I think we can all agree that interleague play is fraud and a waste of valuable regular-season time. Why not just let teams set up city series like in the old days? It's also pointless outside of New York, LA, and Chicago. What's the point of the relocated Expos playing the Blue Jays now anyway?

Anyway, to commemorate the opening of interleague season, its ninth, which if you missed it was tonight, I thought a look its impact would be in order. Does interleague play matter? If we removed all of the interleague games from the schedule, would it make a sound?

First, here are the best interleague records all-time:

Now, the worst:

Next, which teams had interleague records that were the most out of sync with their remainder of their record:

So given that teams can have that much of a swing between their interleague and intraleague record, have any pennant races been affected by this silly Bud-inspired exercise? The short answer is yes. The long one follows—this are the teams whose playoff fortunes would have changed had interleague games not been counted. First is the overall record, second the interleague, and finally the result if interleague games were removed:

That gives me one more reason to hate interleague play: it helped wrest at least a share of the 2001 NL East title out of my Phils hands. Thanks, Bud!