2008 Interleague Inequity – AL Central
Posted by: Richie Rich in 2008 MLB, Indians, Interleague Play, Royals, Tigers, Twins, White Sox
We’ve analyzed the Senior Circuit’s 2008 trip through the American League … let’s move on to the Junior Circuit’s 2008 Interleague opponents.
Teams from the American League always have a bit of a dilemma for their road Interleague games, because there’s no DH in NL Parks. On top of that, AL pitchers have to hit for themselves, which they don’t do in their other 144 games.
Is it a disadvantage? The AL leads the NL 1,250 to 1,202 in Interleague games over the past ten seasons … so not really. Then again, maybe that Win-Loss Record would be even more in favor of the AL if DH’s could rake against NL Pitchers.
But it still doesn’t sit well with some AL Managers …
We hate it when our pitchers have to start hitting. We have to do a lot of extra work and take a lot of risks for not that many at-bats.
Ron Gardenhire, Manager, Minnesota Twins (2005)
Gardy’s gonna dislike it even more this season, without the NL-killing Johan Santana in his rotation anymore.
But when you’re 100-75 in ten years of Interleague Play, you don’t seem to mind …
If we played National League teams, the Central Division, we might win 150 games in that league.
Ozzie Guillen, White Sox Manager (2006)
Let’s take a look at the AL Central and see if there’s anyone with an early schedule advantage … on paper. Matched up against the pitching-rich NL West … someone will surely have an advantage if they avoid two of the tops teams.
2008 AL Central Interleague
| I/L | FLA | WAS | CHC | MIL | CIN | PIT | STL | LAD | SD | SF | COL | ARZ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TEAM | SOS | .438 | .451 | .525 | .512 | .444 | .420 | .481 | .506 | .546 | .438 | .552 | .556 |
| MIN | .523 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |||||||
| DET | .514 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | ||||||
| CWS | .495 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |||||||
| KC | .492 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |||||||
| CLE | .490 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
At first glance, the defending AL Central Champion Indians have the Interleague SOS advantage. If you’re going to miss playing one team in the NL West, it might as well be the D-Backs with Brandon Webb and Dan Haren. The home and home with Cincy is always a nice treat.
There’s some Interleague luck happening in the Windy City this season, as the White Sox (like their Northside counterparts) miss the top two teams in the West. Not having to play the Pads or D-Backs might really give the ChiSox the advantage among the contenders. The series against the Cubs should be really interesting, seeing as the Sox will be gunning for the Cubs after losing five games to them last season. While we’re at it, someone has to explain to me why the White Sox are playing the Pittsburgh Pirates … for the third season in a row.
Detroit is only the second team in all of baseball playing all the teams of another division in Interleague play (the Rockies are the other one) and neither one has an easy road. They do luck out by hosting a down Cardinals squad for their swing games.
Minnesota gets the short stick this season, playing the top three teams in the NL West (SD and COL on the road). Mixed in with that is a six-game set against a hungry Brewers team and a brief reprieve against the Nats in the Metrodome.
The Royals will be part of two of the absolute dregs of the entire Interleague schedule whe they match up against the Marlins and the Giants. Even that St. Louis rivalry doesn’t look appealing this season.
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