In this year in particular, you would run into a big problem. The NL has been so much worse than the AL, that its extremely difficult to compare players and even numbers across the two leagues, especially when they play under different rules.
A DH would also absolutely never win, although thats not necessarily a bad thing.
blankman wrote:its extremely difficult to compare players and even numbers across the two leagues, especially when they play under different rules.
This is the other thing. With the two leagues having different numbers of teams, different game rules (DH), and such, it becomes quite difficult to compare people from one league to the other.
If the two leagues would start playing each other more during the season, or a MLB-wide standard was adopted with regards to the DH, I could see the list of awards getting narrowed. Until then, "to each his own."
blankman wrote:The NL has been so much worse than the AL
I've heard this alot, from many different people. Can you explain the logic behind it?
they can't
A) They never account for the DH .. B) They forget that there are two extra teams in the NL C) ESPN told them so, so it must be true
Well, I think most people are basing this on the fairly large disparity in interleague results. I'm not sure any of your factors adequately explain that.
blankman wrote:The NL has been so much worse than the AL
I've heard this alot, from many different people. Can you explain the logic behind it?
they can't
A) They never account for the DH .. B) They forget that there are two extra teams in the NL C) ESPN told them so, so it must be true
Well, I think most people are basing this on the fairly large disparity in interleague results. I'm not sure any of your factors adequately explain that.
Or the fact that only one division winner in the NL will have over 90 wins (every single playoff team in the AL has over 90 wins), and one of the winners (NL Central) will be lucky to get much higher than .500.
I think Wrveres is pretty much spot on. I don't question that the AL is the stronger league this year but the notion that the NL is far inferior is media-driven and not really substantiated. The parity in the NL or the lack of it in the AL doesn't speak to the strength of either league. Also, the AL teams do have an inherent advantage in interleague play. Is it enough to totally account for the lopsided record? No but it's definitely a factor.
Maine has a good swing for a pitcher but on anything that moves, he has no chance. And if it's a fastball, it has to be up in the zone. Basically, the pitcher has to hit his bat. - Mike Pelfrey
Amazinz wrote:I think Wrveres is pretty much spot on. I don't question that the AL is the stronger league this year but the notion that the NL is far inferior is media-driven and not really substantiated. The parity in the NL or the lack of it in the AL doesn't speak to the strength of either league. Also, the AL teams do have an inherent advantage in interleague play. Is it enough to totally account for the lopsided record? No but it's definitely a factor.
Couldn't disagree more. I think NL teams have an inherent advantage. They can just plug their best bench hitter into the DH slot on the road, or use it to give stars partial days off, as many AL teams without specialist DHs do. Whereas NL pitchers are far more used to hitting than their AL counterparts, and the DH on many AL teams is a crucial part of their offense.
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The production from pitchers hitting is so small that I'd have to see pretty good evidence to not think it is irrelevant.
Maine has a good swing for a pitcher but on anything that moves, he has no chance. And if it's a fastball, it has to be up in the zone. Basically, the pitcher has to hit his bat. - Mike Pelfrey
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by Yoda » Fri Sep 29, 2006 2:58 pm 
