Ranking the 8 Most Exciting Interleague Series to Watch This Weekend

Love it or hate it, interleague play will make its 2012 debut this weekend.

All told, there are 14 interleague series on tap for the next few days. The only teams being spared are the St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Dodgers, who will play a regular old National League series at Chavez Ravine.

Some of the interleague series lined up aren't very appealing.

The Pittsburgh Pirates at the Detroit Tigers? That'll probably be a laugher.

The Texas Rangers at the Houston Astros? Another laugher.

The Arizona Diamondbacks at the Kansas City Royals? Meh.

I recommend focusing on the good ones. Here are eight interleague series you should be looking forward to.

Note: All pitching probables come courtesy of MLB.com.

8. Boston Red Sox at Philadelphia Phillies

Friday: Daniel Bard vs. Cole Hamels

Saturday: Jon Lester vs. Joe Blanton

Sunday: Josh Beckett vs. Cliff Lee

It's too bad it's 2012 and not 2008, 2009, 2010 or 2011. A Red Sox-Phillies series in any one of those years probably would have been at the top of this list.

There's really not a whole lot to like when it comes to these two teams. The Red Sox can swing the bats, but their pitching is highly suspect, and you just never know when they're going to slow things down by forgetting how to play the game (i.e. balks, lots of them). The Phillies still have their great rotation, but their offense is boring and their bullpen kind of sucks.

Still, it's always fun to watch guys like Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz go to work on Boston's end, and the Phillies are going to be trotting two of their best starting pitchers in this series. If Beckett brings his A-game, the Beckett vs. Lee showdown on Sunday will be a humdinger.

Hopefully, Jonathan Papelbon will get to make an appearance against his old team. That could lead to a beanball war or a home-run party at Pap's expense.

I'd be cool with either outcome.

7. Chicago White Sox at Chicago Cubs

Friday: Philip Humber vs. Jeff Samardzija (Live now on MLB.com)

Saturday: John Danks vs. Ryan Dempster

Sunday: Jake Peavy vs. Paul Maholm

The Windy City Showdown is always a big deal. Even when both the White Sox and the Cubs are boring, near-unwatchable teams, as they are this year.

The White Sox have some pretty good pitching at their disposal, and Paul Konerko and Adam Dunn are providing plenty of pop on offense. Collectively, though, few teams define mediocrity quite like the White Sox.

The Cubs, meanwhile, deserve credit for not being as awful as many of us thought they were going to be. Bryan LaHair and Starlin Castro are both worth tuning in for, and they've gotten surprisingly good work out of their starting pitching. But if the White Sox are mediocre, the Cubs are just plain bad.

Nonetheless, this is one of the oldest rivalries in baseball, and it's given us plenty of memorable moments over the years. Perhaps it will give us a few more this year.

[Crossing fingers for Cubs fans to throw beer in Hawk Harrelson's face]

6. Oakland Athletics at San Francisco Giants

Friday: Jarrod Parker vs. Barry Zito

Saturday: Tyson Ross vs. Ryan Vogelsong

Sunday: Bartolo Colon vs. Tim Lincecum

So far this year, the Giants are performing below expectations, and the A's are performing well above expectations.

The A's have their underrated pitching to thank for that. They've gotten decent work out of their starting pitching and excellent work out of their bullpen. Offensively, former Red Sox great Josh Reddick has been a pleasant surprise.

The A's are catching the Giants at a good time. They're really banged up at the moment, especially on offense. Their infield is comprised of a bunch of Quadruple-A players. It's surely just a matter of time before they give Orlando Hudson a call (he's been released, you see). 

The Giants can still pitch, though, so odds are, we're going to see some tight pitching matchups in this series. It helps that both offenses are pretty weak.

If you like pitching, this is the series you should be keeping your eye on. You should look forward to the Colon vs. Lincecum matchup in particular, if for no other reason than the fact that Lincecum is the size of one of Colon's legs.

5. New York Mets at Toronto Blue Jays

Friday: Jon Niese vs. Ricky Romero

Saturday: Miguel Batista vs. Brandon Morrow

Sunday: Dillon Gee vs. Henderson Alvarez

The Mets are in the thick of the NL East race, and the Blue Jays are in the thick of the AL East race.

Is this...is this real life?

It's hard to tell how the Mets are doing it. Their pitching isn't great, nor is their offense. David Wright is having an excellent season, and Johan Santana is having a great bounce-back year, but the rest of the Mets are decidedly "meh." They're clearly better than the sum of their parts.

