The new NL pitchers are great value.

[AKhomebrewer]

Apparently you Southern-Hemisphere boys see more clearly than I have ... 9 of my 11 offensive players in my H2H are on NL clubs, and I've had a few hideous weeks. I keep looking up to see Peavy, Pedro, Pettitte, Clemens, etc. on the hill.
I may consciously shoot for a little more balance next spring.

[RynMan]

Apparently you Southern-Hemisphere boys see more clearly than I have ...

That wouldn't explain you kicking my butt in the 16 team league tho.

[NZF]

Apparently you Southern-Hemisphere boys see more clearly than I have ...

That wouldn't explain you kicking my butt in the 16 team league tho.

He's giving us all a butt kicking. I managed to draw level for a day a few weeks back but since then my teams been in a freefall.

Hate to concede first with a month to go but AK has got us all on toast big time. He'd have to fall over to lose.

[DK]

Apparently you Southern-Hemisphere boys see more clearly than I have ... 9 of my 11 offensive players in my H2H are on NL clubs, and I've had a few hideous weeks. I keep looking up to see Peavy, Pedro, Pettitte, Clemens, etc. on the hill.
I may consciously shoot for a little more balance next spring.

I think the the NL is marginally a better league than the AL (Save the NL West, which is an embarrassment to baseball). The top hitters in the NL are equal to the top hitters in the AL, the only difference is the R/G is lower due to the pitchers hitting in the NL.

[NZF]

I think the the NL is marginally a better league than the AL (Save the NL West, which is an embarrassment to baseball). The top hitters in the NL are equal to the top hitters in the AL, the only difference is the R/G is lower due to the pitchers hitting in the NL.

I disagree, the NL Central overall is weak as well. 4 of the 6 teams in that division are not playing .500 ball and those teams have only just got a winning record against the NL West.

And for the record the NL East division leader has a losing record this season against that embarrassment to baseball.

Also, when was the last time the NL beat the AL in the All Star game?

[DK]

I think the the NL is marginally a better league than the AL (Save the NL West, which is an embarrassment to baseball). The top hitters in the NL are equal to the top hitters in the AL, the only difference is the R/G is lower due to the pitchers hitting in the NL.

I disagree, the NL Central overall is weak as well. 4 of the 6 teams in that division are not playing .500 ball and those teams have only just got a winning record against the NL West.

And for the record the NL East division leader has a losing record this season against that embarrassment to baseball.

Also, when was the last time the NL beat the AL in the All Star game?

Ah, yes. The All-Star game. Because one game means everything.

It doesn't matter what the Braves record is against the NL West. What matters is that the entire NL West record is atrocious, period.

Aside from that... If you look at the top hitters in each league, I'd have to say that they're pretty comparable. Going from position to position:

C - Varitek alone pretty much wins this for the AL.
1B - Pujols and Lee. NL
2B - Give this one to the NL, and I'll tell you why. Soriano is the best second sacker in the majors for fantasy baseball but the fact that he gets on base at a 31.7% clip hurts his real-life value. Brian Roberts had a fluke first have and is coming back to earth. Polanco's one of the real gems here. Cantu's split time equally between second and third. Same with Figgins, but add in OF too. Iguchi is solid but not spectacular. After that there's nobody special. The NL has Kent, Utley, Giles, Biggio, Hall, Durham, Castillo,Counsell, and Loretta when healthy.
3B - Did I hear someone say AL MVP? The problem with that is that while the AL has A-Rod, the NL has Ensberg, Wright, A-Ram, and Glaus. The edge goes to the AL, but it's almost even.
SS - Tejada and Young. AL
LF - Tough call. If Bonds were still around I'd say no contest, but I'm going to take the NL here anyway. The AL has the best one player (Man Ram) but the NL has Miggy, JayBay, Dunn, C. Lee, Floyd, Burrell, Guillen... etc.
CF - Beltran when healthy is the cream of the crop. Even without him, the NL has the advantage with Andruw and Griffey stacking up against Damon and Sizemore.
RF - It's Sheff vs. Abreu, and then Vlad impales everyone. Edge to the AL.

