Cincinnati's Interleague Woes

As the Reds enter a road series against the Orioles (only their second trip all-time to Baltimore, and first in the regular season), let's take a look at some ugly interleague stats.

The worst interleague teams (1997 through 6/23/11)

Pittsburgh - .376
San Diego - .416
Baltimore - .438
Cincinnati - .441
Kansas City - .445

One common thing you'll hear among Reds fans is that playing a tough team like Cleveland as our twice-annual matchup puts us at a disadvantage, but that's not really responsible for Cincinnati's poor record against the AL - now standing at 93-118.

Here are the most lop-sided interleague rivalries:

Yankees over Mets (47-34 = .580)
Cardinals over Royals (38-28 = .576)
Angels over Dodgers (46-34 = .575)
Blue Jays over Nats/Expos (33-25 = .569) - note: Washington's new main rival is Baltimore
Twins over Brewers (36-28 = .563)
Rangers over Astros (35-28 = .556)

The Redlegs' 35-37 record against the Indians isn't great, and certainly might mean a difference of a couple games a year between them and St. Louis, but it isn't the driving force behind the terrible overall mark.

The real problems:

3-14 vs Chicago White Sox
1-8 vs Seattle Mariners
1-5 vs Boston Red Sox
4-8 vs Toronto Blue Jays
4-8 vs Oakland A's

Other than the White Sox, the Reds are right around .500 against the rest of the AL Central opponents. Also 5-4 against the Yankees and Rangers, 2-1 against the Orioles.

As far as individual seasons, most years the Redlegs have at least posted a respectable mark, with a few exceptions:

2001: 4-11
2002: 2-10
2007: 7-11
2011: 2-7 so far, with series @BAL, @TBR, vs CLE remaining

By the way, after Baltimore comes a trip to Tampa Bay - the only current MLB team never to beat the Reds...albeit in only six tries.