The Jays, meanwhile, should probably be even better than they are. They have a very good starting rotation comprised of talented youngsters, and their lineup is pretty well-stocked with power hitters. Edwin Encarnacion, in particular, has been great, and Jose Bautista has nine homers despite the fact he's still batting under the Mendoza line.

So for lack of a better word, this is going to be a highly interesting series. It doesn't look all that sexy on paper, to be sure, but a lot of things that are great don't look too sexy on paper.

I'll stop now before I say something inappropriate. 

4. Miami Marlins at Cleveland Indians

Friday: Carlos Zambrano vs. Justin Masterson

Saturday: Anibal Sanchez vs. Jeanmar Gomez

Sunday: Josh Johnson vs. Derek Lowe

Speaking of things that may or may not be real life, the Marlins have won all but three games in the month of May, and the Indians have a comfortable lead in the AL Central, which was supposed to belong to the Detroit Tigers.

The Marlins have gotten things turned around, thanks primarily to consistent work out of their starting rotation, and Giancarlo Stanton has been on a tear all month. They've looked like the team we expected them to look like, and it's been a lot of fun to watch.

The Indians are a tricky team. They're not blessed with an overabundance of talent, but they're getting consistent production from unlikely sources, chief among them being Derek Lowe. He was horrendous in Atlanta last season, but so far this year, he has six wins and an AL-best 2.05 ERA.

The 2012 Indians look a lot like the 2011 Indians did early in the year. They shouldn't be as good as they are, but, well, they are.

This series probably won't draw that many viewers, but it should, dammit.

3. Cincinnati Reds at New York Yankees

Friday: Bronson Arroyo vs. Andy Pettitte

Saturday: Homer Bailey vs. Ivan Nova

Sunday: Johnny Cueto vs. CC Sabathia

This is going to be a fun series.

Both the Reds and the Yankees have been frustratingly inconsistent this season, but this series has that kind of old-timey feel to it that makes baseball junkies like you and I feel all warm and fuzzy inside. The games should be broadcast in sepia tones.

Personally, I can't wait to see if Joey Votto and Jay Bruce will take advantage of Yankee Stadium's close quarters. Bruce, in particular, could blast one to a place never before visited by a home-run ball at the new stadium.

It's also going to be cool to see Aroldis Chapman pitch against the Yankees. It's cool to see him pitch against anyone, but who knows when we're going to see him pitch against the Bombers at Yankee Stadium again? [Key word: "against"]

Above all, circle Sunday's matchup between Cueto and Sabathia. That could very well turn into an instant classic.

2. Atlanta Braves at Tampa Bay Rays

Friday: Tommy Hanson vs. James Shields

Saturday: Randall Delgado vs. TBD

Sunday: Tim Hudson vs. David Price

It wouldn't be a huge shock if the series between the Braves and Rays ends up being a preview of the World Series.

The Rays have taken a back seat to the upstart Baltimore Orioles, but they've been one of the best teams in the American League all season. Their offense has been much better than advertised, and their pitching has rebounded nicely after somewhat of a slow start. Their bullpen especially has really turned things around.

The Braves struggled to score runs last year, but that hasn't been the case this year. They're among the top offensive teams in the majors, and there simply aren't that many easy outs in their lineup. Their pitching can be an adventure, but they're able to score enough runs to compensate for it.

This series will likely be a hotly contested affair, and the matchup between Hudson and Price on Sunday has the potential to be a classic. The two of them couldn't be more different, and that's the beauty of it.

1. Baltimore Orioles at Washington Nationals

Friday: Jake Arrieta vs. Edwin Jackson

Saturday: Jason Hammel vs. Ross Detwiler

Sunday: Wei-Yin Chen vs. Stephen Strasburg

We've seen the Orioles and Nationals go at it in the past, and those series have tended to be matchups between two of the most unwatchable teams in the majors.

This year, the series between the Orioles and Nats is a matchup between the two most surprising teams in baseball.

The Orioles are atop the AL East, and the Nationals are atop the NL East. Both teams have benefited from outstanding pitching, especially the Nationals.

The O's definitely have the edge offensively, as their lineup features a handful of noteworthy power hitters, chief among them being Adam Jones and Matt Wieters. They're both making early pushes for the AL MVP.

The Nats struggle to score runs, but they generally don't need many to win games, thanks to their pitching. If Ryan Zimmerman gets on track, Michael Morse comes back healthy and Bryce Harper gets better and better as the year moves along, the Nats are going to be a scary team.

This weekend, it's all about the battle for the beltways. And for once, this battle will actually be interesting.

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