Interleague Play

[BB61]

I'd rather they go the NFL route and expand two more teams (Portland and Charlotte maybe?) and have 8 four-team divisions. For interleague, each division would play one other division (four three-game series), and that would be it. No "rivalry" weekend unless it's in the typical rotation. As for playoffs, I'd have 5 teams in each league (four division winners plus one wildcard) with the wildcard and worst division winner playing a one-game playoff and the top 3 teams automatically going on to the LDS.

Firstly, I don't think there's any reason to expand. There are enough teams struggling at this point.

Secondly, While I'm all for adding a fifth team to the playoffs in each league, it means that Game four of the World Series will go up against A Charlie Brown Christmas. The season is long enough as is.

Everything is fine. Leave it as is.

[CC97]

Bud wanted the Brewers in the same division as the Cubs because he knew those games in Milwaukee would sell-out, the Pirates ended up in the Central because MLB wanted the Braves in the same division as the Mets back when the division was created in 1994.

I get the Brewers with the Cubs, but why put the Braves with the Mets back then? They had never been in the same division before. What was the rational?

Atlanta, Georgia is in the east.

[Jigga]

I'd rather they go the NFL route and expand two more teams (Portland and Charlotte maybe?) and have 8 four-team divisions. For interleague, each division would play one other division (four three-game series), and that would be it. No "rivalry" weekend unless it's in the typical rotation. As for playoffs, I'd have 5 teams in each league (four division winners plus one wildcard) with the wildcard and worst division winner playing a one-game playoff and the top 3 teams automatically going on to the LDS.

Firstly, I don't think there's any reason to expand. There are enough teams struggling at this point.

Secondly, While I'm all for adding a fifth team to the playoffs in each league, it means that Game four of the World Series will go up against A Charlie Brown Christmas. The season is long enough as is.

Everything is fine. Leave it as is.

Damn f'ing right.

[Luigi74]

Bud wanted the Brewers in the same division as the Cubs because he knew those games in Milwaukee would sell-out, the Pirates ended up in the Central because MLB wanted the Braves in the same division as the Mets back when the division was created in 1994.

I get the Brewers with the Cubs, but why put the Braves with the Mets back then? They had never been in the same division before. What was the rational?

Atlanta, Georgia is in the east.

Pittsburgh is more east that Atlanta. The reason MLB wanted the Braves in the East with the Mets was because they wanted to load up the division with big market teams to offset the Expos and Marlins.

[BigEd76]

How about this scenario: do something similar to the NFL in the 80s and early 90s where only the top 4 teams in each division get to participate in interleague (4 series, 3 games a piece), then the 5th/6th place teams (2 AL, 4 NL) would do their own thing to fill out the rest of the schedule (either have one AL-vs-AL and two NL-vs-NL matchups, or two AL-vs-NL and one NL-vs-NL matchup....whatever works). The main drawback is that you'd lose the "natural rivalry" series unless you built those into the schedule somehow....

[HedleyLamarr]

Bud wanted the Brewers in the same division as the Cubs because he knew those games in Milwaukee would sell-out, the Pirates ended up in the Central because MLB wanted the Braves in the same division as the Mets back when the division was created in 1994.

I get the Brewers with the Cubs, but why put the Braves with the Mets back then? They had never been in the same division before. What was the rational?

I think MLB was trying to place Florida and Atlanta in the same division, to try and build up a natural rivalry that had no history before 1993. Since it didn't make sense to place a team from Miami in any other division but the East, the Braves left the West and joined them.

Of course, it didn't matter much back in 1994, because there was no Interleague play, and no imbalanced schedule slanted towards divisional games, so MLB could get away with having Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in different divisions yet still play pretty much the same amount of games against each other.

Even though they're in the same state, I've never really sensed much of a rivalry between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, at least in sports. The Steelers and Eagles only meet once every four years (in the regular season, that is). The Penguins and Flyers have only been in the same division since the 1998-99 season. The Phillies and Pirates haven't been in the same division in 15 years. There's no NBA team in Pittsburgh to have a rivalry with the 76ers. As far as I recall, none of the Pittsburgh colleges have a heated rivalry with any of the Philadelphia colleges, or both cities tend to support Penn State.

