It’s a Whole New Ballgame

This is what supporters of interleague baseball had in mind when they dismissed a century of baseball history.

The two best teams from each league meeting in June.

Atlanta’s Greg Maddux pitching to Baltimore’s Cal Ripken.

Chipper Jones of the Braves batting against Mike Mussina of the Orioles.

And, most telling, sellout crowds each day at baseball’s newest park.

“Everybody down here in the South wants to see Cal Ripken play. He’s a legend,” said Braves reliever Mike Bielecki. “Without going all way up to Baltimore, they really wouldn’t have ever had that chance before.”

Now they do. Interleague baseball is a big hit in Atlanta.

Sellout crowds of nearly 50,000 are expected each day at Turner Field for the three-game series that begins tonight with Maddux, a four-time Cy Young Award winner, going against Jimmy Key, a 10-game winner for the Orioles.

“I think it’s going to be good for the game of baseball because it’s going to be something the fans are going to like, something the fans are looking forward to,” said Atlanta’s Tom Glavine, a staunch supporter of interleague play.

“One of the things that makes basketball and football so popular is fans can identify with all the players. In baseball, you’ve only been able to identify with half of them at best.”

The Braves, who had only two sellouts in the first 31 games at their new stadium, will more than double that total this weekend. The only chance of getting in now is a $1 “Skyline” seat or a $5 standing-room ticket, both of which go on sale a few hours before each game.

“This is the first really strong weekend for us since the (1994-95) strike,” said Paul Adams, the Braves’ director of ticket sales. “Before the strike, we used to do this all the time.”

Baseball hoped for this sort of attendance boost when it jettisoned the historic separation between the American and National leagues, scheduling games between teams that never had a chance of playing each other except in the World Series.

The Atlanta-Baltimore matchup, coming on the first weekend of interleague play, is especially intriguing.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Ripken said. “The fact that we’re playing well and they’re playing well makes for a fun, exciting series.”

The Orioles entered Thursday night’s game against Boston with the best record in baseball. At 42-18, Baltimore held a commanding 7 1/2-game lead in the AL Eastern, led by the starting rotation of Key (10-1), Mussina (8-1) and Scott Erickson (9-2) and the hitting of Ripken, Brady Anderson, Rafael Palmiero and Roberto Alomar.

The Braves, who have won four league championships since 1991, are on pace for No. 5 with a 42-22 record that leads the NL East by 4 1/2 games. Atlanta has its top three pitchers -- Maddux (7-2), John Smoltz (6-5) and Glavine (6-4) -- ready to oppose the Orioles’ Big Three.

“It’s going to be a big series,” said Baltimore outfielder Dave Dellucci, promoted to the majors last week. “It’s going to be an atmosphere like the World Series.”

Still, many players are still skeptical of the change.

“I’m not a big fan of it right now,” Bielecki said. “I think it takes away from the mystique of the World Series.”

Atlanta shortstop Jeff Blauser agreed.

“What are people going to say about the World Series now?” he asked. “I think ultimately this kind of lumps us in with the other sports that play throughout the divisions.