Invasion of the Flip-Flops and Visors

Preparations have begun on honorary Bill Veeck Way for the annual invasion of frat boys, transplants, trixies, and yuppies to the Cell tonight.  These are usually fun games because they're always preceded and followed by lively dinner table civil wars and Derrek Lee-like "hold-me-backs" at the watering holes around the city.  Families get divided and friends pay out their annual wagers.  Or at least that's what they want you to think...

The time has come for a ramp-down of the interleague experiment.  It's run its course.  Do we really need to play the Cubs six-times this year? No.  And were the Sox v. Astros and Marlins anything special? Not really.  The novelty of this thing is done, so let's tone it down and put more emphasis on re-instilling AL rivalries.  How can you disagree?

Exhibit A: The Sox have to play the loveable losers 6 times.  While this works in our favor; i.e., our "natural" rivalry is an historically weak franchise, it is admittedly good fortune.  We only get to play the Chowds 8 times and Rally Monkeys 9 times.  This is the first year in a while where the Yanks have come to Chicago for two homestands, isn't it? This year the White Sox play Kansas City 17 times because of the unbalanced schedule.  That's not fun for anyone.  Even fans in KC--this year anyway...

My feeling is that these forced-marriages have run their course.  And, mostly, when we're seeing Divisions and Wild Cards in both leagues decided in the last week of the season, the luck-of-the-draw in interleague games is frustratingly arbitrary.

Now, there's one good reason to have interleague play: $$.  Fine.  But, let's cut the number of games and balance the schedule a little more, huh? How about just one session of interleague games every year and use the openings to focus on preserving existing (and creating new) rivalries.  Alternate the "natural" rivalries for those that have it (NY, Chi, LA, SF-OAK) so there's 3 games per year, not 6. That'd be a good start.

And if there are teams that can't put fans in the stands without some hyped-up gimmick? Well, maybe they should put a better product on the field.  There's only one long-term cure for poor fan support: winning championships.