As a lifelong old school Dodger fan I am, of course, a lifelong old school National League guy. As such, I do not like the designated hitter rule nor do I like interleague play – it’s as simple as that. And while valid arguments can be made both for and against these hot topics, there is one thing that cannot be argued – the Dodgers pretty much suck at interleague play.

The Dodgers play 20 interleague games in 2013.

In the 254 interleague games that the Dodgers have played, they are an unimpressive 115-139 (.453) , which means that there is a 24-game differential just to get to .500. Granted, this is not an insurmountable number in the long run, but it is probably insurmountable in my lifetime, and I don’t like that one bit.

There is a silver lining to this whole interleague thing – the Orioles have an even worse interleague record than the Dodgers at 126-157 (.445), but then, they have also played 29 more interleague games than the Dodgers have, so these numbers are a bit skewed.

The obvious burning question of course is how have the Dodgers fared against the Orioles in interleague play? Aah… some good news here. The two teams have faced each other six times since interleague play began in 1997 and the Dodgers won five of them – so they’ve got that going for them. The problem is, the Orioles made it into the playoffs last season and the Dodgers, well… you know.

As much as I hate to admit it, interleague play has allowed me to see teams and ballparks that I otherwise most likely never would have seen, most notably the grandest ballpark of them all – Fenway Park in Boston. When the Dodgers traveled to Boston to take on the Red Sox in 2010, my daughter (who lives in Brooklyn) and I took the Amtrak from Penn Station to Boston Back Bay, and let me tell you, the four-hour train ride was absolutely breathtaking.

The train ride from New York City to Boston was incredible – especially through the Connecticut countryside. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

We also toured Fenway Park and could feel the aura of it’s rich history around us. It is still one of the greatest baseball experiences of my life, in spite of the Dodgers being swept by the Red Sox.

It’s impossible to describe but you can just feel the magic of Fenway Park, especially when atop the Green Monster. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

As you have probably already guessed, my daughter and I will be attending the brief two-game series between the Yankees and Dodgers at Yankee Stadium this summer. And though I have already been to “The House the Jeter Built” twice in the past three seasons, these will be the first non-World Series games between these two fierce rivals in the Bronx since before the Dodgers left Brooklyn in 1958.

When the Dodgers play the Yankees at Yankee Stadium on June 18 & 19, 2013, it will be their first non-World Series meeting in the Bronx since before the Dodgers moved west. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

I must say that new Yankee Stadium’s museum and Memorial Park are absolutely incredible and I have sent emails to the Dodgers suggesting that they consider adding something like this at Dodger Stadium. Judging from the replies that I received, there is every indication that the new Dodger owners are already looking into this.

As an avid autographed baseball collector, I was in absolute awe when I saw this huge display of autographed baseballs at the museum inside of Yankee Stadium. (Photo credit – Gary Dunaier)

The bottom line is that like the designated hitter rule, interleague play most likely isn’t going away anytime soon, so we might as well embrace it. And who knows, maybe I actually will get to meet The Big Dodger in the Sky (as Tommy calls Him) with a winning interleague record after all.