All the rage is that the American League is far superior to the National League. Funny, in one of our veryfirst topics, we debated the relative strengths of the leagues. The debate continued for another thread as well.
And here we are half way through the 2005 season and the AL dominated interleage this year after a slight advantage last year - and the D-Rays were actually not their normal superhuman selves.
My original th0ught (and Elias confirmed it, statistically) was that the NL got better. The NL All star team has 3 players who changed leagues (Eckstein, Carlos Lee and Pedro) and the AL has 3 players that changed leagues last year, yet two of them were not even among the top ranked players according to Elias (Podsednik and Hillenbrand), with the 3rd being Clement.
Hard to believe of all those names changing leagues only 4 of them are all stars this year. If you had been told to read that list and that only 4 of the players on it would be at the ASG this year, I would have said no freakin way.
But I digress. so Jesse, it looks like your original assumption was correct. and thw whole world seems to agree. Of course now watch the NL pound the AL 15-3.
Who's this "Jesse" person?
ReplyDeleteYeah, and it's worth noting also that some of the "biggest" NL->AL defections went to the Yanks (3 of their original SP), and none are All-Stars.
Game's pretty entertaining so far, huh? I think you're right -- Rogers will only pitch extra innings.
By the way, going back to the old comments, you said this: "Although as for the hitters coming to the AL - I agree there are quite a few of them, but I would be willing to bet that two among the four (Beltre, Sexson, Sosa and Finley) will be a disappointment for their new team - relative to their $$." Well done.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, it would appear I was wrong, and the NL got better relative to last year. Last night's performances aside, the NL's "pitching lineup" scares me much more than the AL's. Of course, it's reversed for the batters.
But I still think the AL is the superior league right now. I thought this would be supported by payrolls, though it's probably not: the mean AL payroll is only $6M higher than the mean NL payroll. Which is basically no difference, especially when you have the pay for a DH in the AL.
I think it is pretty obvious the AL is the better league now. The Salaries one is a good point and question - hell the Yankees alone account for that $6 million gap. 14 teams in the AL, $6MM per team - total $84 million or about the gap between them and second highest.
ReplyDeleteEven Median salary does not really explain it - AL has Boston and NY but then things are spread pretty evenly.
So is the NL pitching lineup so good because they face the inferior NL hitters? I mean who in the NL is a great hitter. Pujols for sure, but after that there are the Lees (Derek and Carlos), Abreau, Ensberg (?), Rolen, Helton. These guys just aren't as frightening.
As for those four hitters, Sosa would have been the one I would have expected to do okay. Thinking Camden would be better suited for him (even if it is not as drastic a HR park as people think). Sexson is the only one hitting like their old self and my main concern with him was (is) injury.
Oh well, overall it was an entertaining game. My personal highlight was Kevin Kennedy's rambling "interview" with Kenny Rogers. My god, that was embarassing. Kennedy was always a suck up to players, but usually to the superstars. And he also took a shot at Pedro in the opening. What a clown?
I'm sure Mr Grieve was pissed to see Damon and A-Rod chatting in the dugout at one point (I think it was about the 5th inning).
I read that Damon at one point during the 9th inning screamed "Come on Mo". And Tito responded, "I guess you don't get to say that too often."
ReplyDeleteMan, I'll laugh my ass off if Damon thinks he'll be happy as a Yankee and ends up shaving and cutting his hair. He'll be so miserable playing for them.
Exactly. Also, if he think the Red Sox front office is stupid...
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