Article: The Beauty and Brokenness Of Interleague Play

[Ted Schwerzler]

The Minnesota Twins are in the midst of interleague play for the second time this season. Instead of cramming all of the fun into a designated week or two over the summer, Major League Baseball reconstructed the scheduled to allow American and National League teams to clash throughout the season. As Minnesota has now traveled to and hosted National League teams, we have seen both the beauty and brokenness of the tradition.As the Twins traveled to Pittsburgh in May, both Ricky Nolasco and Mike Pelfrey were subjected to the silliness that is a league without a DH. Nolasco fared worse flailing through three different at-bats on route to a three-strikeout game, while Pelfrey totaled two base hits raising his career average to a paltry .105.

 

After hosting the Brewers at Target Field, it was again in St. Louis that Twins pitchers would be forced to brandish a bat. This time it was Trevor May and Kyle Gibson at the plate. The pair combined to go 1-3 (the hit being Gibson's) with a strikeout (being May's). While first year manager Paul Molitor got creative and batted his pitchers eighth this time around, the offensive production from the position remained a black hole.

 

On the flip side, fans at Target Field have and will get to see the beauty of a National League team playing with the designated hitter. The Cardinals were able to use slugger and everyday shortstop Jhonny Peralta as their designated hitter for the day. The bigger prize for both National League lovers and Twins fans is yet to come however.

 

Over the weekend, the Twins will play host to the Chicago Cubs. Never mind the parallels that connect the Twins and Cubs as two franchises trending in very similar directions, but the Cubs bring plenty of intrigue on their own. Already promoted this season, top prospects Kris Bryant and Addison Russell will be on full display in front of Target Field. On top of that, and because of the DH, Twins fans will get an early glimpse of another phenom, Kyle Schwarber.

 

During the same week that Byron Buxton was promoted by the Twins, Chicago decided to bring Schwarber up from Double-A Tennessee in order to serve as their designated bat through interleague play. Schwarber trails Twins prospect Adam Brett Walker in minor league home runs with 13, but he brings a .320/.438/.579 power stick to the show. Although Theo Epstein has insisted that the Cubs will send him packing after the tour is over, it is the DH that makes it all possible.

 

Rather than digress too far into why the DH should be universally accepted (and it should) I will instead point you to this article. Whether for or against the designated hitter, the argument seems clear. A flailing pitcher who may provide a manager with some tougher decisions is still less beneficial for the sport than a player who can accomplish the set goal at the plate, to hit.

 

Minnesota will welcome the Cubs over the weekend, and then head to Milwaukee and Cincinnati the following week before wrapping up interleague action. When the dust settles though, it will be hard to argue that the clash with the NL Central in 2015 wasn't for the betterment of the season, and that interleague play didn't provide some fun.

 

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[Blake]

I think interleague play should be limited to natural rivals, LA and the Dodgers, Giants versus Oakland, Twins versus Milwaukee, etc.

 

I like interleague play, but I think it has gone a bit too far and needs to be scaled back a bit.

 

Also, see my game thread regarding interleague play here:

 

http://twinsdaily.com/topic/18517-game-thread-twins-vs-brewers-607-1110-am-pacific-time-110pm-ct-grizzled-veteran-edition/

 

Unless the NL decides to introduce the DH (and I would prefer they don't) ground rules are ground rules.

[whosafraidofluigirussolo]

Realignment into two 15-team leagues makes a certain amount of interleague play a mathematical necessity where it wasn't before.

 

If that were somehow not a factor, I'm not sure whether I would prefer more, less or no interleague play. It seems like it changes an aesthetic aspect of the game but at the root I'm not sure it really matters much to the experience of a fan. I don't think interleague play alone should push the leagues toward a universal DH.

 

I do wish they would re-balance the unbalanced schedule, though...

[Joe A. Preusser]

Part of me agrees with the original poster and part of me thinks pitchers should man up and hit. Either way both leagues should be the same.

[Pius Jefferson]

The necessity to have pitchers hit is a dated idea. Both leagues should use the designated hitter.

 

 

 

[DocBauer]

Oh...the Twins are playing the Cards and then the Cubs? Oh yeah, that's right, they're in the NL aren't they. Yawwwwn!

 

I mean, seriously, it used to be kind of a big deal. Twice a year, for a couple of weeks, the AL and NL just sort of stopped as a season long entity for a little while, and we had this little baseball vacation fantasy time. Now it just seems kind of Ho-hum, teams drifting in and out of league ballparks, just another game on the schedule.

