Interleague play seemed like a great idea at the time, but its critics now outnumber its supporters.
TORONTO – They’re the type of marquees that if hung above a Broadway theatre would make people shrug their shoulders and keep on walking.
Minnesota at Arizona, Detroit at Pittsburgh or Houston at Toronto – just one big block of "meh."
Yet those matchups are on Friday’s baseball schedule, helping kicking off the 2011 season’s first round of interleague play.
Friday Preview: HOU @ TOR live on Sportsnet at 7 p.m. ET.
To be fair, putting together a full slate of series with intrigue and excitement is impossible, given that not all teams have natural geographic rivalries in the other league. But that hasn’t stopped some within baseball circles from feeling that the concept first introduced in 1997 is long past its best before date.
"When it comes down to rivalries, I can see the Cubs and White Sox, the Angels and Dodgers, Yankees and the Mets, there are some, but to say we’re rivals with the (Florida) Marlins is not true," Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon says. "At the beginning, it was an idea that fans kind of got into and was interesting.
"I don’t know that it’s as interesting anymore."
Jim Leyland, Maddon’s counterpart with the Detroit Tigers, agrees.
"I think this was something that was certainly a brilliant idea to start with," he told reporters in Detroit earlier this week. "But I think it has run its course. It’s not really doing what it was supposed to – there are no rivalries for most of the teams. I’m sure it helps the White Sox a little bit when they play the Cubs at their park, but it doesn’t help Wrigley because they pack Wrigley anyway most of the time."
He later added that Major League Baseball, "ought to look into it" and both the league and the players are in position to do so in a meaningful way right now with the collective bargaining agreement set to expire in December.
Given nascent plans for an expanded playoff and the likely need for adjustments to accommodate the extra round, both interleague play and the unbalanced schedule format are on the table.
Opinions are split among both owners and players, and finding a common middle ground for a new system won’t be easy.
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Some like the schedule being weighted heavily with interdivision games, others would like to see a more even distribution of the contests across the league. Some like 18 interleague meetings a season, others would rather see the number hacked down to 12 or even six outings.
This is the time to debate the pros and cons.
"That’s a main topic every agreement, a balanced schedule to get it as fair as possible," says Aaron Hill, the Blue Jays union-player rep. "But a lot of different things come into play. It is one thing that’s an issue."
Hill points out that some players enjoy the opportunity to face new teams and visit new ballparks granted them by interleague play, and fans do indeed get to see some of the other league’s stars.
And even when the visiting team is rather non-descript – like the Astros, for instance – enticing storylines may still exist.
Houston’s visit will give Blue Jays fans a chance to get a live look at first baseman Brett Wallace – who was part of the Roy Halladay trade and later dealt to Houston for double-A prospect Anthony Gose.
Brad Arnsberg –Toronto’s pitching coach from 2005 through ’09, when he left to take the same position with the Astros –also makes his return to the Rogers Centre.
The Blue Jays take an all-time interleague mark of 115-132 into Friday’s opener with Houston.
Fans also get a chance to watch their team play under the other league’s rules while on the road, another point of debate.
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Leyland would like to see baseball move to a uniform set of rules because he and others argue rightly that National League teams are at an advantage over their American League rivals, since on the road they gain the DH while at home their opponents lose a hitter for pitchers less prepared to hit.
"That’s the one drawback," says Blue Jays manager John Farrell. "It was two years ago (with Boston) we lost (Bartolo) Colon for the year because of a swing that he tried to hit one back to Boston and we were in Philadelphia. There are a number of things you can point to that are not in our favour from that standpoint. …
"(But the NL) is such an interesting game, there are endless options, endless situations you’ve got to be a little more proactive towards in your thinking, so just from a game-strategy standpoint, it’s very interesting. We’re looking forward to it."
Keep it here for all the latest news and tweets, including starting lineups, Friday from Rogers Centre
