Interleague play: It's an all-American (League) tradition

Boy, are National League teams glad that interleague play has ended!

Once again, the American League dominated the NL, 137-114, in the 251 interleague games this season.

Just look what interleague did for some teams:

The Anaheim Angels, with an interleague-best record of 14-4, moved 2 ½ games ahead of the Texas Rangers (9-9 in interleague) in the AL West.

The Tampa Bay Rays were 13-5 in interleague, jumping back into the AL East race.

Toronto was only 7-11, thus falling one game behind Tampa Bay in the East.

The only other AL teams with losing records – Cleveland and Oakland (5-13 each) and Kansas City (8-10) – are virtually out of the pennant races.

In the NL, the Colorado Rockies were an interleague-high of 11-4, getting back into the NL West (and wild card) races.

The Los Angeles Dodgers only went 9-9, but they’re so far out front in the West that nobody’s going to catch them.

Florida (10-8) and San Francisco and St. Louis (both 9-6) were the lone other NL teams with winning records.

On the other end, it’s no surprise that the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks were each 5-10 … but a bigger surprise that Milwaukee and the New York Mets were also 5-10.

All in all, it’s just nice that teams will be playing within their own leagues from now on.

Interleague play has worn out its welcome

Interleague play needs to go.

So says New York Yankees co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner; so says us.

Steinbrenner says so because his best pitcher got hurt running the bases, National League style.

We say so because interleague play is unfair and unbalanced (sorry Fox News) with the American League teams being so superior.

Here’s what Steinbrenner had to say this week when ace pitcher Chien-Ming Wang hurt himself on the basepaths and will probably be out until September:

“The National League needs to join the 21st century. They need to grow up and join the 21st century. I’ve got my pitchers running the bases, and one of them gets hurt. He’s going to be out. I don’t like that, and it’s about time they address it. That was a rule from the 1800s.”

Well, making pitchers run the bases wasn’t outdated 200 years ago and Steinbrenner’s selfish comments don’t make much sense. But getting rid of interleague play would.

Take the Padres, for instance. They are just 2-7 against the superior AL, following getting swept three games by the Yankees.

Now they come back for a nine-game homestand against the Detroit Tigers, Minnesota Twins and Seattle Mariners. Even though none of those teams are setting the world on fire, don’t be surprised if the Padres have a losing homestand against teams from a better league.

The Los Angeles Dodgers got it right with the schedule-maker this week. They just swept three games from the Cincinnati Reds in a NL vs. NL series.

From now on, too bad all series can’t be intraleague until the World Series.

Is interleague fair?

On the Padres’ radio pregame show last week, some said it was unfair that the Padres had to play the Boston Red Sox three times while the Dodgers did not have to do so.

Fair enough, until you look at the rest of interleague play.

Both the Padres and Dodgers played three games against Tampa Bay. It’s the other 12 games that were different.

The Dodgers had six games against the Anaheim Angels, arguably the best team in baseball along with Boston. They also played six against Toronto, second in the AL East.

The Padres? Besides the Boston and Tampa Bay games, they did not exactly play against the American League elite. They played six times against Seattle (second in the weak AL West) and three games against Baltimore (last in the AL East.)

Thank goodness, it’s now back to National League play as the Padres begin the week with three games at San Francisco while the Dodgers play four times at NL West-leading Arizona.

Until the Dodgers stop playing the Angels six times annually during interleague play, the Padres should not be griping about their interleague schedule.

Interleague schedule favors Padres

When it comes to interleague play, the Padres have it much easier than their two California rivals in the NL West.

The Padres get to play Seattle each year as their “natural rival.” The Los Angeles Dodgers must face the Anaheim Angels; while the San Francisco Giants are matched up against the Oakland Athletics.

Think about it for a minute. The Padres play a Seattle team that traditionally battles Texas for last place. The Dodgers and Giants are playing the year-in and year-out top two teams in the AL West.

Let the interleague numbers tell the story:

The Padres are 26-24 vs. the Mariners; 48-63 vs. the rest of the American League.
The Dodgers are 26-30 vs. the Angels; 54-51 vs. the rest of the AL.
The Giants are 27-29 vs. Oakland; 59-46 vs. the rest of the AL.

Broken down, the Padres have a winning record against Seattle and losing record against the rest of the AL. The Dodgers and Giants have losing records vs. their “natural rivals,” but winning records against the remainder of the AL.

The next time the Padres complain about their schedule, it could be worse. They could be playing the Angels or Athletics every year in interleague action.