I don't understand the stigma hanging over the National League's head. Yes, they have not won very many All-Star Games in recent history, but is that the sign of a weak league?
I always hear people say, "well he's the best in the National League, he wouldn't do anything in the American League."
That is the most stupid comment, but in their defense, a lot of people that think these are simply Yankees fans (I will get into the lowest level of sports fans in another article).
Seriously, what makes the American League a better or more competitive place to play baseball? If you want to say that the hitters are stronger and more home run driven in the American League, I would respect those comments, but with a very big HOWEVER...
Lets take some big sluggers and look at who they face pitching-wise in their current leagues, and then lets turn the tables on them.
We'll start with everyone's favorite, Alex Rodriguez. The best pitcher in the American League (currently) is Chien-Ming Wang and he will never face him. After that is a bunch of mid-level starters, the best of which belong to the Tampa Bay Rays (Shields and Kazmir). He faces no strong pitchers!
I'm not saying he's not a great hitter, but the stigma needs to go away. If you took most American-League batters and dropped them into a league that could actually pitch, they would not be as successful.
Look at Alex and Hamilton (RBI leader). If we took these two talented baseball players and dropped them into the National League West, they would be facing Jake Peavy, Dan Haren, Chris Young, Brandon Webb, Greg Maddux, and Tim Lincecum on a regular basis, instead of a bunch of nobodies.
If you took the top-10 pitchers in the American League, and put them up against these guys, you would see the World Series go to the National League every year (solely based on pitching).
Another interesting fact is that this year, the American League has a major fault. All of the great hitters have not been hitting. As I write this, we might be in the year where people realize this and the National League gains the respect they deserve. As of June 8, the current runs, doubles, triples, home runs, average, wins, strikeouts and ERA leaders are all in the National League.
The other frightening thing is that even in the categories that the American League leads in, the leaders are out of left field, players who are having career, or breakout years. These players include Josh Hamilton and Cliff Lee.
This rant is basically just to make sure the NL gets the respect they deserve. Hopefully this year we can get some home-field advantage!
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4 months ago
I think you meant Dan Haren and not Rich Harden in NL West...and seriously Wang as the best AL pitcher? What about Lackey, Beckett, Sabathia, Carmona, Halladay, R. Harden, Matsuzaka, J. Vazquez, C. Lee...I'd even take Shields and Kazmir...
I agree that this season the NL is showing its muscles, but I would argue that the pitching in the AL is superior and that is part of why the AL has decreased it's production.
Until the NL wins the majority of AS games and WS titles, or even wins interleague play, the AL is still the leader.
from 4 months ago
I'm talking about this year. Caromona is now injured, Sabathia is not pitching well at all, Harden has a very high ERA, Dice-K is pitching well, Lee is fluke (you really expect him to pitch this well the whole year?), Lackey has a high ERA also, Vazquez only has 6 wins, and Beckett is good, but Wang is pitching the best overall this year in my opinion. He has faced the toughest teams, in a surprisingly competitive AL East.
Now there are some young talented pitchers in the American League but most of them are very un-proven. Examples of this are Cliff Lee, Carmona, Shaun Marcum, and Felix Hernandez.
On your other points, the All star game is not a good judge of a great league. Its supposed to be for fun. And yes it means something now, but I think the players still don't take it as seriously as a real game. As far as world series games go 2001, 2003, 2006 were all one by the National league. So over the past 7 years its been almost even.
The NL is the superior league and if you were to take one of those all star teams in a tournament, you can't tell me it wouldn't be the NL all star pitchers over the AL?
from 4 months ago
That's cool man, I actually agree with you that the National League has gained ground and maybe even is in the process of passing the AL. There is no doubt that the NL is having a great year at the plate, and does have good pitching. I actually did an article a few weeks back arguing that the NL is on its way back. Right now they are probably very comparable to each other. I'm just not ready to pass the torch on yet until the NL proves it on the field against the AL. TRue the AS game is not the best judge, but 11 straight years? And 8 of 12 WS...not to mention the advantage the AL has in the interleague schedule where the NL is supposed to have an advantage because AL DH's having to sit while pitchers make fools of themselves.
This is a fun topic, glad to have participated.
4 months ago
Lackey doesn't have a high ERA, he was injured for all of April and part of May so he's only started 6 games so far and he's dominant as he was last year. His 3-1 record doesn't show two games where he pitched 8 innings, giving up 2 runs, and another outing of 7 innings, giving up just one run. His ERA is currently 1.83, so check up on your facts next time. He was the only one where I felt that you made a wrong point simply because he's showing signs of last season where he went 19-9 with the Angels.
I wouldn't necessary say that the NL is the superior league, yet state the both leagues are now much more closely related than in past years where the AL had better batting stats. Granted I'm more of an NL fan, I do believe that this All-Star game will be quite a match-up because of the better pitching for the NL to test out those "great" hitters in the AL.
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