[BigEd76]

Penn State and Pittsburgh usually battle each other for in-state high school recruits

and remember the Penguins and Flyers were in the Patrick Division together before the league went to "Eastern"/"Western"

[Luigi74]

Bud wanted the Brewers in the same division as the Cubs because he knew those games in Milwaukee would sell-out, the Pirates ended up in the Central because MLB wanted the Braves in the same division as the Mets back when the division was created in 1994.

I get the Brewers with the Cubs, but why put the Braves with the Mets back then? They had never been in the same division before. What was the rational?

I think MLB was trying to place Florida and Atlanta in the same division, to try and build up a natural rivalry that had no history before 1993. Since it didn't make sense to place a team from Miami in any other division but the East, the Braves left the West and joined them.

Of course, it didn't matter much back in 1994, because there was no Interleague play, and no imbalanced schedule slanted towards divisional games, so MLB could get away with having Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in different divisions yet still play pretty much the same amount of games against each other.

Even though they're in the same state, I've never really sensed much of a rivalry between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, at least in sports. The Steelers and Eagles only meet once every four years (in the regular season, that is). The Penguins and Flyers have only been in the same division since the 1998-99 season. The Phillies and Pirates haven't been in the same division in 15 years. There's no NBA team in Pittsburgh to have a rivalry with the 76ers. As far as I recall, none of the Pittsburgh colleges have a heated rivalry with any of the Philadelphia colleges, or both cities tend to support Penn State.

The Pens and Flyers have a huge rivalry and have since both teams joined the NHL in 1967, the Pirates and Phillies had a great rivalry in the late 70's/early 80's that died down in the mid 80's but was getting rolling again in the early 90's before the Buccos got moved to the Central.

Next a majority of sports fans in Pittsburgh support Pitt when it comes to college football and basketball, Penn State has a decent fan base but Pitt is #1. Philly is a college hoops town and people their support Philly schools but they will jump on the Penn State bandwagon if they are doing good.

[Sabrejeff]

The AL should expand to Japan and, say, Montreal.

[spyboy1]

I know you guys will be able to help me out on this one.

Is there an official list of each team's "Rivalry Matchup" for interleague games? Do all teams have a designated rival they play every year, or do some teams just not have one?

I tried going through all the teams the other day to identify their main interleague rival, and some were obvious like the Cubs vs. Sox and Yankees vs. Mets, but by the time you get to the end of the list, it made me wonder if some teams simply don't have one they play each year.

[marlinfan]

I know you guys will be able to help me out on this one.

Is there an official list of each team's "Rivalry Matchup" for interleague games? Do all teams have a designated rival they play every year, or do some teams just not have one?

I tried going through all the teams the other day to identify their main interleague rival, and some were obvious like the Cubs vs. Sox and Yankees vs. Mets, but by the time you get to the end of the list, it made me wonder if some teams simply don't have one they play each year.

Rivalries:

Yankees-Mets

White Sox-Cubs

Angels-Dodgers

Indians-Reds

Royals-Cardinals

Rangers-Astros

Twins-Brewers

Orioles-Nats

Rays-Marlins

A's-Giants

Not sures:

I think Red Sox-Phillies is now a rivalry (Colonial Cities Series?) after the Phillies lost the Orioles to the Nats.

Braves-Red Sox I think Red Sox-Braves was/is still billed as a rivalry but I'm not sure.

Rival-less teams:

Mariners

Padres

Rockies

Pirates

Tigers

Blue Jays

D-backs

[CC97]

The Blue Jays play a series in Philadelphia just about every year now, I'm assuming that's a rivalry.

[BBTV]

A match-up is not a "rivalry" just because the marketing department bills it as such. Rivalries evolve naturally, and can't really be manufactured.

For the Phillies, I'd say that the only AL team that they have even close to a rivalry with is Baltimore, and that's only because of the closeness of the city and the amount of fans that travel to each park - it has nothing to do with the teams themselves.

[CC97]

A match-up is not a "rivalry" just because the marketing department bills it as such. Rivalries evolve naturally, and can't really be manufactured.

