Why Baseball Needs Interleague Play
Major League Baseball just entered the second half of the season. This is traditionally a sad time for many sports fans, as it marks the beginning of an awkward month and a half where baseball is the only major sport in action. Frankly, I have already started to slip into a pre-college football lull (call it a sports hibernation of sorts). In spite of this, there remains an intriguing point of discussion among baseball fans: interleague play. Since its inception in 1997, games between the two leagues have led to arguments about the excess amount of travel (http://www.scoresreport.com/2011/05/18/jim-leyland-interleague-play-%E2%80%9Ctotally-unfair%E2%80%9D/) or the fairness of interleague play (http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/18646310/). However, the last month of baseball reminded me both that interleague play is a necessary break from the “normal season” and that baseball fans are getting increasingly athletic (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ow0SV-0Y9xY).
The most convincing argument to keep interleague play is the entertainment value of cross-town rivalry games. Imagine, for a second, the Oakland A’s selling out a three game series despite having a losing team and one of the worst stadiums (stadia?) in professional sports. Believe it or not, the novelty of seeing human beings in the stands inspires baseball players to play better (the A’s swept said three game series against the Giants). Similar rivalries in L.A., Chicago, and New York make for high-quality games and inspire contrived yet catchy rivalry names. To that end, I look forward to hearing more highway-related rivalries; someone on Baseball Tonight once called an Orioles-Nationals Series the I-66 rivalry.
I feel like this argument is incredibly under-cited in the interleague play argument: the Major League Baseball season is 162 games, which is about 60 games too long. Consider that later this season, viewers will be legitimately struggling over whether to watch baseball or the World Series of Poker. Baseball, more than any other sport, needs gimmicky things like Interleague Play to cut through the blandness of the regular season.
As I alluded to earlier, Interleague Play significantly increases attendance leaguewide. As much as I hate to give Bud Selig any credit whatsoever (slight tangent: With the NFL and NBA lockouts, he has the opportunity in the coming months to become the most liked commissioner in sports. These lockouts could potentially be very good for baseball), Interleague Play attendance in 2011 was over 18% higher than the average numbers for the rest of the year (http://www.jsonline.mobi/newswatch/125028999.htm).
In terms of the actual games themselves, Interleague Play requires a good dea lof strategy on the manager’s part, especially with designated hitter issues. Case in Point: last month, the Cleveland Indians were on a 9-game road trip, all without the use of the DH. Apparently, Indians manager Manny Acta thought that their best hitter and regular DH, Travis Hafner was such a terrible fielder that he benched him for the entire road trip. The fact that Cleveland lost almost all of these games is only part of the greatness of the DH fiasco; the games are great because managers have to make up for not being prepared to play with/without a DH by being crafty. In short, Interleague Play creates the types of quirky situations that have defined baseball for over a century.
As you the baseball fan move into the Dog Days of August and all the torturous, plodding fun that accompanies them, feel free to post your comments about interleague play below. If you can’t think of anything to say, I suggest daydreaming something during the 5th inning of a scoreless Mariners-Royals game.
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