EagleTribune.com : Blogs : Burt Talks Sports

I like it. I especially like seeing my American Leage East Red Sox do without the DH a few times a season to give the players, managers, hitters, and (most importantly) the fans a taste of “real baseball.”

Though, I don’t think we need to play the Braves every year. Rivalries are rivalries, but we’ve got a lot more invested in the TB Devil Rays feud than anything with Atlanta. I say, play the rivalries when they exist, otherwise, spread the action around.

Angels/Dodgers is big right now (due, at least a little, to the Anaheim name-change); Mets/Yankees should be big for a long time to come (either set of fans like to see their team pound an inferior cross-town squad, and both appreciate good baseball when their respective clubs are competitive); and that’s about it.

Not forcing the “Historic Rival Series” gives more freedom in scheduling, and MLB can use it to their advantage on a year-to-year basis to draw interesting match-ups. For example, a Red Sox/Marlins series would have been compelling after the Josh Beckett trade; certainly a Giants/Athletics series would drum up some interest after Zito switched leagues.

You could also schedule World Series rematches, and “almost” world series rematches (NLCS runner-up vs. ALCS champs, or NLCS/ALCS runners-up vs. each other), again, on a season-to-season basis.

Overall, I like seeing teams outside the league, I don’t like seeing the Braves as often as we do, and I think the DH rule should be eliminated before interleague play is.

-Tom

Alternately: I think we should do completely away with the time lost to interleage games and give that time to a two-week, mid-season, World Baseball Classic tournament culminating in All-Star festivities.

I disagree…I still like the interleague games. I like them for all the same reasons I liked them in the beginning. I think it is cool to see Todd Helton play at Fenway. I think it will be cool to see syringe man play here. I LIKE watching the Sox play the Braves every year. Just my opinion. I try not to think about it too much though. It’s not all THAT important.

I’d like to see interleague play reduced to 6 games, 3 at home, 3 away. The first would be the “rivalry weekend” but only with actual rivals NY/NY CHI/CHI BAL/WAS (I know that might be a stretch). Let the other teams without natural rivals have a regular rotation. So no more Atlanta year after year. Watching them get worse by the year is depressing.

Rivalry weekends will switch off home/away year to year.

And you’d replace the lost interleague games with league opponents outside the division.

I agree. I don’t like interleague play, despite the fact that I did make my annual trek from here (Maui) to Fenway Park last month and saw two of the Braves games. Teams with no real “natural rivalries” are stuck with playing teams in which their fans have zero interest. But the main reason is simply that it’s unfair. Every team in the AL East should play the same number of games against the same teams. The Braves have a legitimate gripe. They play tough AL East teams while some of their national league rivals play patsies. Just recently, the Sox were facing Arizona and Randy Johnson while the frickin’ Yankees were playing the Pirates! Some may be mildly interesting, but interleague games can unfairly decide who goes to the post season. Boo!

It was a novelty for the first few seasons, but I think this novelty has worn off. It was fun hearing what long-time National Leaguers thought of Fenway Park. It was fun to see Rich Garces bat in Montreal — who successfully bunted into a double play while attempting to sacrifice. (The only person I can recall to ever receive a standing ovation by his own fans for hitting into a double play!) But these novelties have run their course.

While the interleague schedule is imbalanced, the same argument can be loosely made with the NFL. But with more NFL teams than games in the season…

If MLB wants to keep their infatuation with interleague play, they should figure out a way to even out the playing schedule. If this eliminates some of the 19 games vs. NYY, then so be it.

I’ve started a petition to tell Major League Baseball that a significant number of fans dislike interleague play and want it abolished.

Please visit Petition to End Interleague Play and read it. If you agree, please sign it and consider posting it on this blog.

http://www.petitiononline.com/mlb2007/petition.html

I’m hoping to spread the word among serious baseball fans. I realize it may do very little, but I thought it was time we stop complaining to each other and tell management how we feel. Thanks!

I agree, it needs to end. At least match divisions each season so that divisional titles are played on an even surface.
Besides, wouldn’t that make a WSox-Cubs, and Yanks-Mets series even more special if it happened just once every three years?

I think so …

Hey Carnac,
Nice prediction on the Rockies series! Post something new, would ya?

I like interleague play.It should be done the same way the NFL does it.Rotate the divisions each year so you do get a chance to see differant players.All teams in the same division should play the same group of teams.

Well, y’know what I’d like to see?

I’d like to see the Cubs play at Fenway and the Sox play at Wrigley. They are the two most storied parks in baseball, and the atmosphere would be phenomenal.

What good is a blog when the so-called blogger posts once a week. If you don’t care about blogging, let one of your writers take over. Maybe he will bring something significant to those who care.

I thought it was great to see the Giants because it gave us a chance to clap for Dave Roberts some more. NESN should have a show that’s just people clapping for Dave Roberts. We’re fond of him.

I’m for interleague play, but I agree with those who’d like it tweaked. Let’s ditch the silly, madeup rivalries – like us and the Braves – and see some different teams each year.

Hey Tim: blogs are free, dude. Bill gets to post whenever he wants.