AL vs. NL

O.K. Before we start, you must know how difficult this is for me to write. As a die-hard fan of National League Baseball it absolutely kills me to write this. This would be like asking Bill Maher to write a bad word about marijuana. This is the equivalent of making CNN produce a negative piece about President Obama. This is like telling Kirstie Alley to put down the Twinkie. This is… well you get the idea. No longer will I be Carmella Soprano and ignore what is right in front of me for the sake of the greater good. I must finally accept what can no longer be denied. It’s time we all admit… the American League is a superior baseball league to the National League.

*I wrote this article about a week before Brad Penny was dumped by the Red Sox. I have given it time to play out and I have updated all stats accordingly.*

You may not want to acknowledge it and, aside from ESPN’s Bill Simmons (who you can thank for inspiring me to write this), most of the media is ignoring it. So to prove the point, for all to see plain and clear, let’s start with a little background before we try and find a reason for all of this, and where better to start than 1973, the year when the American League officially adopted the designated hitter into its rules, forever distinguishing it from its inferior little brother, the National League. The designated hitter is the common name for Major League Baseball Rule 6.10 which allows teams to designate a hitter to bat in place of the pitcher. Since the time the rule was adopted, the American League holds the edge in All-Star Game victories 20-16 and World Series Victories 20-15 (there was no World Series in 1994 due to a work stoppage). These numbers are still relatively close and cannot begin to explain what has happened in even more recent times. The American League has won 12 of the last 13 All-Star games, and the one they didn’t win ended in a tie (thanks to Bud Selig who, from that time forward, decided to award the winning league of each All-Star Game home-field advantage in that season’s World Series in one of the biggest overreactions in history, along with A.) the U.S. response to swine flu, B.) Al Gore realizing it was hot outside and making an entire movie about it, and C.) anything Al Pacino has said since ‘Scent of a Woman’. Honestly, this is the equivalent of getting a lap dance at one of the less desirable strips joints and deciding to go get tested for a VD just to be safe. But I digress, that’s my Selig complaint for the day). However, the head-to-head competition only gives cookie cutter examples for an issue that is far deeper than just All-Star Games.

Matt Holliday. Jeff Suppan (not his cousin, Jeff Soup-pot…….. I apologize, that’s a joke for my mother.) John Smoltz. Julio Freaking Lugo! What do all of these names have in common? They’re just some of the many players who have experienced success in the National League, while playing like Smalls (before he started hanging out with Benny the Jet) in the American League. Matt Holliday hit 128 Home Runs, drove in 483 runs, while hitting .317 in his 5 seasons with the Colorado Rockies, a National League Team. These numbers scored him a big money deal for the Oakland Athletics, a, you guessed it, AMERICAN LEAGUE TEAM! What did he do in Oakland? He hit .286 with 11 Home Runs in 57 RBI in 93 games, causing Oakland to reconsider the 13.5 million dollars they were to pay him and ship him back to the National League where he would play for the St. Louis Cardinals. And, wouldn’t you know it, in just 53 games back in the Fredo Corleone League, he is hitting .358 with 13 Home Runs and 50 RBI while leading the Cardinals to the best record in baseball since the acquisition. Suppan? He never won more than 10 games in a season in the Michael Corleone League until he switched to the NL and won 16, 16, and 12 games with the Cardinals, as well as MVP of the National League Championship Series in 2006. John Smoltz had a 3.23 ERA in 20 seasons with the NL’s Atlanta Braves. His ERA in 8 games with the Red Sox of the AL? A slim and sexy 8.32. Blame it on old age right? Well, you could; until you see he’s posted a 3.21 ERA in 5 games with the Cardinals. The Red Sox also basically told the Cardinals, in regards to Julio Freaking Lugo (who has been so God-awful on any team he has ever played for that he has more than earned that middle name), “We will pay him so long as you take him away from us.” Lugo has added 10 points to his batting average since joining the team.

*And now the Brad Penny update. 7-8 with a 5.61 ERA in 24 starts with the Red Sox in the American League. 3-1 with a 4.01 ERA (largely inflated due to 1 poor outing against one of the few competent NL teams, the Dodgers).*

And these are just a few of the many examples of the phenomenon. I cannot help but also notice that all of these players (except Brad Penny), who are each perfect examples of the difference in play of the leagues, have found success playing in St. Louis. Is St. Louis the only team in the entire National League that has figured this out? They have basically found success, which includes a World Series Championship in 2006, by feasting on the leftovers from the American League. Why is no one making a bigger deal out of this? Better yet, why can’t I play GM for my Houston Astros and run the team.

I don’t know what this means for baseball. I don’t know if it necessarily is a bad thing for the game of baseball. All I know is if you pay close attention, there are plenty of other examples of this same phenomenon. Do we think the Cardinals have actually acquired these players from American League organizations in hopes that they follow this trend in succeeding in the NL? This is where things get interesting. This is probably not a good or a bad thing for baseball, but it certainly is something to take into consideration. Whether or not the Cardinals are actually taking these things into consideration when they acquire these players is unknown. But it is hard to argue with success, and the hottest team in baseball certainly owes a large part of that success to the AL teams that passed on these players. Maybe it’s time for the 15 other National League GM’s to take note. And if they try dipping into the American League’s talent and it works out? Well then, they can mail me my ‘Thank You’ card.