The Colorado Rockies are Coming!

I can't think of a better way to add to the excitement still lingering from the Arizonia Diamondback series. Actually, I can. Just give me any of the 13 other American League teams. In a perfect world, which would obviously be one where everything goes exactly how I want it to, Interleague Play would consist soley of the All Star game and the World Series.

The American and National Leagues were never really meant to mix. Talk about bitter rivials. I rememeber reading one book, maybe "Summer of '49" or "The Teammates" or something, which said that the All Star game was a time when Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio cooly put aside their differences and called a truce for one day to beat an even greater evil in the National League. The book went on to compare it to Roosevelt and Stalin allying to fight Hitler. This is suppose to be a once in a lifetime (or in baseball terms, once in a season) occurance.

I don't get that same impression. In fact, the All Star game is pretty meaningless (no comment on homefield advantage in the World Series...right now anyway). It use to be a good way to see all the National League's stars in action, size them up a bit. Now I've seen all these guys play at least three times over the past few years. The All Star game isn't gonna tell me anything new.

It's not fair for competition. Lets look at the National League East for a second. Florida gets to play Tampa Bay six times a year, whereas the Mets have to play the Yankees six times. Historically speaking, that's six easy wins for Florida and six really tough games for the Mets. Why should MLB constantly give the Marlins a six game advantage in that Division Race? The same can be seen in other races. The Cardinals get the Royals for six games a year. Plus, if these teams are battling for the National League Wild Card, wouldn't we all rather see them duke it out in another series or two rather than determine it in games with DHs?

It takes away from the World Series. I was always excited by the idea of having two franchizes who have never seen each other battle for the Ultimate Prize. Both teams traveling into ballparks for the first time ever, uncertain how the ball carries or how to play bounces off the wall. Since neither team had a common opponent, there was always an unknown element. Which was the better team? The 108 win NL team or the 94 win AL team? Nowadays, it's not unheard of to have teams play in the regular season and then meet again in the World Series. It's happened at least once I can think of ('99 Yankees vs. Braves. Probably 2000 Yankees vs. Mets, though I'm not positive on that one...).

From a selfish standpoint, Interleague Play isn't good for the Red Sox. They always have DHs who shouldn't be allowed to own a glove, nevermind actually field. When they go to NL parks, they either lose the bat or have a huge defensive liability.

I propose that Major League Baseball eliminates Interleague Play once and for all. Take the 18 games and add a series involving six teams in other divisions for sake of the Wild Card races.