The argument has been raging for years: Which league is stronger, the National or the American? After two rounds of interleague play–130 games, or three-fifths of the interleague schedule–neither is dominant. The Americans hold a slim 66-64 edge, certainly not an indication of superiority.
“One league has a DH and the other doesn’t,” says White Sox manager Terry Bevington. “Other than that, I haven’t seen much difference.”
But there are subtle differences in the style of play, according to baseball insiders. Among them is Joe Kerrigan, who was in the NL for nine seasons as the pitching coach for the Montreal Expos. He has been in the AL for the last two years, with Baltimore and now with Boston.
Kerrigan insists the tempo and rhythm are faster in the NL game and that there is more athleticism. Or as he puts it using a basketball term, more “point guard-type bodies.” He said this generally applies only to outfielders who, because of the bigger NL ballparks, have more ground to cover.
Of necessity, they are faster and generally more accomplished defensively. The NL also has five parks with artificial turf as opposed to the AL’s three, and a swift outfielder is required to cut off balls driven into the gaps to prevent them from rolling to the wall.
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The infielders and catchers, Kerrigan says, are about the same in both leagues.
According to the stats, the AL hitters draw considerably more walks and take more pitches. The numbers were 3.8 pitches last season for each AL hitter, compared with 3.69 in the NL. “It may not seem much of a difference,” Kerrigan says, “but it is when you figure it over the 162-game season.”
The designated-hitter is the essential difference. The addition of what, in effect, is a constant pinch-hitter for the pitcher provides a substantial scoring advantage and is in force only when the Americans are the home team. Surprisingly, the National League DH’s have a collective .242 average, compared with .239 for the AL.
But the most significant number is attendance. In the first round of interleague matchups, the average gate was 34,922, a gain of 37 percent over the season’s previous average. The second-round average was 32,553. quite high considering it was accompanied by much less publicity.
This will be noted Tuesday morning in Cleveland when the owners’ realignment committee assembles.
Acting Commissioner Bud Selig, who has been pushing for realignment, finally will have solid evidence that more regional games are desirable. In other words, natural rivalries such as the White Sox versus Cubs and Yankees versus Mets are the way to go.
More than likely, none of the owners, Selig included, has a realignment package set. There are several scenarios, but the emphasis will be on grouping franchises in the same time zones.
This can be achieved without upsetting the existing framework of two leagues, each with three divisions. To hasten this development, Kansas City is willing to go from the AL Central to the NL Central and Detroit from the AL East to the AL Central.
If Jerry Colangelo, head of the expansion Arizona Diamondbacks, agrees to switch from the NL West to the AL West, a more appealing interleague slate could be offered as early as next season. Colangelo has said nothing doing. But he can resist only so long. After his club is in operation two years, it can be moved without his approval.
Eventually, perhaps in the year 2000, the Cubs, Sox, Milwaukee, St. Louis and Minnesota or Kansas City will be lumped in an AL or NL Central. Down the line, the West would include Los Angeles, Anaheim, San Francisco, San Diego, Oakland, Seattle, Colorado, Houston, Texas and Arizona.
The remaining 14 clubs could be considered for the Eastern divisions: Yankees, Mets, Boston, Philadelphia, Toronto, Baltimore, Montreal, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Cincinnati, Florida, Cleveland and Tampa Bay. This is two or three too many but balance could be achieved by adding some to the Centrals and switching some of the Centrals into the West.
If and when all these changes are made, historians are likely to describe Selig as “Selig the Restructurer.” Says one owner, “He’s trying for a grand-slam home run and a lot of us are rooting for him.”