Two Reasons the NL is Better Than the AL

The New York Yankees and the DH (designated hitter) separate and define the National and American baseball leagues. They are two simple reasons why the American League is great, and why the National League is better.

The New York Yankees have won more championships than any other sports team in American history. No other major sports team has dominated as the Yankees have in the twentieth century. They aren't just an American League standout, but Major League Baseball's golden child.

Some of the greatest and most recognizable baseball players in history played for the Yankees between 1920 and 1968. Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Roger Maris, Whitey Ford, and Mickey Mantle. In the 1970s there were Thurman Munson, Reggie Jackson, and Bucky Dent. Don Mattingly in the 1980s and Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter, and Mariano Rivera in the 1990s and 2000s.

No sports team was quite as dominant as the Yankees from 1949 through 1964. They got to every World Series from 1955 to 1964 except one. They won five straight World Series titles from 1949 to 1953.

The Yankees have won at least one World Series title in each decade of play since the 1920s, and all told, the Yankees have won 26 titles in 39 World Series appearances.
[New York Yankees]

In World Series play the American League is 61-43, but hold on. Take the Yankees' 26 victories out of the equation and the American League can only boast 35 wins. If the New York Yankees had been a National League team, the NL would lead the AL 69-35.

Fortunately for the American League, they have the Yankees, but it's what the National League doesn't have that really makes the NL the more enjoyable league.

In 1973 the American League began using the DH to boost slumping ticket sales.
[Revisiting the Great Al-NL Debate]

Former pitching star Rick Wise said it best when he said, "The designated hitter rule is like having someone else take Wilt Chamberlain's free throws."
[Rick Wise]

The DH takes away from the purity of the game by allowing American League teams to hide the deficiencies of pitchers, replacing them in the hitting roster by very talented hitters who are often below-average fielders. Or who are, because of age or injury, players who were once good fielders but have become too slow and unable to outplay younger players.

In the National League everyone hits. Players bunt, play hit and run, steal bases, and hit sacrifice flies. They play something called "small ball" that American League players don't rely on nearly as often. It turns games between the Cardinals and Cubs, or Braves and Mets, into a chess match. One manager trying to out-think the other by substituting players and bunting in key situations.

It also means NL pitchers play the "whole" game, the way it was meant to be played. Everyone fields their position, and everyone hits.

The National League simply plays better baseball, and if it weren't for the Yankees and the DH, the American League may not even exist today.

Sources:
1. New York Yankees, Baseball Almanac
2. Revisiting the Great Al-NL Debate, The Epoch Times
3. Rick Wise, Wikipedia