Baseball Rant: Interleague Play

I love the game of baseball. It, like football, is one of those subjects in which you can quickly learn that the more you know, the more you don’t know. I love the mental chess game, the one-on-one matchups within the framework of a team sport, and the atmosphere…in the American League.

After watching a few interleague games this weekend, I’m convinced that the idea of making pitchers try to hit a baseball is both laughable and anticlimactic, especially for American League pitchers. I would say that it renders all interleague games vastly advantageous for the National League club, but some of the at bats unfortunately and permanently etched into the annals of baseball from National League pitchers is, at times, more comical and predictable than their American League counterpart.

Please don’t misunderstand me; tradition and storied history are part of what makes the game great. Bob Gibson and Walter Johnson were both great pitchers that could hit and Babe Ruth was a great hitter that just so happened to pitch. All played at least 40 years ago. I’m sure “back in the day” pitchers put much more of an emphasis on the art of hitting but now they’re lucky if they can lay down a sacrifice bunt.

Traditionalists would say that the designated hitter has ruined baseball but I think it’s made the game much more intriguing. Pitchers have to get nine betters out in an American League lineup as opposed to eight plus the headless, wooden cut out from Major League. Managers wouldn’t have to shut down a pitcher just because his at bat comes at a critical moment in the game thereby leaving the fans to wonder what would have happened if said pitcher would have been able to stay in and do what he’s paid to do…pitch. And with the increasing effectiveness of pitchers over hitters, wouldn’t it be nice to see pitchers of both leagues face a similar lineup therefore making comparisons between pitchers of both leagues, uhhhh…comparable?

It is my hope that my child can grow up watching and attending a more fair, entertaining form of America’s National Pastime.