From: thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu (Ted Frank)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: Interleague-play, anyone??
Date: 6 Apr 92 21:06:32 GMT
Reply-To: thf2@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations

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?

Bad one.  Fourteen-sixteen teams in a league is already too many -- if
it were to go up to twenty-eight, that would mean you could only see each
team three times a year.  Wow, so you'd get six Dodgers-Angels games,
but you'd lose twelve (or seven) Dodgers-Giants games.

I mean, how would it work out?  Two (or three) ways:

1. Every team plays every other team six times, three home, three away.
   This would make the division races meaningless.

2. Four divisions of seven.  Play each team in your division thirteen
   times, play all the other teams four times: two home, two away.  This
   would make for horrendous road trips, exhausted players, and NBA-style
   home field advantage.

In both of these instances, some teams are seen so seldom that the fans
never really get to learn about the opposing teams.

The third possibility is to reformulate the Leagues on a geographical
basis, but this would destroy as many rivalries at it would create.

There's something to be said for consistency.  That baseball is pretty
much the same game now as it was sixty years ago has a lot to say for it,
unlike football which changes the rules every year.  In baseball, unlike
the other three major sports, the regular season actually means something.
One of the great Super Bowls, the Colts vs. the Jets, will never be
rematched because they had a conference shift.  

There isn't that much difference between the American and National
Leagues, however.  Their players face each other in the minors, and
they shift from league to league (Jack Clark has gone back and forth
a few times, etc.)
-- 
Ted Frank          + "A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged, it
1307 E 60 St, #109 +  is the skin of a living thought and may vary greatly in
U o' C Law Skool   +  color and content according to the circumstances and
Chi, IL 60637      +  the time in which it is used."  --  Holmes
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball