Colorado v Toronto : Whoop-Dee-Doo

Its that time of year again and interleague play is upon us which means another diatribe on how much I hate it.

What is the point of interleague play exactly? In most games its a two game swing as you not only win but cause someone else in your league to lose, thus doubling your advantage. When teams like New York and Boston play this becomes even more significant but when you have The Yanks playing The Mets all you get is a win, you don't press home any advantage against a rival.

Basically, interleague play is just a gimmick. It doesn't actually add to MLB, all it does is boost PR with the handful of big local matchups, but for every Bay Area or I-90 match up there are a dozen Colorado/Toronto or Boston/Philadelphia games that no one really cares about but are merely there for the sake of interleague play. Also, so much is made of the ChiSox v Cubs but do you really think the Sox would rather beat the Cubs or do over the Twins, Indians or Tigers?

Another thing we lose out on are the non-divisional rivalries. Because of the added fixtures involving teams in the other league, sides with old rivalries based on decades of competition either in the old two division scheme or post-season play, don't see each other as much as they maybe would if interleague play didn't exist. Being a Toronto fan its bad enough the Leafs don't play the Wings too often anymore but the Jays don't face the Royals that much and those games always used to be interesting (well, when the Royals weren't the worst team in baseball at least).

I know that people will talk about how attendances are always high during interleague but is there a practical benefit to it? Does anyone else miss the lack of a track record to look back on when teams match up in the World Series? I know free agency means that a lot of players have spent time in both leagues and there is a level of familiarity anyway but its not the same as two teams being familiar with each other. Also, the World Series used to be the best team in the AL playing the best team in the NL but now that is slightly sullied because you are not just going to face teams from your league but a selection of teams from the other and who knows how good or bad your luck will be in terms of who you get to play? You think the likes of St Louis and Houston aren't grateful for games against KC? Similarly, you know Washington and Florida aren't best pleased with seeing the Yankees and BoSox. Its all a crap shoot. If we're going to have teams play interleague then why not just go the whole hog and have everyone play everyone at least once? Its the only way we can make this fair as right now the schedule is always going to benefit some teams more than others and do we want Wild Cards decided by virtue of one team having to play Florida and one getting San Francisco? I'd rather the playing field be level.

So whats so good about interleague play? It messes up the schedule, skews the standings, cheapens the World Series, takes away from more traditional rivalries and generally ruins the balance of play but I guess so long as there are bums on seats and the people of New York are happy then its OK.