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5/7/08
NL Outscoring the AL
You Can Thank Barry Zito for This Rare MLB Scoring Trend

Since the inception of the DH rule, the American League has averaged more runs per game than the National League every year. And in most seasons, the gap has been considerable.

David Pinto of Baseball Musings occasionally writes for the Sporting News and informed me of a trend I thought I'd been noticing: The National League is scoring all kinds of runs early this year. He's got a pretty graph, too.



My first reaction was 'Well, of course they are. Barry Zito has been allowed to pitch.' But the astute Pinto delves into all kinds of OPS comparisons between the leagues, analyzing position to position and age to age.

Not only do most NL positions outproduce their AL counterparts, but I found most interesting was the age comparison.

At just about every age under 30, the NL's young talent is dominating. When you think about all the young talented bats in Major League Baseball it becomes a little more obvious, but the disparity is striking.



You can point directly to teams like the Yankees investing in aged talent, while many NL teams aren't afraid to build a team around a 25-year-old star, or even younger.

I don't know if this increase in runs will translate into more World Series titles for the NL, but guys like Jose Reyes, David Wright, Justin Upton, Chase Utley, Hanley Ramirez and on and on sure give the league an exciting future.

However, all of this analysis could be largely affected by an outlier named Barry Zito.

UPDATE
: Chicago Cubs pitching has decided to fully embrace this trend. Thanks Jon Lieber, now GFY.

How the heck is the NL outscoring the AL?
[Sporting News]
4 comments
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5/7/08
6
And I'm throwing the average age thing out the window too.  Since Julio Franco retired (played for the Braves last year), the average age of the NL went down 7 years this season.

5/7/08
1
The AL also has a team that decided that scoring runs is not important. And yes, I am looking at you the Chicago White Sox. The only thing that is emptier than the White Sox bats these day would the cast of (insert the MTV "reality" show of your choice).

5/7/08
0
It looks like the Cubs are helping too. 7 HR's to the Reds so far this afternoon.

5/7/08
0

I've noticed this when making the hitting streak polls.  A few times, I've tried to make a poll with the top 8 hits leaders, but it was top heavy with NL hitters.  It looked real strange.

 

I was going to say that the injury bug had a little to do with it, because there have been quite a few AL big boppers on the DL this season already.  But I pulled up the list of players on the DL this season, and it's pretty even for both leagues.

 

It's not the answer, but one thing that has contributed to those higher hitting stats, IMO, is the fact that there are more and more pitchers in the NL that are pretty good hitters now.  They aren't always automatic outs anymore.  Or, they are treated that way when they come to the plate when they shouldn't be.

 

That's all the excuses I have.  I'm dumbfounded too.


5/7/08
6
And I'm throwing the average age thing out the window too.  Since Julio Franco retired (played for the Braves last year), the average age of the NL went down 7 years this season.

 
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