Folks, I am proud to say that I am officially finished with college! I graduated last week with a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Cincinnati, and I am more than relieved that my five-year journey of obtaining a college education is finally over.
Now, back to business here on the "South Side Hit Parade." Recently, there have been some rumblings that MLB may consider some form of realignment. Nobody is really sure how the teams will be realigned at this point, but some suggestions have been offered. The one that appears to have the most talk surrounding it right now would be to move the Houston Astros to the American League West, and have interleague play year-round. Some other suggestions include moving either the Colorado Rockies or the Arizona Diamondbacks to the American League West, if only for the reason that they are two of the newer NL teams, and because they would each give the Rangers a time zone buffer (Texas is a Central Time Zone team, while the A's, Angels and Mariners are all in Pacific Time. Ouch.).
While some old-school folks may have a problem with year-round interleague play and realignment, I actually look forward to seeing something like this happen. I have always enjoyed interleague play, and it always seemed a bit bizarre to me to sequester this to just one portion of the season. If you have it year-round, it would solve the problem of "unfair" scheduling, such the Cardinals playing the Royals six times, while the Reds play the Indians six times (Never mind the fact the Reds are 1-5 against K.C. in their last six games against them, including losing two of three to them at home last year).
Another benefit to having year-round interleague play would likely mean that the National League will finally get with the times and adopt the Designated Hitter. Listen, I do not mind the differences between the leagues at the moment. However, I am starting to prefer the American League style of play. I do not care about losing the "strategy" of the game by having the pitcher in the batting lineup. There is still plenty of strategy in American League baseball, as there is in any baseball game, DH or no DH. However, I prefer to watch Vladimir Guerrero hit than to watch Tony Larussa think. There is a lot more excitement with watching Paul Konerko step to the plate in a big situation as opposed to watching Dusty Baker using the double-switch late in a game. Change can be good in the game of baseball sometimes, and it would be for the better if the National League finally adopted the DH. There would be more balance between both leagues, and you could easily have interleague play year-round.
One more thought for the evening: Even if realignment and year-round interleague play never happens, what in the hell is wrong with interleague play right now? People love to complain about it, citing the scheduling inequities teams have. It is not that big of a deal. It is just 16-18 games out of 162. Over the course of 162 games, the cream is going to rise to the top. There are no flukes; any team that makes the playoffs has earned it. If you miss the playoffs by one or two games, you can point your finger at several reasons why you failed to make it other than your interleague record. If you miss by five or six games, then you just were not good enough to make it, even if you do have a better record than a postseason team in another division. I was very upset when the White Sox missed the 2006 postseason with 90 wins, despite the fact they would have won the sad-sack NL Central by 7.5 games over the Cardinals. However, baseball, like life, is not always fair.
That's all I have for you now, talk to you soon!
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