So much to see, so little time

With two of the four professional sports in the middle of their playoffs and baseball hosting interleague play, my best friend will be the TV this weekend—not to mention Preakness, which will stop half of Baltimore from going to either National Park to see the Orioles and/or going to Wine in the Woods (it’s exactly what it sounds like). 

Don’t worry, for those of you who want nothing to do with sports, there is a Harry Potter marathon on ABC Family, a SVU marathon on USA, a Housewives marathon on Bravo, and I’m sure some sort of marathon about an underage pregnant girl on MTV.  Then again, if you are not interested in sports, I have no idea why you are reading this blog!

Not all of us can live in LA, where from today through Sunday, they have two teams in the NBA playoffs, one team in the NHL playoffs, and one baseball team hosting a home series.  If you are a sports fan in LA, the odds are you will be at one of these events and not glued to your television like the rest of the sports world.  Dear Philly fans, I am not forgetting about you (even though for betterment of society, I probably should).  Philly fans get treated to not only having the hated Red Sox in town for an interesting weekend series, they also get to host Boston in the NBA playoffs.  Don’t think I forgot about Indiana finally hosting a home playoff game that they will be favored in.  I am just curious how many people will be at that game and how many people will still be celebrating Leslie Knope’s inauguration to city council.   

Enough about the B league action this weekend, let’s focus on the main event, interleague play.  Ever since its inception in 1997, it is been a staple of controversy.  There are some that say it ruins the integrity of the game and that it is immoral.  Ironically, these are the same people that think it is ok to take your cousin to Senior Prom.  These opponents argue that it is unfair for numerous reasons, but I am the complete opposite end of that spectrum.  I feel it is great.  Attendance increases by an average of 18.7% at each stadium, fans get the chance to see players they would never be able to see regularly, it creates and helps to promote natural rivalries, and it gives the fans a chance to see rematches of some of the best World Series games we have ever seen (nine times so far in interleague play).

These series are about way more than just stats, they are about increasing the joy of the game, not only for the fans, but also for the players.  As for the stats side of it (if you were wondering), the AL leads all-time 1939-1973 over the NL; Mark Buehrle and Jamie Moyer are separated by one win for the all-time interleague win leader( 23 and 22); Ichiro is very close to catching Pujols for the all-time average leader and Alex Rodriguez has a stronghold on the all-time RBI leader( 174).

The actual series themselves rotate each year as to which division plays each division, but the first weekend is always designed to promote the natural rivalries by city ( New York/New York, Chicago/Chicago, Baltimore/DC, LAA/SD, Oak/SF), and for the most part, these games are always sold out and always fun to watch.  That being said, one of the arguments against interleague play is that it matches up two awful teams and no one wants to watch that. Some would say NYM/TOR, ZONA/KC, and SEA/COL fall into that category.  That is such a weak argument!  With normal league play, you are always going to have series that match up two sub-par teams, but at least this way, the players get to play against different players and in different ballparks and the fans get to enjoy seeing other players. 

Normally, the Philly/Boston series is a matchup of two of the top teams in the game, but with all the struggles/injuries both teams are experiencing, this is one of the less desirable match-ups this weekend. 

The Baltimore/Washington match up shows off the first place team in the AL East against the upstart Nationals team, which seems to be in every game they play.  The Orioles get the luxury of missing a Strasburg start, but the rest of that rotation has been solid, so this stacks up to be a great series. 

The Atlanta vs. Tampa series starts off with a bang with two of the top young pitchers in the game going head to head in Hanson and Shields.  We also get a World Series rematch with the Oak/SF series, and who doesn’t love a world series rematch? 

Votto and Bruce have struggled this year for Cincy, but Yankee stadium has a way of surrendering home runs at an alarming pace, so this could be the series to get the NL Central favorites (at least to me) back on track. 

Is Houston’s start for real or will they fade away into nothing as they seem to always do?  A weekend series at home against the 2-time defending AL Champions should let us know where they stand. 

Regardless of the pitcher or how the teams are playing, the Chi/Chi match-up is always worth watching.  I wish that series was played more.  There is nothing like watching cross town rivals battle it out at Wrigley. 

Finally, you get an A-list roster of pitchers throwing from the first pitch until the last game on the board. 

Josh Johnson, Strasburg, a resurgent Lowe, David Price, CJ Leiws, Greinke, and Santana are all taking the mound.

Do yourself a favor and ignore all of the negative people out there and all of the crap comments that are floating around about interleague play. Make like me, glue yourself to your TV, and enjoy everything this weekend is about.