SP - I think it's safe to say the NL dominates here. Clemens, Carpenter, Pedro, Peavy, 'Trelle, Oswalt, Smoltz, Zambrano, Pettitte, Burnett, John Patterson, etc.
RP - I don't know much about middle relievers but at a quick rough glance 15 out of the top 25 holdsmen are from the NL. They usually don't face a pitcher, either.
CP - I call this one even.

So, by that count, we have the NL winning six rounds, the AL winning four rounds, and one round being called even. Gotta say the NL is a stronger league, IMO.

[NZF]

You've obviously gone to a lot of trouble but you've wasted your time. It's irrelevant to use players numbers to compare the relative strengths of the leagues.

For a start the NL hitters face the NL pitchers and vice versa. So you're achieving very little by doing this.

In fact going by your theory and using the old adage that good pitching will always beat good hitting, the AL must be stronger.

You disregard the All Star game but it is one of the few true measures of the respective league strengths and the AL win it year after year.

You also have no answer for the fact that half the teams in the NL have losing records and two-thirds do in a division you recognise as one of the best.

Another measurable area of the relative league strengths are the Inter- league games. Now if you came back to me with evidence to say the NL won the majority of these this season then I might give your argument some credibility.

[mamorris]

Another measurable area of the relative league strengths are the Inter- league games. Now if you came back to me with evidence to say the NL won the majority of these this season then I might give your argument some credibility.

From memory, the AL won 132 games to the NL's 112. It's possible these aren't the exact numbers, but I do remember the AL being 20 games above .500 in those matchups.

[Pogotheostrich]

Here are the win totals since interleague started.

YEAR AL NL
1997 97 117
1998 114 110
1999 116 135
2000 136 115
2001 132 120
2002 123 129
2003 115 137
2004 126 125
2005 136 116

This year the AL dominated.
Historically it is pretty even the the AL winning 1095 total games and the NL winning 1104.

[DK]

You've obviously gone to a lot of trouble but you've wasted your time. It's irrelevant to use players numbers to compare the relative strengths of the leagues.

Where did I use players numbers? The only numbers I used were holds, and perhaps Soriano's OBP (which is atrocious). If you want to use players numbers, we could, I suppose... OPS+ and ERA+, although I don't know where to get OPS+ mid-season.

For a start the NL hitters face the NL pitchers and vice versa. So you're achieving very little by doing this.

... First of all, using "vice versa" there is superfluous. But regardless... So? You're acheiving even less by telling me this.

In fact going by your theory and using the old adage that good pitching will always beat good hitting, the AL must be stronger.

What? I'm not following you here. Explain.

You disregard the All Star game but it is one of the few true measures of the respective league strengths and the AL win it year after year.

And again, it's only one game. The Devil Rays beat the Yankees at least once every year since their existence. If it was, say, a seven-game series every year, I'd give it some credit. But anything can happen in one game.

You also have no answer for the fact that half the teams in the NL have losing records and two-thirds do in a division you recognise as one of the best.

Take out the NL West, remember that. The AL is better than the NL if you leave them in. It's true that 4 teams in the NL Central have losing records but you have to see past that first glance. The Cubs have had a depleted team all year. The Brewers are closer to .500 then they've been in 10 years. Pitt is garbage, and Cincy's pitchers are garbage, although they've got a pretty good offense (when Freel is healthy).

Another measurable area of the relative league strengths are the Inter- league games. Now if you came back to me with evidence to say the NL won the majority of these this season then I might give your argument some credibility.

The AL won the inter-league games by 20. Again, I expected that; that includes the NL West. Doing a bit of research, the NL West was 32-55 in interleague games, or 23 games under .500. Take out those games and the leagues were about even, with the NL having a slight advantage.