Oh, good

JMB · June 6, 2005 at 3:23 pm · Filed Under Mariners 

Interleague play is back. When did that happen?

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69 Responses to “Oh, good”

  1. FrayLo on June 6th, 2005 10:42 pm

    As long as interleague play is still around, I’m still waiting for the M’s to play Cincinatti, so we can see Griffey again.

  2. Deanna on June 6th, 2005 10:53 pm

    I’m happy about interleague play… in Japan. Because only the Lions and Hawks bother broadcasting their games over the internet, and they’re both in the Pacific League, so normally I’d only get to see the 6 teams there, but with interleague I get to see the Central League teams too. (And all the Pacific League teams get the extra 10k-20k fans coming in to see the Giants when they show up. Speaking of the Giants, they finally kicked out Gabe Kapler, if anyone cares.)

    Over here? I dunno. I’m happy about it because I get to see the Phillies, my other “home team”. I agree that the “local rival” thing sucks for the cities that don’t have them. It would have been awesome if the Expos had moved to Portland instead; that would be a perfect local rival for us, and Baltimore and Philadelphia would still be in sync.

    The only reason I vote Winn over Reed or Ibanez is because he’s a switch hitter and the rest of the outfield is lefties. Just good to have more variety in the lineup. Winn’s been hitting at a pretty good clip lately too.

    At least it’s better than, say, David Ortiz trying to play first base…

  3. world series on June 6th, 2005 11:24 pm

    If you forecast low scoring games I think you put Reed and Winn out in the field for better defense and more speed (Ibanez has one awkward, goofy looking gait and is more limited than Winn in left) and hopefully more quality at bats. Ibanez comes off the bench as Left Handed power threat, Hansen left handed contact threat and no right handed option apparently.

  4. eponymous coward on June 6th, 2005 11:43 pm

    Maybe Ibanez can play SS or 2B…

  5. Ray Oyler Fan Club on June 6th, 2005 11:54 pm

    I actually enjoyed interleague play the first couple of years, when the Mariners were playing NL West teams.

    now, they’re playing the NL East…again. this is the THIRD year in a row that the M’s are playing the Expos/Nationals. besides the Expos/Nationals, they get to play Florida, Philly and the Mutts. only one word to describe that…..yawn.

    MLB has taken what was a decent concept FUBAR’d it. last year, the Reds were supposed to come to town. GREAT IDEA! the return of Ken Griffey Jr. would have made for a great series. and then Cleveland complained that they didn’t have the Reds for a home series, and the schedule was changed.

  6. world series on June 6th, 2005 11:57 pm

    Good idea, or catcher – it is an emergency. Oh wait, Willie is the emergency catcher this year. Who is Dontrelle facing on Wednesday (literally, and where does he bat in the order?) I can’t wait to watch this series.

  7. LB on June 7th, 2005 1:06 am

    #50: David Ortiz is no John Olerud in the field, but he recorded an assist in the World Series on Suppan’s brain-dead baserunning at 3rd base and one in today’s game on a play at the plate.

    #53: I haven’t worked out the pitching probables too far in advance, but the Mets’ visit to Safeco might give us a chance to see their new ace, Pedro Martinez. Won’t that be exciting?

  8. tvwxman on June 7th, 2005 2:01 am

    I heard on ESPN Radio a few weeks ago that attendance for interleague play is, on average, 13% higher than “regular” games.

    There are probably better ways to do it (going to the Angels/Braves game tonight, but they don’t play the M’s in the Ted), but apparently, it’s working.

  9. Tom on June 7th, 2005 3:23 am

    #56 – The attendance is higher than in “regular” games because of when the games are scheduled. Games in june get about 13% higher attendance than the average of the rest of the year regardless of who the opponent is. And even if it does boost attendance, does that justify making division and wild card races uneven. I think fair play is more important than money.

  10. tvwxman on June 7th, 2005 3:31 am

    Fair play is relative to division anyway. Is it “fair” that the Twins and the ChiSox play the Indians, Royals and Detroit, while the Orioles have only the D-Rays to beat up on in their division? When it comes to the wild card, toughness of the division is more important than a couple series against a couple weak sisters in the NL.

