Climbing the Ladder with the National League 7/20/2008
by Scott Powers
AL proves superiority over NL once again
After 12 innings Tuesday, the 2008 All-Star Game was already the longest since 1987. That includes the infamous 2002 tie that spawned the slogan, “This time it counts.”
The NL was in good shape with Carlos Marmol, Brad Lidge and Brandon Webb in the pen. Meanwhile, the AL had only Scott Kazmir holding down the fort.
But the man on the mound, George Sherill, proceeded to get six outs after saving the AL from a bases-loaded jam in the 12th. Kazmir had to go only one inning for the win, and Commissioner Bud Selig could breathe a sigh of relief.
The media and the fans elected J.D. Drew the MVP of the game, but Sherill’s 2.1 innings, his longest outing since his 2004 rookie season, were what made the AL victory possible.
With it, the NL still hasn’t won since 1996, and it’s time to bring up the question once again: Why is the NL so clearly inferior to the AL?
The All-Star Game results are amusing if not conclusive. What convicts the NL is the interleague record. Over the past four years, the AL has come out on top 57 percent of interleague contests.
The designated hitter, the inherent difference between the leagues, might explain the AL’s edge for a number of reasons.
For one thing, the increased run production could increase revenue in the form of fan expenditures. For another, AL teams have experienced DHs when they host NL teams.
But league dominance is cyclical, and this cycle seems to have begun in the ’90s, along with the two expansions that added three expansion teams to the NL and just one to the AL.
One might trace the cause back to these quality-lowering events, but it should not be forgotten that two of those expansion teams, the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Florida Marlins are responsible for three of the NL’s four World Series titles since the beginning of interleague play.
But that’s enough about NL inferiority.
For inferiority within the NL, take a look at the NL West. Despite leading the division at a game under .500, the D’backs have only one close competitor – the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The best of the worst are playing one other this weekend. The games, at least, have been good, both decided by a run.
After today’s rubber match, the two teams have ten games against each other. If the Dodgers win, the two teams will be tied at two games under .500. May the worst team lose.
The Central is clearly the dominant division in the league, with three teams owning better records than any in the East or the West. And that’s without competing in the same division as the Washington Nationals.
The Chicago Cubs, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Milwaukee Brewers are within three games of each other at the top of the NL Central.
The Cubs have lost three in a row, but the Cards have won four, and the Brewers three straight. And the Brewers have made another trade, acquiring second baseman Ray Durham from the San Francisco Giants.
Durham will likely play a bench role, with Rickie Weeks securely in place as the franchise’s second baseman. Durham is good enough to start for more teams than just the Giants, and he will contribute the team’s depth.
The NL East race, too, has gotten exciting, with the Philadelphia Phillies, the New York Mets and the Marlins within just a game and a half of each other.
While the NL may be the inferior league, but there will still be exciting pennant races in the second half.
