Interleague Intrigue

Now that interleague play is fully entrenched in Major League Baseball, I have to admit I do like it. As a Yankees fan at least, it's fun to see the Yankees play teams like the Phillies and Astros (as they will at home this season), or take a road trip to see the Diamondbacks or Dodgers (the Yanks two road trips this season). I'm sure it's also a treat for other teams to see the Yankees come into town.

But for most teams' fans, Interleague play is not only not interesting at all (Royals at Nationals anyone?), it's also unfair. The New York Mets, for instance, play the New York Yankees 6 times, while the Phillies draw the Red Sox 6 times (an easier match-up this year at least). The Nationals, who are also competing with the Mets for a wild card spot, get the hapless Baltimore Orioles for 6 games.

This just isn't right. At the very least, all of the teams in each division should play the same 6 teams in interleague play. Forget the so-called "natural rivalries", and rotate the interleague schedule equally, and have teams face off every 3 or 4 years, instead of every year (as is the case with the Yankees and Mets).

To make matters worse, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig just allowed the Toronto Blue Jays to move their June 25th-27th interleague series with the Phillies to Philadelphia's Citizen's Bank Park. The move is being made because of security concerns with the G-20 summit which will be held in Toronto that week. Understandable, but didn't MLB know about this when they made the schedule?

Now the Phillies, who already had a bit of an edge in the schedule facing the Red Sox instead of the Yankees or Rays (as the Mets and Marlins will), will have three extra home games on their schedule. This is unfair with a capital U. Sure, the Blue Jays will bat last as the do at home, but how many Toronto fans do you think will make the trek to Philadelphia for these "home" games? Zero, that's how many. No matter how you slice it, these are home games for the Phillies, and if they sweep the series, the Mets and Marlins should have a serious beef.

As it always is for Selig and MLB, this isn't about what's fair. It's about money. In order to convince the Jays to move the series, I'm sure they guaranteed Toronto a lion's share of the profits from the games in Philadelphia (sure to be sellouts). The Jays will likely make more money playing these games on the road, than they would have if they stayed home.

The fair thing to do would have been to move the series to Buffalo, New York, the AAA home of the Buffalo Bisons, who happen to be away that weekend. It's a relatively short drive from Toronto, seats 13,000+ fans (enough to make a decent buck), and it certainly wouldn't have given the Phillies any sort of advantage. Need a Major League park? How about Detroit? The Tigers are also away that weekend, and it's close enough to Toronto for it to make perfect sense.

The bottom line is, Bud Selig and the team owners don't care about the fans or what's fair. They only care about lining their pockets. If the Phillies sweep this series and then win the NL East by just one game, all parties involved should be ashamed of themselves.