This weekend marked the first round of Interleague play for Major League Baseball. Interleague baseball is the only time that National League teams play American League teams during the regular season when it counts. The only other time they play each other outside of spring training exhibition games is the World Series. Interleague play began in 1997, and has been much of a success, drawing more fans to the game to see teams play their home team that they don’t get to see year to year.
Since its inception, the American League has dominated in about every match-up it has had against the National League, Interleague Games, All-Star Games, and World Series titles. The AL has won 1,673 games to the NL 1,534 in Interleague Games, winning more each year for the past 6 years. In the past 13 years, the NL has won more than the AL only 4 seasons. Also since then, the NL has not won the All-Star game. There was a tie in 2002 (7 - 7) but other than that the AL is 12-0-1. The AL has also dominated in World Series titles having won 9 since 1996 for a record of 9-5.
For the first 3 games of Interleague, the NL has had a taste of something new. The NL won 22 games to the AL’s 20. Now that is only a 2 game lead, but could it be the beginning of a new trend? It is way to early to tell at this point, but the NL sure made a point, and several teams made a big statement, while other would rather put this weekend behind them.
Here is how it went down:
The NY Mets defeated the NY Yankees 2 - 1. The Mets are now 22 – 23 for the year, and currently in last place in the NL East. The Yankees are coming off of a World Series Championship, have a 26 – 18 record, and trail only the Rays for the best record in the AL.
The Cardinals (26-19) defeated the Angels (21-25) 2-1 with a walk-off hit in the 10th inning Sunday night.
The Dodgers (25-19) beat the Tigers (25-19) 2-1 despite injuries to Ethier and Furcal.
Arizona D-backs (20-25) beat the Blue Jays (26-20) 2-1 in a series that seen a lot of offense as each game had at least 13 runs scored.
The Cubs (21-24) beat the hot hitting Rangers (25-20) 2-1, each game was decided by only 1 run.
The Reds (25-19) that have surprised everyone into a battle for the NL Central lead beat the struggling Indians (16-26) 2-1.
Another surprise in the NL, the Nationals (23-22) beat another struggling AL team in the Orioles (14-31) 2 – 1 with a walk-off home run in the 10th inning Sunday.
The Rockies (22-22) also beat the Royals (18-27) 2-1, even giving the 2009 Cy Young winner Greinke, earliest exit from a game in the past 2 years, leaving in the 4th inning on Sunday.
The last NL series win was the Padres (26-18) over the Mariners (16-28) 2-1, despite Seattle scoring 15 runs in the first game to win 15 – 8.
The Oakland A’s (23-22) swept their Bay rival Giants (22-21) 3 – 0, giving up only 1 run in the entire series.
The Red Sox (24-21) heated up to take the former NL champion Phillies (26-17) 2-1, roughing up ace pitcher Roy Halladay to one of his worse starts of his career.
The Rays (32-12), with the best record in baseball, won 2 of 3 against the Houston Astros (15-29) that have the worst record in the NL.
The White Sox (18-25) and Twins (26-18) also won their series 2-1 like most every other series was decided over the Marlins (23-22) and Brewers (17-27) respectively. The Marlins lone win came as 13-0 victory Sunday, while the AL Central leading Twins scored 26 runs in their 3 game series.
Interleague play will resume in the middle of June with about 9 more games for each team. We will see if the NL can keep up the charge and come out on top.