Tiger Geist

I was quite surprised by the sudden backlash against inter-league play this week;  Jim Leyland hates it, and when the Tigers lose, all the fans and columnists suddenly hate the rules.  When Detroit plays well, everyone loves inter-league, and the pitchers in the NL are just glorified AAAA prospects.  When Detroit loses, the rules are stupid.  Never mind that when the NL teams come to an AL park, they are at a severe disadvantage because NL teams don’t carry a Victor or Edgar Martinez on their teams.

I loved interleague when it started because it seemed to bring the Cardinals to town every year, and I’d get to watch Mark McGwire in person at Tiger Stadium.  McGwire was my child hood favorite player with the A’s, and getting to watch him play my favorite team once he was in the National League was what I wanted.  Think of how great it would have been to see Mike Schmidt take a hack at Tiger Stadium?

And that’s what its about:  The fans.  Because the media covers both leagues, and fans are well aware that there are other great players, great cities, and great stadiums that they want to see.  I have family members who went to the great PNC park this week to watch their favorite team play in a new stadium.  I’ve thoroughly enjoyed watching the Tigers play in San Francisco and at Dodger stadium; why would i want to see the Dodgers play Colorado?  I don’t.  I want to see Detroit play the Dodgers, in the historic stadium that I grew up watching on “this week in baseball“.  While Jerry Green argues no one cares about a subway series, I agree, with a caveat:  no one in Seattle cares what Detroit does against the White Sox, either.

Sure, its no fun to play the Pirates.  But Wojo‘s suggestion that he’d rather see Boston or the Yankees come to town one more time brings up the real problem:  There are too many crappy teams lacking star power.  Bob W doesn’t want to see a last place Seattle or Baltimore come through either.  Maybe we can scrap interleague and play an extra few series against only the biggest, most over-hyped teams such as Boston and New York, and they can barn storm the league and let all the small markets know what they’re missing?  Do you think that if the Phillies came to town, Wojo might be singing a different tune?

And what about the Pirates.. know who might want to play them?  Seattle.  Don’t you think Seattle fans have a sour taste in their mouth from losing a Super Bowl to Pittsburgh a few years ago?  (If you don’t know any big Seahawks fans, here’s a hit:  They’re still a bitter.  Very.  Very.  Bitter).

Seriously, the issue here isn’t the rules or the teams.  Baseball’s killed many of their rivalries by adding a third division and the wild card, so everyone jumps on the idea that the two big name teams might come back for one more series and the guy who can’t field gets to hit.  But when was the last time Detroit and KC had a real rivalry?  Yet the Tigers have to play the Royals 18 times per year.  Can’t we just say that both fans would be fine with a home and home against each other, and just bring the bigger name teams into town?

Honestly I don’t care if they scrap inter-league.  I’d be fine with that, or even with a round-robin tournament where all the teams play each other around the all star game for a one game elimination.  But let’s remember that fans move as much as free agents do, not all teams have star power, and this ‘experiment’ wasn’t to placate baseball purists like Jerry Green.  Its fine if you don’t like it, but using a large contract you gave a guy who can’t field as your argument makes little sense.  If you want to lobby against the sac bunt and outlaw wooden bats, be my guest.