End Citrus Series and Interleague Play Once and for All

Major League Baseball ended 2009 Interleague Play after the final out was made in the Yankees/Mets contest on Sunday Night Baseball, and it couldn't end soon enough.

The time has come to end interleague play for good. There is just no point of watching it anymore since most of the games are unwatchable.

At least, the Marlins made it exciting. They lucked out playing the Yankees and the Red Sox this year so there was interest to see how a young team like the Marlins would match up against both teams so that part of interleague play was exciting.

Still for every Marlins/Yankees or Marlins/Red Sox game that we saw, we have to sit through watching the snoozefest of Orioles/Marlins and Marlins/Blue Jays. Why?

The one thing that made baseball unique of all professional sports was when AL teams and NL teams would face each only in the World Series, and AL and NL team would face each other in the All-Star Game.

Unfortunately, the strike took place in the summer of 1994, and it wiped out the entire regular season and the World Series. Baseball was back in 1995, and Major League Baseball tried to get fans back by having a cheesy promo of, "Welcome to the Show."

The fans never fell for that, and it showed with many empty seats in the ballparks outside of New York and Chicago. Montreal never recovered from the strike, and that's why the Expos moved out of Montreal, and turned into the Washington Nationals, who the Marlins face tonight for a three-game set.

Selig had to try something so he used some bag of tricks, and invented Interleague Play between the AL and NL to get fans interested. It was a bonanza at first because AL fans wanted to see the stars of the NL teams and vice versa.

After 12 years, there is no more buzz on Selig's pet project. No one cares. Even the folks of New York and Chicago don't care about crosstown rivalries.

Wouldn't Marlins fans prefer seeing their team play the Cubs, Dodgers, Giants, and the Cardinals more than watching this?

Interleague play benefits NL owners since their teams get to see the Yankees and the Red Sox town once awhile not to mention owners get to make a profit of watching teams from the same city face off.

With that said, how does it benefit the Marlins? Did anyone in Miami and in Tampa-St. Pete got pumped for the Citrus Series between the Marlins and Rays this weekend and few weeks ago? Does anyone even care?

There was no buzz at the Tropicana Dome for the three-game set. Most of the fans entertain themselves by using those annoying cowbells.

Plus, the Rays have had their way with the Marlins for the last couple of years, and this weekend, the Rays beat the Marlins on defense, offense, and pitching. It wasn't even interesting.

If Major League Baseball wants to keep Mets/Yankees, Cubs/White Sox, Giants/A's, and Dodgers/Angels, fine, even though those matchups have run their course too, but why subject fans to watch other horrible matchups out there?

Who wants to see a pitcher hit too?

Does anyone even go to the water cooler and talk about what happened in an interleague game? Odds are probably not, and ESPN barely even hypes it up.

It's just time to get back to the way it used to be.