So I'm watching the Red Sox vs Diamondbacks game today(mainly because I turned on ESPN and was too lazy to change it) and they are talking about how the AL is owning the NL in interleague play this year. They said the split was something to the extent of 96 wins for the AL against 71 wins for the NL.
In my opinion, interleague play is tilted in favor of the American League... why you ask? Well the main reason being is, in the AL parks where the designated hitter is in use, the AL teams are set up exactly how they are for the regular season. Teams spend a lot of money on DH(David Ortiz - $13 million, Hideki Matsui - $13 million, Jim Thome - 15,666 million) in the AL to play a position that is not even a position in the National League. But when you take a NL team and put him in AL rules... they are at a huge disadvantage. So I'm watching the Red Sox and Diamondbacks and the Red Sox have future hall of famer, Manny Ramirez hitting DH who is hitting .293 on the season with an OPS of .914 with 15 dingers and 49 RBI's. The Diamondbacks have Chad Tracy as their DH hitter who is hitting .227 on the season and isn't even a regular starter for the D-backs... is that fair?
Some try to make the arguement that in the NL parks where the DH rule isn't in use that the NL teams have an advantage... really? How? NL pitchers can't hit for jack so it's not like their extra offensive production is going to be much if any factor... and most DH's can at least play enough 1st base to play a few games a year so if the DH is the best hitter on that team, then the AL team isn't losing their best player...
Now I'm not here to complain that the NL is at a disadvantage or anything like that... but I'm just at least a little annoyed that these "talking heads" on TV act like the NL is some scrub league compared to the AL.. the rules aren't the same... Give the NL and the AL the same rules for a few years and then come talk... until then...