What Happened To My National League!?!?!?

     

The MLB All Star Game is approaching and there is little debate on who will win this game.  The American League owns the National League.  It's the way it is.  The NL hasn't won an All Star Game since 1996.  Yep, in that span the AL has won 8 All Star Games [the 2002 game ended in a tie] and since Major League Baseball adopted the "winner of the All Star Game gets home field in the World Series" rule...well, the NL hasn't sniffed home field advantage. 

The National League is considered to be the "senior circuit" due to it's lifespan to the American League [yeah, but their both old].  Looks like daddy is getting spanked.

What happened to my National League??

The NL is being dominated by the American League over the last 8-10 years.  Over the last 8 seasons, the World Series has been won by the American League team 6 times.  The AL has won the last 8 World Series wins....the last two Series ending in sweeps.

The AL has eight of their 14 teams over .500 with three of the teams over .600.  The NL has just seven of their 16 teams over .500 and ZERO teams over .600.  The 2nd worst AL team has a 44% winning percentage.  There are five NL teams worse off than that. 

Oh, and after this last little batch of Interleague games....the American League is currently up 154-98.  Yikes!!!!  Even the horrific Kansas City Royals with baseball's worst record has a 10-8 interleague record.  Only TWO National League teams sit with winning interleague records:  the Rockies [11-4] and the Giants [8-7].  That's it.

Baseball still has the rarity of the seperation within it's league system.  Oh, sure, the NFL does have the AFC and NFC which do perform on different wave-lengths and do go thru peaks and valleys.  Their franchises have varied histories [all but three AFC franchises have been in the NFL since 1970...whereas in the NFC, only three teams have been added since 1970 and one of them has spent a majority of their time as an AFC team] and NFC teams typically have a lockdown on the biggest TV markets [Chicago, Philly, Detroit, DC, Dallas].  The NBA has nearly the same type of thing.  The Eastern Conference is more physical and defensive while the Western Conference is more run-fun-and-gun. 

But MLB has distinctly different brands.  There is the DH rule which, over the last 30+ years, has cultivated a different style of play.  With the DH, there are less pinch hitters needed, more pitchers can be added to the roster and games are managed in a slightly different manner.  Guys who need rest can take a day off but their bats aren't missed if they DH.  In the NL, rest means you may come in to pitch hit late in the game.  In the NL, there are double switches and not as many situational hitters.  Only in the last decade has those two sides even played each other during the season....meaning that just now are the two sides really having to play at each other's rules.

But that can't be it.  Like I said, they've been doing this for 30 plus years and only recently has it been getting out of hand.

Could it be payroll??  The four biggest payrolls belong to the American League [Yanks, BoSox, Angels, ChiSox].  Ah....but the next eight biggest payrolls belong to NL teams [Mets, Dodgers, Cubs, Astros, Braves, Giants, Cardinals, Phillies].  So, less cheese can't be the answer. 

It just makes no sense.  Sure, the American League has those legendary Yankees and Red Sox....but the NL has all that too.  I mean, the Los Angeles [and Brooklyn Dodgers]....the San Francisco [and New York] Mets...the St Louis Cardinals....the Pittsburgh Pirates.   The O.G.s of this, the Cincinnati Reds.  Yet, while the Red Sox and White Sox were busy ending curses...the Cubs are looking at firing their manager yet again.  Of the four World Series titles the NL has won since the Reds' 1990 title...two were wildcard teams [the Marlins, believe it] and one was a recent expansion team [D-backs].  The other was the Braves who won 100 straight division titles a got one lousy ring to show for it. 

Maybe it is just how things work out.  From 1963-1985, the National League won 21 of 23 All Star Games.  Maybe the NL can get back on the upswing soon.

Maybe it starts this year.  Let's hope.