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This is the 14th year of interleague play....
here are some numbers to consider...
In the 13 previous seasons, the American League has topped the National in 10 of the 13, including the last 7
The overall count (14 years of interleague play) is AL 1808 vs. NL 1652
The White Sox were 127-101 in interleague play from 1997-2009, the best winning pct of any team in either league
EIGHT AL teams have won more than 120 interleague games, but not one single NL team has
Only 4 of 16 NL teams are above .500 in interleague play
this year - again - the AL wins the interleague play 134-118
Add to this, the AL also has not lost an ALL STAR game in 14 years!
and in the past 25 years has lost only FOUR All Star games!!!
The AL has won 8 of the last 12 World Series and 17 of the past 26..
in the last dozen World Series...The American League has won FIVE of them in sweeps of 4 games to NONE...to find the last five times the NL won in a 4-game sweep -
you have to go all the way back nearly 100 years to 1914!!!
(in that same interval, the AL has had 13 sweeps.)
So - can someone explain the AL dominance??
Here's one argument...
if you do a sortable stat for the number of pitches thrown by the MLB pitchers...
the top 6 guys are all NL'ers, and if you check innings pitched, the top 5 are all NL.
BUT -- if you look at the broader stats....almost precisely half of the top 50 pitchers in IP are in each league so it's pretty evenly divided...same goes for pitched thrown...exactly 25 of the top 5 are in each league...
here are some numbers to consider...
In the 13 previous seasons, the American League has topped the National in 10 of the 13, including the last 7
The overall count (14 years of interleague play) is AL 1808 vs. NL 1652
The White Sox were 127-101 in interleague play from 1997-2009, the best winning pct of any team in either league
EIGHT AL teams have won more than 120 interleague games, but not one single NL team has
Only 4 of 16 NL teams are above .500 in interleague play
this year - again - the AL wins the interleague play 134-118
Add to this, the AL also has not lost an ALL STAR game in 14 years!
and in the past 25 years has lost only FOUR All Star games!!!
The AL has won 8 of the last 12 World Series and 17 of the past 26..
in the last dozen World Series...The American League has won FIVE of them in sweeps of 4 games to NONE...to find the last five times the NL won in a 4-game sweep -
you have to go all the way back nearly 100 years to 1914!!!
(in that same interval, the AL has had 13 sweeps.)
So - can someone explain the AL dominance??
Here's one argument...
if you do a sortable stat for the number of pitches thrown by the MLB pitchers...
the top 6 guys are all NL'ers, and if you check innings pitched, the top 5 are all NL.
BUT -- if you look at the broader stats....almost precisely half of the top 50 pitchers in IP are in each league so it's pretty evenly divided...same goes for pitched thrown...exactly 25 of the top 5 are in each league...