Astros To The AL West

[brett05]

No, it was. You said the NL teams get an advantage over AL teams overall in inter-league.

And we said that there is no way that the AL is disadvantaged.

Nobody has an advantage at NL fields, as they both have terrible hitting pitchers who won't get on either way.

At AL fields, the DH is much better than the bench player, and thus the AL has the advantage.

Again, our bench player is already in the field. NL teams play their "hidden dh" in the field until they hit an AL park. Then Soriano DH's.

 

[brett05]

Nobody has an advantage at NL fields, as they both have terrible hitting pitchers who won't get on either way.

The NL team doesn't gain at home, but the AL team loses. They lose a guy that accounts for 10-20% of the team's payroll.

As for NL pitchers being equal with the bat as AL pitchers, I think you know that is utter nonsense. The NL pitcher is a better hitter, bunter, and base runner. It's not even close. I'd toss out a guess of 30-50% a better batter then their AL counterpart.

 

[brett05]

NL teams are used to having a pitcher bat. AL loses a bat.



I've re-thought this and came to this conclusion:

At AL Parks: NL is at disadvantage

At NL Pakrs: AL is at disadvantage.

Ergo: it evens out.



/thread

Sorry, whitesox901. How is the NL at a disadvantage? What is it that they lose? You can quit the debate, but I think your conclusion is without basis.

 

[brett05]

The AL may complain about losing the DH, but it doesn't hurt them much at all considering their dominance over the NL in interleague.

That's a completely different discussion completely unrelated to who gains/loses before a pitch is tossed at a game.

 

[brett05]

Yes, but the AL actually isn't disadvantaged by losing the DH. Their lineup is hurt, that is indisputable, but the team they are playing against also don't have a DH, so it technically isn't a disadvantage. Remember, just technically.

This is probably the funniest comment in this thread. You say their is no disadvantage by losing the DH, but then come right back and say that the lineup is hurt indisputably. Technically you are right in your information, and technically dead wrong that it isn't a disadvantage. :lol:

 

[brett05]

The bolded part is all I have been arguing.

Great, what disadvantage does the NL team get by going to an AL park? Haven't had anyone answer that yet.

 

[Rice Cube]

Well, let's think about it this way...

Your AL team and NL team are all composed of 25 players: 5 SP, 7 relievers, 8 starting position players and 5 bench guys. In the AL one of the bench guys is the regular DH. All your SP have 3.00 ERA, your relievers all have 3.50 ERA. Every single position player and bench player have .300 batting average.

If we are arguing on the basis of all things being equal, in the AL park, both teams will have an equal lineup against equal pitching with DH's that have equal ability. In the NL park, DH is now on the bench and both pitchers suck at hitting. Both teams have to play by each others' rules and must adapt to the perceived advantages or disadvantages each league confers.

However, we know that all things are not equal, and that starts with the way teams are constructed. The AL will not usually go with DH by committee and will employ one guy (i.e. a David Ortiz) to sit out half the game and hit the snot out of the ball when he is up. The NL will not employ that same guy because it's a waste of money to have that good of a hitter on the bench when they can have a utility guy as a defensive replacement. If they had a guy like David Ortiz, they'd either trade him to the AL or play him in the field (most likely at 1B).

The only reason we NL/Cubs guys are talking about inequality is because the game is unequal. Even if the AL team is missing their DH, their lineup and pitching outshines the NL, thereby removing whatever perceived disadvantages they might have for sitting their DH. The NL guys may have some advantage from replacing their pitcher with someone who theoretically could hit, but you're basically replacing a #9 hitter with a slightly better #9 hitter. The advantages/disadvantages are not as significant as you might think.

There's my response to everything you just repeated, Brett. Have a nice day

 

[brett05]

Look I get what you're trying to say, but it isn't feasible. The fact that we have to lose anything at all, is a disadvantage, no matter how to try to spin it.

Welcome back to the debate!