Sorry, The National League Still Sucks (Part 2)

Sorry, The National League Still Sucks (Part 2)

 In Part 1 (http://shrewdcatbaseball.blogspot.com.au/2013/06/sorry-national-league-still-sucks-part.html) looked at how the American League was, and still is, the dominant league. The question now is why the AL is better, even with Houston joining the Junior Circuit.

1.       The DH:

 Does the designated hitter create an advantage for the American League? The argument goes that in AL parks NL teams are disadvantaged since they don’t carry a DH type player in their squad. If we look at World Series competition since the DH was introduced (1973-2012) the AL has won more games (117-103, for a 0.532 winning percentage). But on the other hand the NL did well in the early years of interleague play – so maybe there might be an argument that the AL is disadvantaged in games where their pitchers have to bat and they can’t use their old lumbering DH.
 There has been an argument in some quarters to adopt the DH in all interleague games so as to avoid AL pitchers unfamiliar with batting and running the bases getting themselves hurt (e.g. Chien-Ming Wang injuring his foot running the bases when he was a Yankee). If they do this and if the DH is an advantage for AL teams then we’ll see the AL interleague lead increase.

 As an aside it is ironic that the league which has the DH, which keeps aging sluggers in the game, is called the Junior Circuit.

2.       Payroll Disparity:

 Maybe the reason the AL wins more in interleague is because they spend more on payroll. Maybe they have bigger markets (Yankees, Dallas), or teams that spend more (Detroit, Angels), or are better financially run, or teams that aren’t run like the Miami Marlins.

 AL teams are in a way forced to spend more on payroll since they have an extra starting position player to pay (their DH) while NL teams just have another bench player. Looking at opening day payroll for all teams in 2012 the AL did have a higher average payroll:

2012 Opening Day Payrolls (from USA Today):

1	New York Yankees	$197,962,289
2	Philadelphia Phillies	$174,538,938
3	Boston Red Sox	$173,186,617
4	Los Angeles Angels	$154,485,166
5	Detroit Tigers	$132,300,000
6	Texas Rangers	$120,510,974
7	Miami Marlins	$118,078,000
8	San Francisco Giants	$117,620,683
9	St. Louis Cardinals	$110,300,862
10	Milwaukee Brewers	$97,653,944
11	Chicago White Sox	$96,919,500
12	Los Angeles Dodgers	$95,143,575
13	Minnesota Twins	$94,085,000
14	New York Mets	$93,353,983
15	Chicago Cubs	$88,197,033
16	Atlanta Braves	$83,309,942
17	Cincinnati Reds	$82,203,616
18	Seattle Mariners	$81,978,100
19	Baltimore Orioles	$81,428,999
20	Washington Nationals	$81,336,143
21	Cleveland Indians	$78,430,300
22	Colorado Rockies	$78,069,571
23	Toronto Blue Jays	$75,489,200
24	Arizona Diamondbacks	$74,284,833
25	Tampa Bay Rays	$64,173,500
26	Pittsburgh Pirates	$63,431,999
27	Kansas City Royals	$60,916,225
28	Houston Astros	$60,651,000
29	Oakland Athletics	$55,372,500
30	San Diego Padres	$55,244,700

AL Average (14 teams): $104,802,741

NL Average (16 teams): $92,088,676

 So yes, they had bigger payrolls, and (in theory) better teams. Of course by Opening Day 2013 a few things changed – Miami dumped payroll, Houston and their meagre payroll went to the AL and the Dodgers went insane.

2013 Opening Day Payrolls (from USA Today):

1	Yankees	$228,835,490
2	Dodgers	$216,597,577
3	Phillies	$165,385,714
4	Red Sox	$150,655,500
5	Tigers	$148,414,500
6	Giants	$140,264,334
7	Angels	$127,896,250
8	White Sox	$119,073,277
9	Blue Jays	$117,527,800
10	Cardinals	$115,222,086
11	Rangers	$114,090,100
12	Nationals	$114,056,769
13	Reds	$107,491,305
14	Cubs	$104,304,676
15	Orioles	$90,993,333
16	Braves	$89,778,192
17	Diamondbacks	$89,100,500
18	Brewers	$82,976,944
19	Royals	$81,491,725
20	Pirates	$79,555,000
21	Indians	$77,772,800
22	Twins	$75,802,500
23	Mets	$73,396,649
24	Mariners	$72,031,143
25	Rockies	$71,924,071
26	Padres	$67,143,600
27	Athletics	$60,664,500
28	Rays	$57,895,272
29	Marlins	$36,341,900
30	Astros	$22,062,600

AL Average (15 teams): $103,013,786 

NL Average (15 teams): $103,569,288

 So much for the payroll disparity as a cause for AL dominance. It may have been a factor in previous years but not for this year.

 Although looking at the data, while the average payrolls are the same there does seem to be some difference in the way those averages are achieved. The AL seems to have more of the top payrolls in the game, while the NL has a lot of payrolls in the upper to middle range (around 100 million). I’m not sure this has an effect and if it does I would’ve guessed it would be the opposite – detrimental to the AL – since there is an assumption that teams with monster payrolls tend to get a poor return in terms of wins/$ (not spend their money efficiently).

3. There Is No Reason – The AL is better:

 I think this is the real answer. The AL is stronger just because the teams are better. The Dodgers are a big payroll flop; some AL small market teams like Tampa Bay or Oakland field good teams with smaller payrolls; big market NL teams like the Cubs and Mets who suck.

 This is by no means a permanent thing – go back to the start of interleague and the NL was winning. But don’t let anyone tell you the NL is the better league just because they’ve won a few All-Star Games and World Series.