However, even as a massive AL proponent, I’ve come to grips with the fact that the National League has been vastly more enjoyable to watch in 2011. So much that it’s superseded my AL interest.
The calendar has now flipped to August, which means Major League Baseball’s stretch run (roughly 50 games remaining) is upon us. Here are five reasons to fix your attention on the National League during that stretch:
1. Individual Performances
The NL MVP race is so unusual that it’s difficult not to follow the intrigue. The two leading candidates (Matt Kemp and Lance Berkman) are immensely dissimilar. Berkman is posting a league-leading .993 OPS, a .595 SLG% and is also leading the league in home runs (28). Kemp is exuding premier athleticism (28 stolen bases) atop phenomenal hitting prowess (.317 AVG, .394 OBP% and .580 SLG%). And for you sabermetric stat junkies, his wRC+ (a weighted measurement that calculates how many runs a player has directly created) is three runs higher than Berkman’s, and his WAR (Wins Above Replacement Player) is at 5.3 compared to Berkman’s 3.5. In other words, sabermetric statistics are giving us a clearer picture of the minutia of a specific player’s output on the baseball field, yet only makes things complicated when comparing players such as Matt Kemp and Lance Berkman on an MVP ballot.
On top of that, if the season ended today, neither of these players would be featured in the postseason. The Los Angeles Dodgers have been out of contention for the majority of the season, and the St. Louis Cardinals have become both a victim of small bumps in the road and Milwaukee's recent surge. MVP endowment and headlining a contending club usually go hand in hand, but not this season. Take into account the magnificent seasons of Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder and Matt Holliday and we have a legitimate 50-game MVP race.
Moreover, the offensive talent pool is purely better this season than in the NL’s past. Beyond the players previously mentioned, reigning NL MVP Joey Votto is still producing, Jose Reyes is sustaining an electrifying season, Troy Tulowitzki (TULO!!!) is still fun to watch and is actually tied for the NL’s best WAR value (5.6) with Reyes, Brian McCann has been turning heads as the best catcher in baseball, and Andrew McCutchen, Justin Upton and Mike Stanton are all emerging as three of the best young outfielders in baseball. Mesh that with the four aces in Philadelphia, the most complete pitching staff in baseball in San Francisco, Clayton Kershaw, Jair Jurrjens, Tim Hudson, Johnny Cueto and some commendable closers and you’re looking at a pretty good league from nearly every aspect.
2. Unpredictability
The biggest problem with the AL right now is that it’s boring. The same names are at its forefront (Yankees and Red Sox), the defending AL champion Rangers will imminently be in the mix and the AL Central isn’t very good. The only surprise team has been Cleveland. In the National League, the Pittsburgh Pirates jumped out as a surprise team (until ESPN botched their season with a media-crazed jinx and ruined any chances of Pittsburgh achieving its first .500 season in 18 years), the New York Mets are actually hanging around the .500 mark, and the Arizona Diamondbacks are somehow only a half-game back of the defending champion Giants in the NL West. The Diamondbacks, Mets and Pirates??? That’s the equivalent of the Lions, Raiders and Browns simultaneously in the playoff mix with five weeks left in the NFL season. But keep your eyes peeled; the Pirates are in the midst of a dreadful 10-game losing streak. The Giants are battling a swoon exacerbated by an unforgiving schedule and getting out of their rut may be all they need to pull away from Arizona. The Phillies are firing on all cylinders. The unpredictable ones may be on the verge of fading into formal, unfortunate obscurity, but that’s not keeping us from watching just to make sure.
3. Tight Races
As mentioned prior, the NL West is a legitimate race and so is the NL Central. Unpredictability has morphed the Central from a 3-team deadlock between the Brewers, Cardinals and Pirates to a 2-team race between just St. Louis and Milwuakee (they start a 3-game set on Tuesday). But what would you rather watch: A single race between the overachieving Tigers and Indians, the same old Yankees/Red Sox battle that culminates in both teams making the postseason regardless, or two bountifully decorated races containing the majesty of AT&T Park, a thrilling youngster named Justin Upton, the fascinating Brew Crew and the renowned Cardinals? Exactly.
