This season the New York Yankees will play 162 games, like every other Major League Baseball team. The Yankees will travel all across the country facing various ball clubs in California, Texas and even Washington. The Yankees will (as always) travel to Toronto, Canada to battle the Blue Jays nine times this year. That's a lot of jet lag for players and managers to continually endure for a season.

All of this brings up the question: Why are the Yankees playing so many games across the country and Canada, while they only play the New York Mets four times?

It begins with the popular debate among baseball fans of the interleague play. Major League Baseball is the most separated sports league of the "big" when it comes to divisional play. Contrarily, the National Football League has the most interleague games of any sports league per season. With the NFL being the most popular sports league in America, maybe it's time for MLB to adapt.

As previously stated, the Yankees will only play their inner city rival Mets just four times this entire season. For 162 game season, this is beyond madness. The Yankees and Mets both play in the same city and are separated by just a subway ride away from each other. Baseball fans in the Bronx and Queens don't get nearly enough matchups between these teams annually during the season. Of course we all love our Yankees-Red Sox and Yankees-Orioles rivalry games, but do we really need it 19 times a year? Maybe, maybe not.

Increasing interleague games between the Yankees and Mets has enormous benefits for fans and the league. The first and most obvious factor is traveling. This season, the Yankees and Angels play each other six times. Let's think about that for a second. Yankees and Angels have no longtime rivalry and are separated by nearly 3,000 miles. So when we do the math, that means collectively these six matchups will combine for almost 36,000 miles including round trips. Yankee Stadium and Citi Field are separated by less than 15 miles.

Another huge beneficial factor is money and popularity. Baseball is still a popular sport, but the younger generations are leaning towards basketball and football more and more. Other leagues give fans a more diversified schedule. Are fans going to pay extra for a repeat of Yankees-Orioles? Or would a Yankees-Mets, Yankees-Cubs game be more intriguing? This is also present in Illinois and Ohio. The Cubs and White Sox both play in Chicago but only play each other just four times this season. In Ohio, the Reds and Indians both play in the same state but only play each other four times as well. These games would create bigger rivalries for fans to follow.

An expansion of Yankees and Mets games on the schedule would save a lot of time and money and would create a bigger rivalry. Battle of the boroughs would have huge bragging rights for fans during the season. For the Yankees to travel to Seattle more than Queens is a bit ridiculous. If MLB does not expand interleague play, than it might be wise to decrease the amount of games. Fans don't need to see 162 games of repetition.

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