Brett Myers and the Phillies get to face the iron of the AL this week, as they play the Red Sox and Angels.

We are entering Week 12 of the 2008 MLB season, and the schedule calls for nearly all teams to play interleague games. Unlike the first weekend of interleague play, which featured many of the regional rivalries between the AL and NL, this week of games has teams playing against opponents that they would otherwise only play against in the World Series. In other words, fans are seeing pairings that would rarely if ever happen outside of extraordinary circumstances.

Therein lies one of the problems with these interleague games. Do the people of Seattle really care about a chance to see the Marlins? Or better yet, how desperate are the people of Atlanta to see the Mariners, one of the worst teams in baseball? That brings up another of the problems with interleague play, and the unbalanced schedule. As designed, the interleague schedule assumes that there is league parity. Now you and I both know that there is no such thing as parity in MLB. So the Braves get to play games against the Mariners, while the Phillies have to face the Red Sox and Angels, two of the tougher teams in the AL. There are inequities like that all over the interleague schedule.

Then there is whole issue surrounding the use of the DH in AL parks, but not in NL parks. That creates a disadvantage for the AL teams that usually have to bench their DH when playing in a NL park. Doesn’t it also follow that NL teams that travel to AL parks for interleague games have an advantage over the NL teams that host an AL team? Think about it; the Mets travel across the U.S to face the Angels, and can place an extra hitter off their bench into the lineup to generate more offense. Alternately, the Phillies host a couple of AL teams this week, and will play by NL rules. This puts them at a disadvantage in comparison to the Mets. Both teams play in the NL East, and should they end up in a tie, the offense and outcomes of these interleague games could end up being the deciding factor in a pennant race. To me, this is one occasion when the lack of uniform rules between the two leagues is a problem.

Given that MLB seems committed to continuing the interleague program, and keeping the unbalanced schedule, doesn’t it make sense to at least have uniformity in the rules of the game? If the schedules are going to have some teams facing the creampuffs of the other league while their competitors are forced to play against the iron of the other league, doesn’t it make sense to have everyone playing by the same set of rules? Shouldn’t we try to have as level a playing field as possible?

Of course, the worst part of all this interleague play is that it makes it virtually impossible to designate a Series of the Week, a normal “Leading Off:” feature. Because none of the games being played this week have significance outside of the win/loss column for teams, there will be no Series of the Week this week. Oh, I’m sure if I took the time to dig into the match ups, I could probably find two teams that are meeting this week who have perhaps met before, maybe even on baseball’s biggest stage, The World Series. But really, who cares? Which pretty much sums up how I feel about interleague play. It’s nothing but a big snooze, that is not fair to most teams, and doesn’t really do anything to advance the game or improve its’ image.