Interleague Supremacy

Sorry for the delay in my article, last Monday was my birthday and I worked 12 hours, Tuesday I decided to celebrate my birthday and drive 12 and a half hours to San Francisco see some friends. The good news, after seeing the Giants beat the Cardinals 7-5 on Thursday I have a topic to write about. Which league has the better style of play, the NL or the AL?

There is only one major difference between the two leagues but many smaller differences in the style of play are derived from this one difference. The designated hitter came to be in 1973 when the AL decided to allow an extra position player to hit in place of the pitcher due to the lack of production from the pitchers in the lineup. The DH has since become a staple in collegiate and younger leagues, but the NL has stayed away from the change and this has led baseball purests to make the claim that the NL is the better baseball.

In 2011 the NL league BA was .253, OPS .710 the league runs/game average was 4.13 and the total home runs were 2281. Those corresponding stats for the AL, .258 .730, 4.46 and 2271. Do note that the NL has two more teams than the AL so the similar home run statistics really mean that the AL hits a substantially greater amount of  home runs per team. What does this tell us? AL games are more traditionally exciting, they score more runs hit more home runs and extra base hits, and have more people on base throughout the game. For the average fan these are the effects of the DH that make the AL the better league. But there is the other aspect of those stats which makes teams rely on home runs and offense to win games rather than traditional late game bunt plays. The statistics for sacrifices are 1137 sac bunts in the NL and 640 sac flies, those for the AL are 530 and 634. This indicates a greater reliance on long flies in the AL (remember two more teams in the NL) and more reliance on moving the runner over and squeezing them home in the NL. This also includes pitchers laying it down and being offensive heroes.

Now in addition to the statistical differences there are also some superficial differences. For instance one of my favorite moments I ever saw live was at Wrigley when Carlos Zambrano went three for three with two doubles in a game, one of those doubles came in an at bat where he didn’t even head out to the mound the next inning. On the other hand one of my favorite players of all time was Edgar Martinez, who was a DH for most of his career and would not have played as long or maybe never gotten the chance to play if the DH was never created. There are also the wonderful situations where pitchers like Jaime Moyer have to stand in the batter’s box and humiliate themselves and watching former all-stars like Vladimir Guerrero who are too old to walk let alone swing a bat prolong their careers well beyond their limits and disappoint everyone who sees them look decrepit.

Where does this leave us? Is the NL better because you get to see pitchers hit and the squeeze is one of the most exciting plays in the sports, or is the AL better because there are more runs and home runs and you don’t have to watch pitchers make a fool of themselves and waste a spot in the lineup. For me both leagues hold a place in my heart and to say that one league is better would be pointless. Without both leagues fans would be worse off, each league needs the other and the differences make for the wonderful interleague play, which has begun this season and will happen everyday of the season once the Astros move to the AL West. So for those baseball purists and those who love that baseball has become so hitter friendly, I say leave it be and enjoy the fact that a fan has options and can see different styles of play whenever they want.

-David Ringold