Tom Brennan - INTERLEAGUE INTRIGUE AND FATIGUE
In a season where the Mets have several deserving offensive players who will be squeezed for playing time, one rescue point is interleague away games.
In those games, the Mets will get to field 9 hitters, not 8, offering a little safety valve for hitters' frustration at getting in the lineup.
Of course, that does not come until July: 2 games with the Blue Jays (July 3, 4); 3 with the Bronx Bombers (July 20-22); 2 with the Orioles (August 14-15); and 3 with the Red Sox. We do have a few interleague games in May, but those are at Citifield against Curtis Granderson's Toronto Jaybirds.
Having those 10 games will add a little more offensive intrigue. the underused Flores may start several more times. WIL-MER!
Yeah, but...
But, but, but...the Mets' main goal is to get to the playoffs, and it is frustrating and fatiguing to have to pair off against above-average AL teams for so many games.
How many games? The BIG TWO-OH, that's how many.
How many games? The BIG TWO-OH, that's how many.
Yankees - 6 games
Blue Jays - 4 games
Orioles - 4 games
Red Sox - 3 games
Tampa - 3 games
Bleacher Reports recently added their projected wins in 2018 for each team above.
Yanks? 100.
Red Sox? 96.
Blue Jays? 85.
Orioles? 81.
Tampa? 65.
They may have the Orioles (8-20 so far) and Tampa (12-14 so far) mixed up, but what exactly, based on Bleacher Reports, is the weighted average of the teams' projections?
87.4 wins and 74.6 losses, or .540 baseball.
87.4 wins and 74.6 losses, or .540 baseball.
Since the average team's win - loss % is immutably .500, the Mets are scheduled to face a collectively much more difficult than average group of interleague teams in 2018.
Wouldn't it be nice if, somehow, as the Mets pursue the pennant, the AL teams that the Mets play instead had the opposite projected win - loss %, a meager .460.
Such a difference could perhaps be worth about 4 more wins, as it seems to me that the Mets could go 12-8 against .460 teams, but only 8-12 against .540 teams.
How about 6 vs. lowly Tampa, and just 3 against the Yanks?
Should I just not care, and when we miss the playoffs by 2 games, think about how great those interleague games were, especially the ones we got shellacked in?
And should I not care even more as to how much money our dearly loved and appreciated ownership makes in those six season-impacting Yankee games?
And should I not care even more as to how much money our dearly loved and appreciated ownership makes in those six season-impacting Yankee games?
How about you - are you intrigued - or fatigued?
I'm not gonna say for myself, but I'm going to take a nap now, so please don't bother me. Thanks in advance.
(And no, I did not look to see what sort of interleague schedule the Nats face this year - you can do that, don't just sit there - I need to nap!)
I'm not gonna say for myself, but I'm going to take a nap now, so please don't bother me. Thanks in advance.
(And no, I did not look to see what sort of interleague schedule the Nats face this year - you can do that, don't just sit there - I need to nap!)
I think inter league play has "run it's course", so to speak. As you mentioned, unless the schedule rotates or is "fairly" divided up, certain teams will be at a disadvantage having to routinely play tougher opponents.
ReplyDeleteGo back to the old schedule!
I'd sign up for that -- 154 games within your own league. It makes the post-season that much more interesting never having seen the opponents before.
ReplyDeleteMike, it is all about $$ - but if you play the Yanks 6 times and Boston 3 times, and lose 7 of 9, and are 7 games out on Labor Day instead of 2 games out (had you not played those teams), then you lose box office in September, and maybe also in the offseason playoffs you would have otherwise been included in.
ReplyDeleteSo the increased cash flow from playing these teams earlier could reverse (or worse) later in the season.
According to Wikipedia, the Mets in interleague play vs. the yanks are 46-66 (.410). The Yanks love it because a0 they make tons of $$ and b) they are .590 all time vs. Mets in interleague play. Win-win for them.
Reese, if these are the quality AL teams we are going to see year after year, me too - skip the darned interleague games.
ReplyDeleteabsolutely not...
ReplyDeleteI want to see the Mets play everyone... there should be divisional rotation like the NFL... every year your division rotate between the AL EAST WEST and Central.
I could care less about the subway series anymore so playing them every 3 years is fine with me...