Citi Field, New York. Citi Field, 2013. Image by James Smith

Every year in the United States, especially along their east coast, baseball fans are worked into a lather by the excitement generated by the now-annual “Subway Series” between the famed New York Yankees and their brothers in Flushing, the “amazin” New York Mets. Although the two sides play in separate leagues - the Yankees in the American League and the Mets in the National, they’ve had plenty of opportunity to meet up since 1997, when interleague play was introduced to Major League Baseball. Prior to this, teams never played those from other Leagues unless it was in a World Series. As well, Chicago’s Cubs and White Sox had never shared a diamond, nor very close neighbours the Oakland A’s and San Francisco Giants. New York’s rivals for the city’s hearts and minds did actually play each other to decide the championship once, in 2000.

As the Yankees and Mets contest their current four-game series, shared between Yankee Stadium and Citi Field, it makes you wonder how big-league sports fans in America would cope if their set-up was similar to ours. How would they handle the rivalry of eight “New Yorks”, like our Sydney-based NRL teams “enjoy” week in, week out, or even ten, like the AFL’s nest of squads in Melbourne?

Considering the passion generated by our own inner-city confrontations, and the increasing flexibility of our codes’ schedules, how possible would it be for the leagues’ powers to slip in an extra Saints/Roosters clash, a third Parra-Penrith war, or a bonus ‘Pies/Bombers showdown? Wouldn’t be too outrageous, considering we witnessed two grand finals a few years back …