Mets Shocking Yankees in Interleague Play

The New York Mets are going for a four game sweep of the New York Yankees tonight. Remember this week baseball fans. Because if the Tampa Bay Rays make it to the post season and the do not, this week will be brought up again.

First, it will be brought up in the context that the Metsand they 90+ loss team was able to spoil the Yankees season. If the Rays beat the Yanks out by two or fewer games, then it will be made out to be that the Yanks lost their playoff spot to the Mets. While, that would be somewhat true, because as of right now going into the series finale tonight, the Yanks have lost three games in the standings to the Rays since the Mets series began, we are still picking out four games out of 162. That is like picking out one bad quarter in an NFL season and saying, that is why we missed the playoffs.

But here is where the complaining among Yankee fans will take place. The Rays got to play four games against the horrid Miami Marlins and the Yankees did not and that is why we need to get rid of inter-league play. To them I say two things. One, you played four games against the nearly equally horrid Mets, and you lost at least three (could be four if the Mets win again). Two, let’s go back to the NFL. If the NFC West all plays the Jacksonville Jaguars, yes two teams from the West can’t play the inter-league card. But it has not always been that way. The entire division playing the same inter-conference schedule now, but that has only been since the league went to eight divisions. Also, a wild card playoff berth could come down to a team that played Jacksonville and another one that didn’t. Guess what. It doesn’t matter.

The Orioles had to play these four game this week against the Washington Nationals. What of the the Rays beat them out by a game? Do they have a right to complain? Maybe. Clearly the Nationals are better than the Mets and Marlins. But how long has that been the case? You don’t have to go back very far to a day when the Mets were good and the Nats were terrible. So in a few years, will the Rays be at an advantage? Who knows?

The Atlanta Braves drew the Toronto Blue Jays for these four games. At the start of the season, that looked like a tough draw. By the time the games happened, it became the easiest draw. Yet, the best they can do is split the four games. The Mets will gain at least one game on the Braves while playing the Yankees. Give credit to the Rays. They have beaten the Marlins all three times so far. You have to beat who they put on your schedule. They did that. The Orioles have beaten the Nationals two of three, why couldn’t the Yankees do that?

So when the Yankees cry (if it should happen) about missing the playoffs because the Rays got four games against the Marlins. Do not buy it.

The fans in New York want to see the Yankees play the Mets. The fans in the D.C. area want Nationals vs Orioles and the fans in Florida want the Marlins to play the Rays. Just like in the Bay area they want the San Francisco Giants to play the Oakland A’s and in Los Angeles they want to see the Los Angeles Angels meet the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs play the Chicago White Sox in Chicago. Those games are just good for baseball.