    And if fair play was more important than money to MLB, we’d have equitable revenue sharing and salary caps in place where each team spent roughly the same.

  11. Tom on June 7th, 2005 4:46 am

    Basically, you’re saying since the system is already slightly flawed, it’s a good idea to flaw it even more. Outstanding.

    As was stated above, unbalanced divisions only make wild card races uneven, whereas interleague makes even the division races uneven. If my team lost the division by one or two games and had to play the Red Sox in interleague while the division winner played the Devil Rays. It creates glaring inconsistencies, therefore it should be abolished. Period. The unbalanced schedule creates inconsistencies, so it also should be done away with.

  12. tvwxman on June 7th, 2005 5:14 am

    Again, I’ll say that proifit trumps fair play. Besides, the NFL has unbalanced schedules for years, and no one has cried about that.

  13. David J Corcoran on June 7th, 2005 6:09 am

    w/r/t Ibanez:

    I’d just rotate it. I’d give Ichiro a day off, then Reed, then Winn, then Sexson, and that takes 4 games. Then just figure something out for the next 2.

  14. Dead Ball Tim on June 7th, 2005 7:26 am

    Just my personal preferences here to add to the mix. I don’t have any clever logic to accompany them but who needs that? This is about the entertainment business so its all about what is generally pleasing. At first I didn’t much like the three division system and the expanded playoff format. I still don’t like the division system but I don’t mind the expanded playoffs. To me a ‘division championship’ is nothing. Its not a championship at all. The ‘winner’ gets some kind of home field advantage in the post season tourny blah blah blah but thats it. To make it worse they focus a team’s season on the teams in its own tiny division which is scarcely a good sample of the rest of the league. What sin would have been committed if it were structured as a single American & National League without these phony divisions? The top 4 teams in each league go to the tournament. #1 plays #4 and #2 plays #3 and so on. Yes, the #1 team can be eliminated in round 1 but thats what we see already. Boston was a wildcard last year… Marlins did it that way too so its clearly not a fatal flaw. Fans tolerate that. I know that they created these ‘divisions’ to make it seem like there were intense competitions in divisional microcosm but why is that any different from battling for 4th place and a spot in the post season while competing directly against the entire league?

    P.S. Now that Gar is retired the A.L. can jettison the DH. =) Even though I never liked that silly concession to aging hitters, I learned to be tolerant of it just to be able to watch The Master at his craft a few more seasons. Generally speaking though, pitchers need to take their turn at the plate for the sake of balance. Thats the only part about interleague play that has any charm for me…. that of seeing M’s pitchers stepping into the box.

  15. Jason on June 7th, 2005 8:10 am

    I think Seattle’s obvious rival in the NL is Arizona. Having moved from the Puget Sound region down here to Phoenix I was surprised by how many Washington transplants there are. Combined with Spring Training down here, there are a number of people who root for both teams. We’re the only AL West team with a significant population down here in the winter (Oakland, Anaheim, and Texas don’t have horrible winters). Combine that with the number of players and staff that have gone back and forth between the teams (Melvin, Randy, etc.) and it’s a good start.

    Not to mention that I’d get to see the M’s if they played down here…

  16. LB on June 7th, 2005 11:29 am

    #60: The NFL is not MLB. There are only 16 games in the NFL season, and way more than 16 football teams. Baseball isn’t football; you physically can’t play football everyday. There’s no way for every NFL team to play the same opponents the same number of times.

  17. LB on June 7th, 2005 11:31 am

    #62: I think now you have to wait for David Ortiz to retire before you ice the DH rule.

  18. Jim Osmer on June 7th, 2005 11:55 am

    Any chance Rivera sticks with the club for awhile. I have not seen all his at-bats but his approach, his receiving abilities, etc. look much better than Olivo. He looks very vulnerable to big breaking balls but that describes most of the team.
    With the M’s struggling against lefties, the Dontrelle game could be a very quick game.
    How long will the Morse experiment last? The ball is not jumping off his bat. His fielding looks okay but his arm is shaky.

  19. Deanna on June 7th, 2005 1:52 pm

    #61 – can’t give Ichiro a day off in the interleague games we play in other cities if they have any significant Japanese population at all for fear of riots, I think.