Interleague play brings Dodgers back to American League parks this week

OAKLAND -- The Dodgers resume interleague play this week with two games against the Atheltics in Oakland followed by three weekend games against the Astros in Houston. The Dodgers have fared better recently in interleague play, though especially with the set in Oakland some bad memories arise from American League parks.

The Dodgers actually haven't beaten the A's in Oakland since 2001, when a pair of bases-loaded walks in the 15th inning — by Chad Kreuter and Paul Lo Duca — lifted the Dodgers to a 5-3 win.

Part of the long wait for a road win against the A's is a scheduling quirk — the Dodgers have only played a pair of three-game series in Oakland since then, swept both in 2006 and 2012.

But for years, the Dodgers interleague road struggle was very real.

Beginning in 2004 the Dodgers had a losing record in American League parks for five straight years, including losing 15 straight interleague road games in 2005-2006. The Dodgers had a losing interleague road mark in eight out of nine years before going 5-5 in 2013 (winning their last four games in AL parks to do so) and 7-3 in 2014.

From 2004-2012 the Dodgers were 22-55 (.286) in American League parks.

Since 1997, the first year of interleague play, the Dodgers' .395 winning percentage in AL parks is fifth-worst among National League teams, ahead of only the Nationals/Expos (.393), Reds (.377), Pirates (.343) and Rockies (.308).

So far this season, the Dodgers are 0-2 in AL parks, losing twice in Texas. After the five games this week, the Dodgers will play the Angels in Anaheim from Sept. 7-9.

They are 8-2 in interleague play at home this season.

Now we get to see if that translates into wins in AL parks. The Dodgers will have to turn around their poor interleague history in Oakland, having won just two of 14 games at what is now called O.co Coliseum.

The other win for the Dodgers in Oakland came on June 13, 1997, when Eric Karros hit a two-run home run to tie the game in the eighth, the Mike Piazza hit an RBI double in the ninth, followed by a bases-loaded walk from Karros in the Dodgers' 6-4 win over the A's.