So, in a sense, none of these match-ups are true rivalries... correct?

[spyboy1]

I know you guys will be able to help me out on this one.

Is there an official list of each team's "Rivalry Matchup" for interleague games? Do all teams have a designated rival they play every year, or do some teams just not have one?

I tried going through all the teams the other day to identify their main interleague rival, and some were obvious like the Cubs vs. Sox and Yankees vs. Mets, but by the time you get to the end of the list, it made me wonder if some teams simply don't have one they play each year.

Rivalries:

Yankees-Mets

White Sox-Cubs

Angels-Dodgers

Indians-Reds

Royals-Cardinals

Rangers-Astros

Twins-Brewers

Orioles-Nats

Rays-Marlins

A's-Giants

Not sures:

I think Red Sox-Phillies is now a rivalry (Colonial Cities Series?) after the Phillies lost the Orioles to the Nats.

Braves-Red Sox I think Red Sox-Braves was/is still billed as a rivalry but I'm not sure.

Rival-less teams:

Mariners

Padres

Rockies

Pirates

Tigers

Blue Jays

D-backs

Are these MLB officially recognized rivalries that play each other every year? How can the Red Sox have two rivals?

Do the "rival-less" teams play a regular series against one of the others each year or do they just rotate opponents within their group each year?

[marlinfan]

I know you guys will be able to help me out on this one.

Is there an official list of each team's "Rivalry Matchup" for interleague games? Do all teams have a designated rival they play every year, or do some teams just not have one?

I tried going through all the teams the other day to identify their main interleague rival, and some were obvious like the Cubs vs. Sox and Yankees vs. Mets, but by the time you get to the end of the list, it made me wonder if some teams simply don't have one they play each year.

Rivalries:

Yankees-Mets

White Sox-Cubs

Angels-Dodgers

Indians-Reds

Royals-Cardinals

Rangers-Astros

Twins-Brewers

Orioles-Nats

Rays-Marlins

A's-Giants

Not sures:

I think Red Sox-Phillies is now a rivalry (Colonial Cities Series?) after the Phillies lost the Orioles to the Nats.

Braves-Red Sox I think Red Sox-Braves was/is still billed as a rivalry but I'm not sure.

Rival-less teams:

Mariners

Padres

Rockies

Pirates

Tigers

Blue Jays

D-backs

Are these MLB officially recognized rivalries that play each other every year? How can the Red Sox have two rivals?

Do the "rival-less" teams play a regular series against one of the others each year or do they just rotate opponents within their group each year?

Yes. The rivalries listed above are usually guaranteed two series. Some of the series have a 'trophy' at stake and all have names. The Texas teams have a crystal boot and the Florida series has a crystal bowl with fake oranges at stake. (That bowl was just located a few days ago after going MIA for 9 years according to the Miami Herald.)

The Red Sox rival has changed a couple times. Which is why I put the Braves and Phillies. Whether (and which) of the series MLB recognizes I'm not so sure.

Also pretty sure the Padres and Mariners meet each other for two series.

[CC97]

Let's group Jays and Tigers together, sure they're in the same league, but they're only a few hours apart and meet each other twice a season.

[leopard88]

Why not Pirates-Tigers as a rivalry? Detroit isn't as close to Pittsburgh as Cleveland, but it's still not very far.

[spyboy1]

Also pretty sure the Padres and Mariners meet each other for two series.

That's no rivalry. That's just because they each have to play somebody while everyone else is busy.

I find it really odd Detroit and Boston don't have an obvious interleague matchup. I suppose Philly works OK for Boston, but it's nothing to get wound up about.

There's certainly a couple of teams that get hung out to dry when the music stops and all the rivalry chairs are filled.

[Maz]

Next a majority of sports fans in Pittsburgh support Pitt when it comes to college football and basketball, Penn State has a decent fan base but Pitt is #1.

True. Around here, its love 'em or hate 'em. The Pitt fans (which there are most of) hate Penn State, the Penn State fans hate Pitt...

...Im surprised there isnt a RMU/Duqesne rivalry. Being across town from each other and of similar size, and all.