents; 6 games against the ten in-league, non-division opponents, and 6 games against the five rotating interleague opponents.

Do the math and add that up: (18x4) + (10x6) + (5x6) = 162

3) The Expos need to be sold and moved to the American League and the Reds need to move back to the NL East.

That’s it. A perfect setup. Now to get Selig to see the light.