[spinowner]

 

Realignment into two 15-team leagues makes a certain amount of interleague play a mathematical necessity where it wasn't before.

 

If that were somehow not a factor, I'm not sure whether I would prefer more, less or no interleague play. It seems like it changes an aesthetic aspect of the game but at the root I'm not sure it really matters much to the experience of a fan. I don't think interleague play alone should push the leagues toward a universal DH.

 

I do wish they would re-balance the unbalanced schedule, though...

Two key points I want to address in one post.

One, with an odd number of teams in each league there will always be at least one interleague series happening. I think the two leagues should have an equal number of teams, so this is the unavoidable consequence. As far as the rule differences, one suggestion I've heard that I like is to use the DH in the NL parks and have the pitcher bat in the AL parks. That gives the home fans a chance to see the other league's game.

To make the rule difference less unfair one possibility is something similar to the rule about adding a 26th player for the second game of a doubleheader. One of the inequities of interleague play is that AL teams build their rosters with the DH in mind and NL teams build their rosters with no DH in mind. To compensate for that the visiting team could be allowed to make one totally unrestricted roster move for interleague play. Unrestricted means exactly that; they can sign a free agent to a 3-day contract or call up a minor leaguer without using an option or anything else they wish, as long as the player is not suspended or something like that.

Two, the overly unbalanced schedule. My proposal, FWIW, is to have 14 games against each division opponent, 9 games against the other 10 teams in the same league and 16 interleague games. Against one of the other two same-league divisions there would be 4 home games and 5 road games and against the other division it would be the opposite. This would alternate every year. The interleague games would all be against the teams from one division. Two teams would visit you for 3 games, you would visit two teams for 3 games and the fifth team would be 4 games split two at home and two away. The division match-up would rotate so you'd play against every team over a 3 year period. This is mathematically balanced but that doesn't necessarily make it fair. It means teams from the Eastern time zone and the Pacific time zone would play more games against each other than they do now, and that does give a small but real advantage to teams in the Central and Mountain time zones. So I doubt we'll see any change in that anytime soon.

 

[Mike Sixel]

In no other sport do they even worry about. They are baseball games. We get to see a wider variety of teams and players. That is a good thing. They should rotate teams like the NFL. I don't know why anyone even thinks about as inter league anymore.

[Wookiee of the Year]

I think interleague play should be limited to natural rivals, LA and the Dodgers, Giants versus Oakland, Twins versus Milwaukee, etc.

 

I like interleague play, but I think it has gone a bit too far and needs to be scaled back a bit.

I agree in theory, but you just can't do it that way with an odd number of teams in each league (15 each, ever since the Astros moved over). The alternative would be one team in each league taking each weekend off, and that's an even worse option.

 

Bold Prediction: With the current CBA expiring at the end of 2016, the new CBA will institute a DH in both leagues.

[GACbaseball]

If we make a DH in both leagues, why not take it one step further and make it like football? 9 guys can play defense and then 9 different guys can hit! That way we don't have to see Hanley Ramirez in the field or Aaron Hicks at the plate. That should make the game way better!

[hybridbear]

 

As far as the rule differences, one suggestion I've heard that I like is to use the DH in the NL parks and have the pitcher bat in the AL parks. That gives the home fans a chance to see the other league's game.

I think this is a great idea!

[TheLeviathan]

 

In no other sport do they even worry about. They are baseball games. We get to see a wider variety of teams and players. That is a good thing. They should rotate teams like the NFL. I don't know why anyone even thinks about as inter league anymore.

 

Well, we think of it differently because baseball is the only sport that has a different set of rules for each league.  The simple fix is to simply stop having pitchers hit, then this won't seem like a fad anymore.

[Wookiee of the Year]

 

If we make a DH in both leagues, why not take it one step further and make it like football? 9 guys can play defense and then 9 different guys can hit! That way we don't have to see Hanley Ramirez in the field or Aaron Hicks at the plate. That should make the game way better!

I know you're being hyperbolic, but this just isn't the same thing. All through their development, position players bat day-in, day-out, and get exposed to pitching at every level of the minors.

 

On the other hand, pitchers in the majors and minors get at-bats at best once every five days. But it's worse than that--pitching prospects don't bat at all in Rookie Ball, A-, or A+, and only bat in AA and AAA if both teams are affiliates of NL teams. Pitchers just don't get the kind of everyday reps that are essential to knowing what you're doing at the plate in major leagues.

