Interleague play has taken on a new format in Major League Baseball scheduling this year, which was necessary because of realignment which resulted in 15 teams in both the American and National Leagues.

As everyone knows, instead of interleague play being confined to a three-week period in June, in 2013 there is one interleague series being played at all times all season long…..with an exception for four days in late May.

The other new twist on interleague scheduling this season takes place May 27-30.  All 30 teams will play their “rivals” in back-to-back two-game series in both cities.  In the Mariners case, the Padres will be at Safeco Field on Monday and Tuesday (May 27-28).  Both teams will fly to San Diego to play Wednesday and Thursday (May 29-30) at Petco Park.

Below are the 15 interleague matchups, some of which are “natural rivals” and some of which are “not-so-natural rivals.”  The first ten matchups are the “naturals”, which involve primarily cross-town or cross-state matchups (Twins-Brewers, of course, represent neighboring states).  The bottom five are, well, “Everybody has to play somebody.”

Which two matchups will require the longest flights between the two cities?  You guessed it.  The Seattle to San Diego flight is approximately 1,079 miles, considerably longer than the 872 miles from Houston to Denver.

Baseball, perhaps more than any other sport, inspires artistic expression. A recent example is a very well-reviewed first book by a young writer who spent a year in Clinton, Iowa, home of the Mariners Class A affiliate, the Clinton LumberKings.

Cover Art from Class A

In Class A: Baseball in the Middle of Everywhere, author Lucas Mann digs into the gritty history of Clinton, home of agricultural giant Archer Daniels Midland, and the people who remain in the once flourishing town and spend their summers together watching their beloved LumberKings. It is as much a meditation on the passing of Middle America as it is about baseball.

But, baseball is there. The LumberKings, and the roster of talented, upwardly mobile prospects, and marginal players barely hanging on, is the thread that holds the story together. Here’s how Heller McAlpin, who reviewed Class A for NPR, describes the book:

“Readers seeking extended play-by-play and assessments of skill would do better to look elsewhere. … Mann offers a different sort of analysis, at once lyrical, intellectual and personal. His meditations on “a game that allows time for reflection and appreciation” lift Class A above the fray of more ordinary baseball books.”

(Others who have praised Mann and the book include Boston Globe, Harpers, New York Times, Minneapolis Star Tribune.)

Mann is doing a reading from Class A on Saturday, May 25, at 4pm at Elliott Bay Books in Seattle (1521 10^th Ave.).