From: cs132107@cs.brown.edu (Michael Kalman)
Subject: Re: Interleague-play, anyone??
Organization: Brown Computer Science Dept.
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 1992 18:54:15 GMT

In article <92097.151845ALWHC@CUNYVM.BITNET>, ALWHC@CUNYVM.BITNET writes:
|> In the latest Sports Illustrated baseball issue, there is an interesting
|> article on ways to improve the game. One of the suggestions was interleague
|> play. IMHO, it may not be a bad idea. For one thing it would put an end to
|> this debate of the N.L vs A.L because we really would be seeing how they play
|> against each other. There would also be more "superstar matchups" that you
|> don't quite see or see very little of in the All-Star game. You would be able
|> 
|> to see two teams in the same city/state/area play each other (White Sox-Cubs,
|> Yanks-Mets, Royals-Cards, etc.) and the rivalry would be good for baseball,the
|> fans wouldn't have to wait for the year that BOTH teams are good enough for the
|> 
|> Series.You can see how Al hitters fare vs. NL pitching, what an Nl hitter woul
|> 
|> do in an AL stadium etc.,etc, etc...the possibilities are endless.
|> The only thing about it is that it might take away from the World Series.
|> I would just like to throw this idea out to everyone. Is it a good idea or a
|> bad one?
|> 
|> 
         I, for one, think its a great idea, but one which might be 
difficult to get past traditionalists.
         It seems ludicrous that 26 teams (soon to be 28) compete for the 
same World Championship trophy, and yet each team sees only about half of
its competition for it in a season.  They're supposedly playing the same 
sport in each league, aren't they?

        I think 2 games against each team in the other league, a la the 
NBA, would greatly enhance the regular season w/o at all ruining 
the World Series.  
        With 28 clubs beginning next year, each team could thus play 28 games 
against the other league.  That would still leave 134 intra league games to 
be played by each team.  This would also make an unbalanced schedule a little
more do-able.  Each club could then play 13 x 6= 78 games against its own 
division, and 8 x 7= 56 against the other division.  Thus, almost half of 
each teams games would still be intra-divisional.

         The extra travel that this would cause, especially if the 2 
inter-league meetings between clubs would be home & home, could pose a 
potential obstacle.  But this could be minimized by what Al touched on
above- many AL & NL markets are quite nearby each other.  Consider:

Cincinnati-Cleveland
New York-NewYork
Chicago-Chicago
Houston-Arlington
San Francisco-Oakland
Los Angeles-Anaheim
Kansas City-St. Louis
Seattle-Denver
Toronto-Montreal
Pittsburgh-Baltimore

      Admittedly some of these pairings may be a little bit of a reach, 
but wouldn't it be simple, for instance, for an NL club playing a series 
in St. Louis to play a game in K.C. the next day?

      IMHO, this system would add lots of excitement (& $$$) to the 
regular season, and should also retain the excitement of late season
pennant races and divisional games, and would not at all ruin the 
Postseason.

      Now that I've exhausted my energy, any reaction / objections
/ agreement????


Just an idea,
Michael