Inter-league Play
Before we dive into this topic, I want to make a point to avoid sounding preachy. It's not that I think my opinion on this matter is so much better than any other, I just really legitimately care about balancing out the schedule. If it was really up to me, I'd bring back the two division system, dump the wild-card, and return to one round of playoffs before the World Series. To me, if you want the regular season to matter, than make every game count the same. The current scheduling system has teams in the same division playing a different amount of times. How is that fair at all? How does that determine who is the best team from a division? The system in place is illogical and clearly put into place with money as the only concern. For example, the Cubs will play the Pirates 19 times this season, and the Brewers 16 times. I'll take it because the Cubs will benefit from it this year, but that is a terrible way to determine the best team out of the division isn't it?
Now, the gimmick of Inter-league play, can completely make or destroy a team's playoff chances. How does it make sense that a team should play 15 games in the middle of the season that, for all intents and purposes, don't count? Sure it counts towards the overall record, but there's no real ground to make up or lose when you aren't competing in your own league. Even worse, who is determining what teams will play whom? For example, the Mets have to play the Yankees 6 times every year, because they are natural "Inter-league Rivals." That's fine, but what about the Marlins "Inter-league Rivals", the mighty Rays of Tampa Bay. Sure, maybe this season it's evened out a bit, but I think we all know that over the past 10 years, the Marlins received about 60 freebie games.
If you dig a little deeper, and Mets fans love to point this out, you can see how the lack of balance in Inter-league play can really swing a teams fortunes. Last season, the Mets had to play the Yankees six times, the Tigers, Athletics, and Twins. If you're keeping track, that's all four American League playoff teams from the previous year.
The Mets went 8-7 in Inter-league play, and missed the playoffs on the last day of the season. The Rockies, competing with the Mets for the Wild Card, played 18 Inter-league games, last season. They played the Royals, Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Orioles, and Rays. As tough as the Yankees and Sox are, the rest of that schedule is Cupcake City. They finished 10-8, 6-3 at home (I point that home record out because I think there is a clear advantage for Colorado to play teams at home that have never been to the elevation of Coors Field before). The Mets finished the season a game behind the Rockies at the end of the season, we just found your game Mets' fans. Should we have counted the Inter-league games when were discussing the Wild Card last season, or just counted the Intra-league games? If we had only been counting National League games the Mets would have won the Wild Card, and Willie Randolph may still be employed. The point to understand is this, Inter-league play may be fun and cool, but it ruins the competitiveness of the schedule. In a sport where millions upon millions of dollars are on the line, and fans are putting their hearts and wallets at stake, there is no room for gimmicks and tricks. Let's get rid of the charade of Inter-league play. If people are so desperate to see Yankees vs. Mets or Cubs vs White Sox, make it a preseason tournament or something. It has no business determining who will make the playoffs.
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