 

And that's not true at all for position players, so your argument is absolutely apples and oranges rather than evidence of a slippery slope.

[Craig Arko]

Given that some pretty good pitchers in the NL are being injured during hitting-related activities (not all of them in-game) I think they may well reconsider the DH.

[diehardtwinsfan]

If it's going to be like football, they should get rid of the catcher all together and eliminate stolen bases.  That's something silly the NFL would consider.

 

That said, I hate interleague play.  /EndRant.

[Wookiee of the Year]

...To underscore the difference from a development perspective:

 

Over 8 seasons, Aaron Hicks logged 594 games in the minors, resulting in 2,577 plate appearances.

 

Over 7 seasons, Trevor May logged 775 innings pitched in 147 minor league games, resulting in 22 plate appearances.

 

Over 9 seasons, Pedro Florimon has logged 849 games in the minors, resulting in 3,356 plate appearances.

 

Over 6 seasons, Nationals pitching prospect A.J. Cole has logged 534 innings pitched in 106 games in the minors, resulting in 28 plate appearances.

 

These developmental tracks are just completely different. And even if you eliminated the DH at every level of the minors, pitchers would still only bat at best every fifth day, meaning they'll just never get the developmental time as hitters that every single position player prospect gets.

[HitInAPinch]

 

I think interleague play should be limited to natural rivals, LA and the Dodgers, Giants versus Oakland, Twins versus Milwaukee, etc.

 

I like interleague play, but I think it has gone a bit too far and needs to be scaled back a bit.

 

Also, see my game thread regarding interleague play here:

 

http://twinsdaily.com/topic/18517-game-thread-twins-vs-brewers-607-1110-am-pacific-time-110pm-ct-grizzled-veteran-edition/

 

Unless the NL decides to introduce the DH (and I would prefer they don't) ground rules are ground rules.

Otherwise, there would be no need for the 2 Leagues, correct?

[Steve Lein]

What I find interesting is a lot of pitchers, before going pro, are or were also great or decent hitters in their amateur careers. It's the nature of their "elite athlete" status.

 

Why when they turn pro, especially for an NL team, that this aspect of the game kind of gets thrown away for them, is weird to me.

 

A local pitching product, Brad Hand of the Miami Marlins, was a stud hitter in high school too. He broke a friend of mine's single season HR record for them. But through his development with them is now only a career .074 hitter as a major leaguer.

 

I feel like Carlos Zambrano like production could happen for a lot more pitchers than it does if they kept that as more of a part of the development process than they do.

[Mike Sixel]

 

What I find interesting is a lot of pitchers, before going pro, are or were also great or decent hitters in their amateur careers. It's the nature of their "elite athlete" status.

 

Why when they turn pro, especially for an NL team, that this aspect of the game kind of gets thrown away for them, is weird to me.

 

A local pitching product, Brad Hand of the Miami Marlins, was a stud hitter in high school too. He broke a friend of mine's single season HR record for them. But through his development with them is now only a career .074 hitter as a major leaguer.

 

I feel like Carlos Zambrano like production could happen for a lot more pitchers than it does if they kept that as more of a part of the development process than they do.

 

there is only so much time in a day.....spend that working on your craft, or something no one cares about? Also, guys get hurt batting, why take that chance if you don't have to?

[GACbaseball]

I love how much depth plays a role in National League games. You need to have a solid bench to have good pinch hitting options. You then need to have a deep bullpen to piece together innings at the end of games. It becomes much more of a "team" game

 

I understand that watching a pitcher strike out on 3 pitches is not as fun as watching David Ortiz, but I enjoy the thinking game that NL managers go through late in the game

[ashbury]

If we make a DH in both leagues, why not take it one step further and make it like football? 9 guys can play defense and then 9 different guys can hit! That way we don't have to see Hanley Ramirez in the field or Aaron Hicks at the plate. That should make the game way better!

If we really want inter-league play, let's play NFL rules when we're in their home park, and MLB rules when they are in ours.

[Mill1634]

Not sure how you can hate IL. Its my favorite games. You get to see teams that you might not see for another 3 or 4 years.

[spinowner]

 

Not sure how you can hate IL. Its my favorite games. You get to see teams that you might not see for another 3 or 4 years.

That's still too often to see the Brewers or the Phillies.

[USAFChief]

I rather like inter league play, myself.