American
Baseball is about one thing, fireworks. And no one provides that more than the American League. In the AL, there are no pitchers flailing around with bats in their hands, trying to hit a pitcher’s fastball thrown at half speed. Truth is, there are some pitchers that can hit, but most can’t and why should you pay money or spend your time watching a game when a team wastes three or four at bats a game on someone that hits as well as you or I?
While the designated hitter may ruin the “integrity” of the game, it adds some juice to lineups.
In addition to the D.H, the AL is better than the National League because they simply own Interleague play. The AL has a .522 winning percentage against the NL and has had the best record in Interleague play the last six years.
The NL simply has fallen behind in terms of talent lately. The lower tier teams in the AL such as the Royals and the Orioles are much better teams than the Padres or the Pirates.
The final straw is that the AL hasn’t lost an All-Star game since 1996. That’s a 12-0-1 record against the so-called “Senior Circuit.”
Overall, the NL can’t compete with the AL. Power always reigns supreme in this game. Home runs dominate this game whether fans want to believe it or not, and there is no short supply of them in the AL.
– Bill Hopkins
National
There is one major difference in the American League and the National League, the designated hitter. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the DH rule, it basically allows a professional batter to come into the line-up and hit for the pitcher.
This rule destroys the fundamental idea behind baseball, that there are nine players playing at one time and each of them fields and hits.
Now while the AL honors this rule, the NL does no such thing, thus making the NL the better league in baseball.
See, the AL allows washed up has-beens to come up to the plate and attempt to relive their glory days taking a swing a the bat but conveniently allow them to step out when it comes time to catch a ball.
Not only does this make for less quality players but it also changes baseball into a more offensive sport. While NL players are concerned with both offensive and defensive aspects of the game, AL players just focus on hitting the ball only half of the game.
Now, some may say the AL provides a more entertaining game, they are wrong. The NL hit 200 more homeruns (arguably the more entertaining part of a baseball game) than the AL last year.
Overall the DH rule destroys any chance the AL had of being better then the NL.
– Jeri Kohn
