After what has become an interesting wild card race in the National League, the excitement was quickly shifted momentarily to the release of the 2013 schedule for the Philadelphia Phillies. Fans will take a look and see one major difference in the schedule that I personally have never seen before.
After a three game series to open up the season in Atlanta from April 1-4, the Phillies will head home to take on….the Kansas City Royals? Yes, the American League Central Kansas City Royals. This is truly surprising because as any baseball fan may know, interleague play does not typically begin until June.
After seeing this on the 2013 schedule, I had to take a double take. And then a triple take. Now call me old fashioned, but opening up against a National League team at home would just make more sense.
The move for the Houston Astros from the National League to the American League seems to be the cause for this change, as every division in baseball will now have five teams. With the new Major League Baseball schedule, there will be at least one interleague game per day throughout the season, according to mlb.com.
The new schedule also means more interleague games per year for every team. Each team will play 20 interleague games over eight series. Of the eight series, each team will have four series at home and four series on the road. As for 2013 interleague play, the Phillies will take on the Royals at home, Indians(home and away), Red Sox(home and away), Twins on the road, White Sox at home, and end with the Tigers on the road on July 28.
I suppose that in this effort, it will “excite” fans of baseball as they will have the opportunity to see their team play teams they normally would not have the opportunity to play. Now while the 2013 schedule creators may be right eventually, for me as a fan of the game, it is sure going to take a while to get used to.
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