Former MVP bashes MLB’s 'glorious decision' to add interleague games

Ahead of the 2023 season, MLB made a massive decision. They were completely changing the entire format of their schedule to instead have all 30 teams face off against each other. It had never happened before until 2023.

The changes saw dips in both divisional and intraleague games and a major increase in interleague games. The purpose of these changes from MLB's perspective were quite clear. They wanted to make more money.

Well, not everyone approved of the changes. Former NL MVP and current New York Mets broadcaster Keith Hernandez made his stance on the matter abundantly clear. He does not get it.

MLB's schedule change has its pros and cons

MLB making the decision that they made makes a lot of sense. More games against the popular teams like the Dodgers, Yankees, and Red Sox will attract more fans to the ballpark and to the television.

One major pro that comes from this change is that certain fanbases that might not see a specific star play against their team ever will get a chance to do so every year. They'll get a chance to see that star come to their stadium every other year. That matters. Everyone wants to see a transformational player like Shohei Ohtani come to any given ballpark every year. This change gets Ohtani matched up against teams he might not have faced often at all had the schedule stayed the same way it was.

While the pros are obvious, so are the cons. Hernandez said: "Just do not understand that one bit," when talking about MLB's decision to change the schedule. It's not hard to see why.

This change gives more variety and allows fans to see teams and players they haven't seen much, but it also cuts back the more important games. The games between teams within the same division and the same league mean infinitely more than games from outside of the league.

Sure, games between the Mets and Yankees are fun for fans, but that's just for bragging rights. The Mets couldn't care less about what the Yankees do with the remainder of the games they play, and the same can be said about the Yankees about the Mets.

Mets play-by-play broadcaster Gary Cohen outlined other issues that have come with this new schedule. It creates more travel, less familiarity, and fewer division matchups.

The travel can be impactful, especially for teams that play on either coast. Teams often struggle when they have to go cross country on long road trips, and this causes more of them.

The lack of division games is what really sticks out. Play against interleague opponents shouldn't matter as much as it does as a result of this change. More emphasis should be put on division games, and it's unfortunate that those were cut back at a large scale.

Both sides have validity, which should be the main takeaway, but Hernandez does have reason to be frustrated with the changes.