Monday, May 28, 2012

Everyday interleague play will confuse nobody


The Houston Astros will join the AL next year.  When that happens the AL and the NL will have 15 teams each.  Because each league will no longer have an even number of teams, there will have to be interleague play every day.

I was listening to the Scott Van Pelt Show last week, and he was arguing that everyday interleague play would be too confusing for fans to follow due to the perpetually shifting absence or presence of the DH, based on the venue of the game.*

To the contrary, I firmly believe that everyday interleague play will confuse nobody.

Here's your test:

1. Which team is the home team?
a. If NL team is home, there is no DH, and the pitcher will bat.
b. If AL team is home, there is a DH, and the pitcher will not bat.

This test requires that you know which teams are in the NL, and which teams are in the AL.  95% of my friends have known this information literally longer than they have known their multiplication tables, and the other 5% have smartphones.**

There is nothing more to the analysis than the above test.  Easy, right? Everyday interleague play will confuse nobody.

* I am aware sports radio hosts have to advance positions they don't necessarily believe in to fill segments.


**The 5% who don't know which teams are in which league would likely only ask about the DH situation if they were watching a game, surrounded by a bunch of people ready to answer their question.  (And honestly they don't care about the DH, they're just asking to pretend to be interested in the game you dragged them to.)







No comments:

Post a Comment