Which league has the better record so far in interleague play, the American League or the National League?
I understand that it is not exactly a fair comparison, since the NL would have a slight advantage due to the fact that their pitchers bat regularly. But I was hoping to get some indication if one league was really better than the other.
Other than the DH, is everything else between the 2 leagues the same? I heard that the NL umpires call a somewhat larger strike zone. Is this correct??
In addition to the DH disparity, there is a schedule disparity between the two leagues. Since each team only plays a select number of teams each season, you don’t get a representative sample. For example this year, one of the better teams in the AL, Seattle, played one of the worst NL teams, San Diego, six times.
Then again, San Diego won 4 of the 6 meetings.
Regardless, through this year, the NL has a record of 860-839.
The AL’s record is 824-855.
They don’t add up because Milwaukee switched leagues and there are more NL teams than AL teams.
If you go strictly by leagues and not adding up the teams, you get a record of 832 wins by the AL and 862 wins by NL teams.
Oakland has the best record in interleague play at 75-47. The Braves are the best NL team at 71-47.
I believe that there are one or two interleague games still to be played because of rainouts.