Rivalry Week in Major League Baseball....yawn......

Throwing you a bender because I just thought you should know...

So the math works out, 15 teams in each league, five in each division and so each team has a legitimate one in five shot of winning their division. All this baseball correctness brought to you by the decision to move the Astros to the American League and have interleague play all season long.

Which leaves us with baseball's attempt at creating interest during interleague play, the Rivalry Week! This is the week where the showcase rivalries are all played out. Baseball had to do something to try and make interleague play still look like a hot novelty. So we get to see all the intra-city matchups with New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. We have the intra-state games on tap in Ohio, Missouri, and Florida. We even get to witness the Orioles and Nationals play each other.

Unfortunately, all the teams in baseball are scheduled and that means some stretches for Rivalry Week. Bet you couldn't wait to see the Braves and Blue Jays battle it out for the Little Bobby Cox Jug. The Padres and Mariners games are intensified by the winner getting first dibs on the good whirlpool at the spring training complex they share. The Rockies and Astros are playing each other too, I suppose so baseball can see how far home runs can possibly go in the thin air off Houston pitching.

As the switch to two 15 team leagues was made in part to keep the schedule more balanced, at least Rivalry Week was reduced to four games instead of six like in the past. This helps keeps the balance aspect intact a little bit more, however, I suspect the Rays would love to have more games to beat up on the Marlins!

Even the real "rivalries" feel dull and antiquated, especially with interleague play taking place every day now. The specific blocks on the schedule that had interleague play previously did inject some enthusiasm and definitely brought an increase in attendance. The proof of decreased interest seems to show in that the networks (ESPN and the MLB Network) are really only showing the big markets of LA vs. LA and NY vs. NY, with a small dose of Boston and Philadelphia thrown in. The Orioles and Nationals both made the playoffs last year and are in the thick of it this year, but, alas, no national coverage. This, to me, is the network's backhanded way of saying the interleague aspect is no longer a draw, we need the larger markets.

At this point, I can't imagine the owners ever letting go of these games for the foreseeable future. So since they are here to stay for now, maybe they should be spread throughout the season. With interleague play a daily event now, staggering Rivalry Week matchups would allow all the rivalries that are interesting or escalated to draw national attention. By doing this, the contrived rivalries can be just another interleague matchup and not looked so down upon for the attempt to make it important.

Right now, we get to see the Rangers and the Diamondbacks as a good series of baseball and we shouldn't have to pretend it is anything more than that. The Tigers and Pirates can be something to watch as the Bucs try to conquer a long period of sub .500 baseball while the Tigers carry premium stars. But a rivalry worthy of hyped promotion? C'mon baseball, it is time to get this schedule fixed.

Now if only the Tribe could play the Marlins four times right now to snap out of their funk. Isn't a rematch of the 1997 World Series worthy of Rivalry Week?

All this because I know more about nothing...