Interleague Play

Saturday, January 04 2003 @ 12:50 PM EST

Contributed by: Coach

Love it or hate it, we're stuck with it. I don't mean the DH, or the car salesman Commissioner/multiple team owner with the world's first successful charisma bypass, or the slush in Toronto, at least this time. I'm referring to June baseball, which can skew the standings and alter pennant races, with no semblance of fairness. Last year, for example, the Oakland A's went 16-2 in interleague play, providing their entire margin of victory in the AL West over the 11-7 Angels. The Athletics defeated their cross-bay rivals 4-2, and swept the sad-sack NL Central in 12 games. But they didn't have to play the division's best team, the Cardinals, at all, while St. Louis took 2 of 3 from the Angels.

The Blue Jays were a respectable 9-9 in 2002 against the much tougher NL West; this year they get six with the Expos, as usual, but the Cubs, Pirates and Reds (collectively 11-25 last year vs. the AL West) should improve their record. Oakland gets Atlanta, Philly and Florida this year instead of Milwaukee; combined with opening the season a week early on the road -- way on the road, vs. Ichiro & Co. in Tokyo -- the A's path to 100 wins will be quite a bit steeper.

Here's each team's 2002 record against the various divisions in their own league, and in interleague play:


  National League        Eastern     Central     Western     Interleague
  ---------------        -------     -------     -------     -----------
 
  Arizona Diamondbacks     21-11       23-13       43-33         11-7
  Atlanta Braves           47-28       24-12       15-16         15-3
  Chicago Cubs             12-18       36-54       13-17          6-6
  Cincinnati Reds          12-18       50-40       14-16          2-10
  Colorado Rockies         18-14       17-19       31-45          7-11
  Florida Marlins          36-40       18-18       15-17         10-8
  Houston Astros           16-14       49-41       14-16          5-7
  Los Angeles Dodgers      20-12       20-16       40-36         12-6
  Milwaukee Brewers         7-23       35-55       12-18          2-10
  Montreal Expos           37-39       21-15       13-19         12-6
  New York Mets            35-41       20-15       10-22         10-8
  Philadelphia Phillies    34-41       22-14       14-18         10-8
  Pittsburgh Pirates       16-13       43-47       10-20          3-9
  St. Louis Cardinals      11-19       57-33       21-9           8-4
  San Diego Padres         16-16       13-23       29-47          8-10
  San Francisco Giants     17-14       23-13       47-29          8-10
 
  American League         Eastern     Central     Western     Interleague
  ---------------         -------     -------     -------     -----------
 
  Anaheim Angels           28-13       30-15       30-28         11-7
  Baltimore Orioles        26-50       18-14       14-22          9-9
  Boston Red Sox           51-25       19-17       18-14          5-13
  Chicago White Sox        18-14       40-36       15-21          8-10
  Cleveland Indians        19-17       37-39       12-20          6-12
  Detroit Tigers           11-25       29-46        9-23          6-12
  Kansas City Royals       10-22       33-43       14-22          5-13
  Minnesota Twins          15-17       50-25       19-17         10-8
  New York Yankees         46-29       29-7        17-15         11-7
  Oakland Athletics        23-22       32-9        32-26         16-2
  Seattle Mariners         25-20       23-18       34-24         11-7
  Tampa Bay Devil Rays     25-50       13-19       10-26          7-11
  Texas Rangers            25-16       18-27       20-38          9-9
  Toronto Blue Jays        41-35       16-16       12-24          9-9

A bit ragged, but the HTML "PRE" command isn't perfect, and you get the idea. Since I tend to use stats only to support my preconceived notions, it's no surprise that what jumps out at me is just how terrible the AL Central and NL Central are, despite each having one good team and one decent one. Conversely, most people underestimate the Rangers, Rockies and Padres, who have the misfortune of playing in much tougher divisions.

Sorry, my point was about interleague play, an aberration that destroys any pretext of balance in the already cockeyed schedule. What really ticks me off is that I'm a sucker for this blatant MLB marketing ploy -- I had to see Barry Bonds last year, and it was one of my most memorable games ever, just for his batting practice show. And I'm strongly hinting that at least one of my kids should accompany their eccentric old man to the 2003 Father's Day sleepover at SkyDome when Sammy Sosa's in town. I hear they're drawing straws.

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