AL's Superpowers Are Leaving the NL Behind in 2018

The MLB All-Star teams will be announced Sunday night, and the rules insist that the American League and National League have the same number of stars.

One problem: They don't.

They don't have the same number of top stars in 2018. They most definitely don't have the same number of top teams in 2018.

The count on superteams is as one-sided as could be. The AL has three: the defending champion Houston Astros, the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. The NL has none.

Just this week, the team that had the NL's best record—the surprising, impressive Atlanta Braves—went to New York and lost a series to the Yankees. The team that should be an NL power but isn't—the surprising, disappointing Washington Nationals—got swept at home in a three-game series against the Red Sox.

The Yankees, Red Sox and Astros have played 12 interleague series against NL teams. They've lost just one of those (the Astros dropped two of three to the Arizona Diamondbacks).

Overall, the three AL superpowers are 21-10 against NL opposition. Then again, they've had similar success against the rest of the AL.

Just past the season's midpoint, the Red Sox are on pace for 109 wins. The Yankees are on pace for 108. The Astros were on pace for 105, heading into their Thursday night game against the Chicago White Sox.

If you want to add in the Seattle Mariners, who were on pace for 102 victories entering Thursday's game against the Los Angeles Angels, go right ahead. The M's might be better than any National League team, too, even if they seem to be a step behind the three superpowers.

Heck, add in the Cleveland Indians if you want. They're 6-2 against the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs, who own the two best records in the National League.

Eric Christian Smith/Associated Press

None of this should come as a huge surprise. An American League scout I know has been saying since spring training that the Astros, Yankees and Red Sox were clearly the three best teams in the game (and he doesn't work for any of the three).

All three were very good last year, as the Red Sox and Yankees both lost to the Astros in the AL playoffs, and the Astros topped the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the World Series.

Then think about what happened last winter. The Yankees added Giancarlo Stanton, who was the NL MVP. The Red Sox added J.D. Martinez just after he helped the Diamondbacks to the NL playoffs. The Astros added Gerrit Cole, an NL pitcher with huge talent who was ready to become a star.

That's three stars going from the NL to the AL. Try to name a big star who went the other direction. Lorenzo Cain? Sure, but he's on the disabled list with a groin pull for the Milwaukee Brewers.

Cain, in fact, is the only National Leaguer among the top 12 position players in Baseball Reference's version of WAR. I'm not the biggest fan of the stat, but in this case, it provides a decent list of the game's best players: Mike Trout, Jose Ramirez, Francisco Lindor, Mookie Betts, Aaron Judge, Jose Altuve.

Every one of those guys plays in the American League.

How did this happen? Some of it is health. The Dodgers are without shortstop Corey Seager because of Tommy John surgery and have gotten just 11 starts out of Clayton Kershaw thanks to biceps tendinitis and back problems. The Cubs' Kris Bryant is on the disabled list with an injured shoulder. The Nationals spent much of the first half playing below full strength.

But it's also true that the top teams in the AL were watching each other and understood how much better they needed to get. It's still the case, as the Yankees realize they need another top starting pitcher to beat the Red Sox in the AL East and to have enough ammunition to fend off the Astros in a possible postseason rematch.

Greg Fiume/Getty Images

The Red Sox won the AL East last year, but seeing where they stood in relation to the Yankees and Astros, they knew they needed a power bat like the one Martinez has provided. The Astros won it all, but they knew a rotation upgrade might be necessary if they were going to have a chance to repeat.

The imbalance between the leagues may not last. While the AL has some young stars, the two youngest players in baseball are Juan Soto of the Nationals and Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves, who are both budding stars. And when you start naming teams that could trade for the Baltimore Orioles' Manny Machado this summer or sign him as a free agent this coming winter, NL teams seem to lead the list: the Dodgers, Phillies, Diamondbacks, Braves and Cubs.

None of this means the AL is guaranteed to win the July 17 All-Star Game at Nationals Park. None of it means the AL will win the World Series in October.

But if you want to give me the three AL superpowers, I'll willingly give you the other 27 MLB teams and take my chances.

Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

Follow Danny on Twitter and talk baseball.