According to this article on ESPN.com, George Steinbrenner is not happy with the interleague schedule.

"Katy Feeney makes the schedule, and she has never been a favorite of mine or a favorite of the Yankees," Steinbrenner said to the newspaper. "We play Cincinnati, which is a fine, fine ball club; they're going to be in the middle of it. Then we play the Cubs.

"Now who is the other guy playing? They're playing against Milwaukee. Now what's right about that? They're playing Pittsburgh and Milwaukee while we're playing Cincinnati and the Cubs. I think they got the best of that deal.

Major League vice president Feeney said the schedule was done more than a year and a half in advance. The Yankees will play the Brewers and Pirates in 2005, according to Feeney.

"I can assure you, I do not, and the other schedule contractors certainly do not, purposefully think, 'How can we make life more difficult for the Yankees?' " Feeney said.

Actually, I think the schedules, since they are out of balance already, should be adjusted in the way the NFL schedules are. The NFL is all about parity, and one way they achieve this is to have games outside of a team's division against teams at the same level from the previous year. So, the AFC east champ, if they are going to play the AFC central, will play the top teams from that division; the team that finished last in the AFC east will play the bottom teams from the AFC Central. So if you finish last if a division in the NFL, and are on the upswing, you actually have a pretty good shot of making the playoffs, because you're playing a lower level of competition. I don't see why baseball can't do the same thing.

So the Yankees and A's and Braves would have to face the better opponents from the other divisions more than the DRays or Brewers would. It also provides an incentive for teams to try to win, since they all want the Yankees to come to town, and that will only happen if they are as good as the Yankees.