Weekly Hit Ground Ball: Interleague play how it should be

Fenway Park always radiates with history, yet Boston’s latest home series had an extra special quality to it.  The Chicago Cubs were in town for the first time since the 1918 World Series. 

The two teams came off the field on 11 September 1918 with Boston celebrating their third World Series win in four years.  Red Sox fans would never have believed that their team would wait 86 years to taste such sweet victory again.  Cubs fans would have been even more incredulous at the thought that by 2010 – and counting – their team still hadn’t lifted a trophy to put that World Series defeat to rest. 

And who would have thought the sides would wait until 2011 before meeting again in Boston.  Watching the Cubs and Red Sox playing at venerable Fenway was a real treat, particularly on Saturday when they wore retro 1918 uniforms. 

We have interleague play to thank for that series.  On its own, it is a decent argument in favour of the format that was introduced in 1997.  However, there are still plenty of arguments against it and they always get a vocal airing when interleague play comes around each season.

Prior to 1997, American League and National League teams only met in the World Series, with players from both leagues also meeting in the All-Star Game.  The division of the teams into two leagues is a legacy of baseball’s past that in many respects no longer seems relevant.  They play by slightly different rules, but for all intents and purposes, it’s all MLB in the end.

Consequently, only allowing two teams from ‘rival’ leagues to face each other every year would be unnecessarily restrictive.  In an age when we’re all used to having more choice than we can cope with, not taking advantage of a fuller range of different match-ups would be foolhardy.

A possible 2011 World Series between Texas and Philadelphia wouldn’t be the least bit undermined by their recent interleague series.  If anything, it adds an extra layer of intrigue.  Fans could look at the series just gone with visions of it being a possible prequel to the World Series, while if that does transpire then there will be a short, but not insignificant, recent history to refer back to.

Interleague play should be something special, something unique to add an extra feature to the MLB regular season.  The question is whether that uniqueness is being lost?

Most teams play 18 interleague games in a season and that’s possibly at least three games too many.  The timing of the games also could be improved.  Playing them altogether, or in two distinct blocks, would make them stand out as events during the year.  The recent splash of three games make no sense, there’s no time for a build up and the teams immediately head straight back into normal play. It’s only the occasional unique contest, such as the historic Cubs and Red Sox set, that avoid becoming just another series.

And then you come to the actual fixtures.  The interleague rivalries were part of the big plan, allowing teams in places such as New York, the Bay Area and Los Angeles to face each other.  However, now these teams meet six times every year and, again, it becomes just another part of the season. 

Others have noted the unfairness that interleague play adds to the schedule and how this will be exacerbated if the number of playoff teams increases to ten next year, as seems inevitable.  

With the playoff expansion likely to take place, it’s a good time to make a wider assessment of the MLB schedule.  I’m all for keeping interleague play so long as it produces unique contests more consistently than at present. 

Breakfast time baseball

Checking MLB.com over breakfast is a daily ritual for me.  Normally it’s a case of being able to catch up on all of the games that had taken place while Britain slept, but occasionally we’re treated to some live breakfast-time baseball. 

We don’t get to enjoy it all that often, but every now and then a west coast game runs on for longer than normal and is still in progress as the kettle boils and cereal is sleepily poured into a bowl here in Britain.

I was able to munch down my cornflakes last Tuesday morning while watching the A’s playing the Angels.  The game was originally scheduled to start at 7.05 p.m. local time in Oakland, making for a less-hospitable 3.05 a.m. start here.  However, a 1 hour 25 minute rain delay meant that the game didn’t get underway until 4.30 UK time.

The A’s were trailing 4-3 as I logged on at 7 a.m. and my initial delight at having a live Oakland game on at breakfast time soon turned into thoughts that it might not be such a welcome surprise after all.  Watching your team lose to a fierce division rival before you’ve had time to finish a cup of tea is hardly getting your day off to a good start. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, it seemed that my walk to work would feel longer than usual.

Thankfully, my fears were soon allayed in dramatic fashion.  Coco Crisp got on base with a single, stole second and was then driven home by Daric Barton to tie the game and send it to extras.  The Aussie Grant Balfour got three strikeouts to shutdown the Angels in the top of the tenth and Mark Ellis grounded-home the game-winning run in the bottom of the frame. 

A come from behind, walk-off win over breakfast: is there a better way to start your day? 

Seeing-eye singles

The rivalry between the Reds and Cardinals shows no signs of diminishing.  Even the commentators are getting in on the argument now, with the Reds’ Hall-of-Famer Marty Brennaman angering the Cards’ skipper Tony La Russa by branding Chris Carpenter a “whiner and excuse-maker”.  No doubt some killjoy – probably going by the name Bud Selig – will step in and try to take the spice out of it.  While it may make for a better corporate image for all concerned to act professionally, some petty, playground-style verbal jousting adds to the fun for me.

Bad news for the Indians this week as Grady Sizemore, Trafis Hafner and Alex White all went on the Disabled List.  Most have been waiting for Cleveland to cool off from their hot start and they can’t afford to lose too many players.  Still, a sweep of the Reds was a good way to make up for their losses, in the short term at least.

In more positivie injury news, Josh Hamilton and Nelson Cruz could both come off the DL for the Rangers today, while the Phillies may finally get to see Chase Utley start his Major League season soon as well.  Both teams can be forgiven if they are cautious in how they bring those players back into action.  They will be key players if their respective teams are to be successful this season and if that means taking a day or two off here and there during the end of May and start of June, so be it.