Hear Me Out: It’s Time To Stop Pretending the National League Doesn’t Suck

Before I begin, let me just say that, title aside, I think the talent level in the National League is high, but the gap between the two leagues seems to be widening with each passing year. So put down the pitchforks and torches and hear me out.

 

Last night, the American League continued to assert its dominance over the National League with a 4-2 victory in the All Star Game. For those of you keeping score at home, that means that since 1997, the American League is 16-3-1 in the midsummer classic. 16-3-1 when the best players of each league square off!

 

That’s a terrible example, how about using games that count.

 

Fair enough, then let’s look at the total population of interleague games.  Since 2004, the American League has won the interleague title every single year. Twelve straight years, with an average winning percentage of .547.  They have over 300 more wins than the National League in head to head, leading by a total of 1829-1519. Over the total history of interleague play, the American League has won 2662 games to the National League’s 2382 games.

 

But the World Series has gone to a National League team more often than an AL team in the past 10 years.

 

Sure, and with that logic one would agree that Butler’s appearance in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship game in 2010 meant that the Horizon League was better than the Big Ten, SEC, Pac 10 (at the time), and Big XII. It wasn’t. Sure, this may be an extreme example, but one good team does not a strong league make. And in fact, it simply highlights how close the talent level is at the top. When you look at teams like the Giants or Cardinals (in aggregate over the last ten years) you see high caliber teams both offensively and defensively. But as you go down in the standings, the caliber of play drops more significantly in the NL than AL, which is supported by the previously mentioned interleague records.

 

So what? The fundamentals are much stronger in the National League. If you want a DH, why not have every batter be a DH and then you can have offensive players and defensive players blah blah blah and other nonsense ad absurdum arguments.

 

Well first off, the fundamentals in the WNBA are allegedly stronger than the NBA, which doesn’t make me inclined to believe it’s a higher caliber league. The “purity” argument that National League fans make is misleading, because the DH isn’t the sole contributor to the reason that the National League doesn’t perform as well.  The NL has, in recent memory, eschewed offense, with almost every big name free agency hitter going to an American League team, while the National League scoops up almost every big name pitcher. This seems counter-intuitive in a league where your pitcher has to bat, and thus is more likely to be removed from a game earlier than if he were not in the lineup, but it is the status quo for sure.  But the lack of focus on offense isn’t just in big names, it permeates the entire league.

 

In 2016 up to the All Star break, the American League is batting .260 with the National League batting .253.

 

Well that’s because the pitchers bat.

 

Not really. With a batting average of .132 this season, pitchers have only lowered the National League’s cumulative batting average by slightly less than .001 points, which means the American League is still 6 points better. Again, this likely goes back to the fact that pitching in the National League is bounds better. The NL’s ERA is 4.15 on the season while the AL ERA is 4.29.

 

So what does it matter?

 

Well, when you put the pieces together, it seems to be that stronger offense leads to more success, when you aggregate the data. The relationship is admittedly pretty tenuous, but with the limited number of opportunities to compare AL to NL in a neutral situation, this is the best that can be done. While this is by no means intended to be a complete insult to the NL, the baseball being played in the league is of a high standard, the idea often spouted by NL fans that “strategy” and “requiring thought” somehow leads to better baseball seems patently false.