Detroit manager Jim Leyland no longer likes it, and he’s probably not alone. Anyone who had to endure these matchups would have to agree: Houston-Toronto, Seattle-San Diego, Los Angeles Dodgers-Chicago White Sox.
But it’s also hard to argue with the success. And it’s hard to complain about something that gives fans intrastate rivalries, pits the Bay Area teams against one another, creates a subway series in New York and sends the Cubs to Boston.
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However, less would be more. It’s ridiculous that each team plays 18 or 19 games against the other league. That’s about 12 to 13 games too many, and this has cut down on more interesting matchups within the respective leagues. It’s silly that Tampa Bay plays the same number of games against Florida as it does against the Chicago White Sox (six).
There are other issues: different rules and imbalance of opponents among them. But baseball has watered down the novelty by scheduling so many of these games. Cut it back and we’ll be happy.
