Is the talent gap here wider then the NBA's Western Conference vs. Eastern Conference. Consider these numbers...

Interleague record

2008 AL wins 149-102 (1 makeup game left between Pirates and Yankees)
2007 AL wins 135-115
2006 AL wins 154-98
2005 AL wins 136-116

Also, other than the Cardinals in 2006, the Red Sox and White Sox swept three of the past four World Series. The AL is 10-0-1 in the last 11 All-Star games.

Yes, Im a White Sox fan and generally prefer AL ball to NL ball except for the fact I think the DH is bullshit, but this isnt meant to be a meatball post to bait Cubs fans. I just never realized how big the gap was untill looking at the numbers. Its ridiculous. I would say its wider then AFC vs NFC and Western Conference vs Eastern Conference.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Even more telling, only 2 AL teams had losing interleague records and one of them was only 2 games from break even. The AL from top to bottom beat up on the NL.

2006 was the real eye opener, but the disparity has been in place for a while. I would have expected the gap to close this year as more free agent talent went from the AL to the NL, but that does not seem to be the case.

I would say that the really weak NL teams are better this year but the average actually is worse.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Two weeks ago when the Cubs were beating up on the White Sox at Wrigley, ESPN's Joe Morgan commented that the "National League was down and the Cubs were up". I don't agree with Joe most of the time, but it's hard to disagree. Arizona "leads" the rotten National League West with a .500 record, while the jury is out on how legit Philadelphia & cash-poor Florida really are in the N.L. East, and no one seems to think St. Louis & Milwaukee are equipped to overtake the Cubs in the N.L. Central. As for the American League, while the Sox still lead the A.L. Central, and Anaheim seems poised to run away with the A.L. West, the real drama is in the A.L. East. The Red Sox are still the World Champions, but the Tampa Bay Rays continue to remain the feelgood story in all of Bud Selig's Major League Baseball. It remains to be seen if the Rays can continue at their torrid pace or if the BoSox & Yankees will turn the "Cinderella Story" into a pumpkin.

The only thing I care about is that when the time comes, the Cubs can overcome the AL team that they would face in a certain best-of-7 series.

how much of that is due to better pitching in the AL which is due to the DH, which makes for better lineups? I say that as a fan of pitchers hitting, but I think it's the main reason...

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

I think baseball is going to have to pick a side eventually; Are they going all-DH or no DH?

Yeah, I tend to agree about the Designated Hitter. I know Hank Steinbrenner was absolutely furious with Allan H. Selig and the "Commissioner's" office when his star Yankees' pitcher was injured in an Interleague game down in Houston, where as we all know, there is no DH and the pitcher bats. Then again, if MLB wants to eliminate the DH, they'll have to deal with Don Fehr & the MLB Players Association. To the union, it means jobs for certain players, such as the White Sox with Jim Thome & possibly Paul Konerko, the Yankees with Jason Giambi, and a certain injured Red Sox named David Ortiz...

it would certainly mean for more meaninful offensive records, since guys who can't play the field couldn't extend their careers...but it would take a major uprising from the fans to get rid of it, not Hanky Steinbrenner....

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

Either way would be better than what we have now. But I would much rather have no DH at all.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Im a Huge Sox fan and a big AL fan, but I always thought the DH was completely stupid. Play the game the way it was meant to be played, or dont play. Fuck this "I cant field worth a damn but I can hit 40 HR's" bullshit. Make a team live and die with a player like that.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul