Sports of All Sorts

The fallacy of interleague play

Posted by: Tony Bleill

Wednesday, May 21, 2008 12:30 AM

Major League Baseball just completed Round 1 of interleague play for the 2008 season, which means it is almost time for the annual release of the "look how much attendance rose!" bulletin from Bud Selig's office.

Selig -- Mr. Interleague himself -- jumps at every chance he gets to point out how popular interleague play is with the fans. He'll note how attendance figures are way up for interleague games vs. intraleague contests. He won't, however, add any perspective or context. Allow me.

Of the 15 interleague games that teams will play this season, 12 will be played on weekends. And only three of those games will be played during the period in which most schools are in session (the May 16-18 games), traditionally the slowest period attendance-wise for MLB.

Obviously, weekend games -- particularly those played in the summer -- are the highest-attended games of any season. By scheduling interleague games during those periods, MLB is doing its best to boost attendance. If Selig truly believed that interleague play sparks attendance, he'd schedule those games for weekday series in April or May.

I'll acknowledge that some fans find interleague games appealing. I've never bought into interleague play for two main reasons (while adding that it has helped erode interest in the All-Star Game and postseason play, which was once must-see TV).

First, the exciting matchups are but a handful: Mets-Yankees, Cubs-White Sox and -- maybe -- Dodgers-Angels. Giants-A's? Forget it. Astros-Rangers? C'mon. Marlins-Rays? Get serious. But most important, for every Mets-Yankees dandy we get stuck with a dozen Rockies-Twins series or Royals-Pirates or Astros-Orioles or ... I could go on for an hour, but you get the picture. The evidence leans overwhelmingly to one side.

Second, the schedule imbalance created by interleague games is, at best, a nightmare. I won't even try to explain all of the headaches involved, nor the competitive balance issues in play. Suffice it to say when one AL team gets to play the Nationals while another has to play the Diamondbacks -- and those two AL teams are fighting each other for the same wild card spot -- it creates a significant problem.

It is funny to me to hear some media voices wondering if interleague play's novelty is wearing off. Back in Year 1, many of us predicted that's exactly what would happen. It hardly required much intelligence to realize that interleague play was a Selig-inspired gimmick that would eventually run its course and folks would no longer find it exciting.

--One other quick MLB note. The no-hitter pitched by Boston's Jon Lester this week rightly has taken center stage in the media. Lester is a cancer survivor, a terrific inspiration and, by all reports, a good dude. Lester's father resides in the Pacific Northwest, and Wednesday's Seattle Times includes a neat story about his dad's reluctance to watch Lester's games on TV because of his own nerves. Look for it on the Times' Web site (it wasn't posted as of this writing, but it should be there soon). It's worth your time.

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