America's Pastime (pt. 2)

I'm sure that there are countless people anxiously waiting for the nail biting conclusion to yesterday's post, so in the interest of appeasing everyone I am going quickly run through a few examples of why I prefer National League baseball.

• The bench, and therefore the depth of a team become much more important factors.
  

In the American League, generally the eight position players that started the game will finish the game. This results in teams having several players that rarely get the chance to play. They might occasionally get in a day game following a night game to rest the usual player, but for the most part they find themselves in the dugout having a very low impact on the performance of the team. However, in the National League you will see bench players get regular pinch-hit opportunities in the pitcher's spot of the order. In addition to pinch hitting, you also see the ever-exciting double switch where the pitcher and a position player are lifted from the game with a new position player coming off the bench to hit in the pitcher's spot in the order and an arm coming out of the bullpen replacing the exiting position player's place in the batting order. With bench players getting more chances to play in the NL the depth of a team becomes more important than it is in the AL.

• The increase in the ability of the players to police themselves if things start getting a little bit dicey.

This point could be debated. The way I see it there are two ways for the players to police themselves. In hockey, if your star player is getting pushed around and roughed up you have two options. The first option is to start pushing around and roughing up the opposing team's star. The other option is to give some payback to the player who is roughing up your star. Personally, I am a supporter of the more direct route which involves confronting or dealing the the person directly responsible for the infraction. In baseball, if a player stands at the plate admiring a homerun for more time than the pitcher appreciates there is a good chance that either the next batter or the homerun hitter will be nursing a developing bruise and walking to first base in their next at-bat. I have no problem with a pitcher sending a message that they didn't exactly appreciate being shown up. If this happens in the AL, the next step is for the other team's pitcher to plunk a batter. This can be an exciting situation, but what is even more exciting is what potentially happens in the NL. The pitcher who intentionally hit a batter has to come to the plate at some point and that is when things can get real interesting. This is the very player that threw at one of your guys. Would you let that slide? So now you have a situation where the pitcher really has to think about how annoyed he really was after that last homerun because if it wasn't too annoyed perhaps he'll let it slide instead of becoming a target himself the next time his spot in the line-up comes up.

• Decisions on when to change pitchers are much more interesting.

Lets say that your starting pitcher has pitched 7 strong innings. His pitch count isn't too high and the game is tied. In the top of the eighth your pitcher is due to hit with one out and a man on first. Do you want to have him bunt so that he can stay and pitch the bottom of the eighth or do you want to lift him for a pinch hitter and trust the bullpen? These decisions do not have to be made in the AL, at least the decisions are not as difficult because you are only having to judge the pitching side of the equation where in the NL you have to balance the pitching side of the equation with the offensive side.

• Getting from first to third on a single, stealing bases and hit and runs are all more prevalent in the NL.

These are all exciting baseball plays. If you are going to hit and run or steal a base when exactly you want to try it becomes an interesting bit of strategy. In my experience AL teams are much more inclined to not take risks on the bases trying to advance runners. They get people on and hope for a three run homerun to clear them off. The chances of having a big inning in the NL are lower and that leads to a higher value being assigned to any potential run on the bases and how you are going to try to get that run in.

• Watching the eighth hitter can be as interesting as watching the big slugger.
  

With the pitcher hitting in the nine hole nearly exclusively (not including teams managed by LaRussa) there rests a higher level of responsibility for the eighth hitter in NL lineups compared to AL lineups. In the AL you usually have a meager hitting middle infielder in the eighth spot and it might be a good time to get up and grab a soda. However, in the NL you want to have an eighth hitter that can get on base. The strategy is that you'd rather not have the pitcher lead off an inning because it frequently results in the first out which means you only have two outs to try to get something going. So, situations in which the eighth hitter comes to the plate with two outs can be very interesting. Can he get on and clear the pitcher's spot this inning or will he make an out and force the pitcher to lead off the next inning? Personally, I find this situation nearly as interesting to watch as seeing the outcome when the bases are loaded with the team's slugger coming to the plate.

• If you play in the NL you better be a decent all-around player.

In the AL many teams employ a DH who is a pretty bad fielder and the fact that he gets paid to simply hit glosses over the importance of learning how to play good defense. There is no penalty for not being able to field a position. In the NL you could have a great hitter who is a bad defender, but you still need to find a place to put him. Usually, they try to squeeze them into a corner outfield spot or first base. However, the team still pays a penalty for the player not being a good defender. Perhaps the slugger fails to cut off a ball in the gap and gives up a double where a good defender could have held the hitter to a single. Perhaps the great hitter doesn't scoop a throw at first base the spoils a double play that would have ended an inning. Either way being able to field a position is a premium skill to have in the NL and that is another thing I appreciate about that style of baseball.