Fixing Interleague Play

I could be wrong about this but this is based on my best recollection of the debate leading up to MLB beginning interleague play.

I had thought the idea behind it originally was with the addition of Arizona to the National League and Tampa Bay to the American League we would have unbalanced leagues. Each league was to consist of three five-team divisions and a team from each league would always be playing an interleague game spread out over the entire course of the season.

Ultimately Bud Selig chose to move his team, the Milwaukee Brewers to the National League thus evening out the leagues.

Yet interleague play continued.

I love the concept of teams playing others from the other league, its good for baseball. However the current setup is bad for baseball.

What I would do to "fix" interleague play would start with a National League team moving to the American League to finally equalize the leagues. Teams to consider are Colorado and Houston because of there offensive parks.

If its Colorado you move Houston to the NL West and the Rockies become part of the AL West, if its Houston they go from the NL Central to the AL West.

Once we have the leagues equalized you work the schedule. To make my plan work it would include a minor addition of games to the schedule, moving from 162 to 165 per season.

A someone balanced schedule would result. You would play 15 games each season against the other teams in your division, six games against each of the other teams in your own league and three games against each of the teams in the other league.

This would eliminate some teams having easier interleague schedules then others and it would also even out the schedule comparison for teams vying for a wild card, though teams from weaker divisions would still have a slight edge, but I think its more important to weigh greater upon division opponents.

Next is the designated hitter. People argue that it evens itself out, but there's a greater advantage for a National League team playing in an American League park then the other way around. Any position player on a team should be able to hit whether for power or not, yet the American League pitchers are at a big disadvantage because they don't hit that often while National League pitchers have it as a way of life.

I think the designated hitter should be instituted for all interleague games.

Back to the schedule. Each team would play and interleague opponent each month and play two opponents in three of the months.