Chipper Jones has expressed his displeasure of the Braves interleague schedule and the "interleague rivalry games."

"Is it fun? Yeah. It's fun playing in new cities. It's fun playing in front of new crowds, it's fun playing new teams," Jones said. "What's not fun is when they're all contenders and your competition doesn't have to play the same competition you do."-AP

This is very true in regards to the Braves but the Mets have just as much reason to complain as the Braves do. Interleague play was introduced in 1997 and was such a success it has remained since. The original inception had teams in the same divisions but in different leagues playing each other on a regular basis, however, that concept has evolved to include baseball induced rivalry games between the two leagues. Atlanta/Boston, Yankees/Mets, Angles/Dodgers, Oakland/San Francisco, Rangers/Astros and so on.

"If we're going to play the American League Central, everybody has to play all the teams in the American League Central," Jones said. "This split-it-up and we have to play our rival in the American League East stuff, I don't get it. It's unfair for us and the Mets on a year-in, year-out basis to have to play the Yankees and Red Sox when other teams don't.-AP

Here are some statistics that back Chipper's argument for the Braves but make an even stronger argument for the Mets.

Atlanta Braves (166) top three opponents by game totals:

Boston - 39 Baltimore - 27 New York Yankees - 19

85 of their 166 interleague games against three teams. That's four more total games than they have played against all the other American league teams combined.

Now to the stat that will really open your eyes as to how lopsided interleague play is.

New York Mets (166) top three opponents by game totals:

New York Yankees - 54 Baltimore - 19 Boston - 18

91 games against three teams? 54 games against the Yankees? Interleague play has been in MLB for ten years and almost a third of the Mets interleague games have came against the Yankees?

In agreement with Chipper's argument, why does major league baseball deem it necessary to instill rivalries that may not even exist. Yes there was the subway series when the Mets and Yankees met in the world series but that moment could have been so much more important to the league, the fans and the players had the teams not had to meet in the regular season.

I enjoy interleague play but I would like to see more adversity. I agree that the divisions should swap up every year or every two years, put it on a two year rotation where each team gets a home series and then the teams play another division.

Is Chipper whining? Probably a little bit but his argument is just as strong for the Mets as it is for the Braves.