4. The Personalities
Marketable baseball players are hard to come by. Unlike the NBA, Major League Baseball has a tough time producing personality figures. It’s a sport that mainly thrives off tradition and ambiance. So when a player like Nyjer Morgan, albeit a non-superstar, portrays polarizing antics, it’s a breath of entertaining fresh air.
Besides Alex Rodriguez, is there a more polarizing player in baseball? Last season as a member of the Washington Nationals, he was dubbed moronic for his antics during a compelling brawl against Florida. This season, he’s vacillated between a likeable, passionate center fielder with actual emotion on the field, and a guy who craves a little too much attention and causes feuds with fans. He made his post-game presence known last week with this comical charade, which was aimlessly hilarious to everyone except his twitter followers. He may have a mixed variety of fans, but that’s what happens when you display a mixed bag of personas. Personally, I love it. When it comes to baseball, confounding displays of emotion are better than no emotion at all in a largely emotionless game. Whenever I start my podcast, T-Plush will be the first professional athlete I pursue as a guest.
However, when talking about personalities in the National League, look no further than the San Francisco Giants. Headlined by a full-bearded closer exhibiting sheer comedy and a long-haired, pot-smoking ace, the Giants feature a washed-up leadoff man, a consistent Panda, an awkward first baseman, a newly-acquired 3-hitter, a silver-haired, 30 year-old catcher, a consistent starting rotation, the best bullpen in baseball, and a bunch of misfits. Top that off with an unwavering fan base inside the most magical park in baseball and you can concurrently distinguish the most beguiling team in the sport. Give me a team with all of those discernible aspects over a purchased crop of robotic talent in Boston or New York any day of the week.
5. Postseason Implications
Although it was only half-filled with All-Stars, the National League won this year’s All-Star game and it may prove to merit much more than the apparently apathy-enriched game itself. The National League earned home-field advantage with that win, and there are three teams that would be the highest of beneficiaries if they do reach the Fall Classic: the Giants, Brewers and Pirates.
The Pirates have the lowest chance of getting there and it is highly doubtful that they will. However, if they manage to sneak in and get hot (because we all know that baseball is all about getting hot at the right time in October), the advantage of a young club playing at home in a raucous atmosphere would be paramount. And I say raucous because, well, it’s virtually unfathomable to envision the Pirates playing in the World Series in the first place. Throwing the “We Believe” Warriors fans in PNC park and dressing them in black and yellow is the closest we can get to visualizing that moment. And what a visual it would be.
The Giants would obviously carry the same advantages they had last year: a euphoric crowd, comfortable ambiance, and the most complete pitching staff from starter to reliever to set-up man to closer. And if they just so happened to get hot at the right time (2010 anyone?), then a repeat would be exceedingly more possible than it seems at the moment. The stretch run endeavor for the Giants is to hold off the Upton-led Diamondbacks, first and foremost. But auspicious prospects do linger.
Possibly the most intriguing team to keep an eye on in the final stretch is the Milwaukee Brewers. They have the hitting to keep up with any American League juggernaut (ninth in the majors in runs scored, seventh in wOBA), and have acquired enough pieces to construct an adequate pitching staff. The only knock on Milwaukee has been its fielding, but those criticisms have all but disappeared now that the team’s fielding percentage is sitting at .982 and its UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating, another sabermetric junkie's stat) is at a respectable 6.8. Proof that fielding statistics should be looked at like three point shooting percentage in basketball: the percentage doesn’t necessarily matter if it doesn’t apply to you. Does fielding percentage really matter that much when your players are making routine plays most of the time?
The Brewers are the scariest team coming out of the National League when considering the “The postseason is all about getting hot at the right time” theory. Coalescing Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder (the best 1-2 punch in the majors this year) with stout pitching and some hot role players would be just as frightening as the Red Sox and Phillies are right now. Take that and mix it in with a fanatic Miller Park where the Brewers are leading the majors in home record at 41-15. Throw in the cardiac pitching of Francisco Rodriguez. Now throw in T-Plush. And Bernie Brewer slipping down a plastic yellow slide after every home run.
Sound like enough reason to watch?
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