text: Traditionalists complain it will dilute ancient rivalries , screw up the year-to-year continuity of statistics , obliterate the quaint differences between the two leagues ( principally , the designated-hitter rule ) , and spoil the climactic , virgin mystique of the World Series , which , until now , was the leagues ' only intercourse .
  
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  Traditionalists complain that it will make the rivalries less intense because one team will be a powerhouse .