The real question here is, how can you possibly make it “fair?” The answer is, you can’t. Unless you run all the games through a computer simulator and have them played in a dome, there will not be a perfectly level field. Even if you weighted the Interleague schedules based on the previous season’s standings (#1 AL vs. #1 NL, #2 AL vs. #2 NL) you would have problems. If you made the schedule according to payroll, you’d have problems. There’s no prefect solution.

Is it fair that a team like the Detroit Tigers can battle the Twins, Indians and White Sox all year long and then surpass teams like the Yankees and A’s in playoff baseball to make it to the World Series; while a team like the Cardinals cherry picked a horrid division, winning a whopping 83 games (13th best in baseball) and put together a nice little playoff run to match them in the Fall Classic? No, not really. It’s even less fair that the best team in baseball for almost an entire season will be forgotten as the team that got smoked in the 2006 World Series by a team that played about three weeks of really nice baseball.

So Chipper and anyone else that wants to complain that Interleague play isn’t fair should shut up and go win the ballgames in front of them. Life isn’t fair. Deal with it.

It should be noted that Mr. Jones’ comments were taken following a drubbing of 13-2 at the hands of the Pittsburgh Pirates and immediately followed by the Bravos dropping 3-of-4 to the Washington Nationals. If and when Atlanta finishes a couple games out of a playoff spot and the issue is revisited; let us all please remind Chipper that losing 4 out of 5 games against AAAA baseball teams probably hurt them every bit as much as whatever will happen versus the Red Sox!