The top 5 batting leaders are all in the AL and the top 5 pitching leaders are all in the NL....?

wow that is really amazing. But surely makes sense. good pitching beats good hitting. i think the allstar game made a good example of that. lesser pitchers in the AL= better hitters in the AL. better pitchers in NL= lesser hitters. OR you can look at it like. the al has better hitters therefore worse pitchers and vise vera. but i don't think of it like that simply because of the allstar game. thanks for those stats!

BQ: i wish Cahill would get SOME consideration. not saying he should get it, but he should be looked at if he continues this year. i think he is 2nd is ERA, 1st in WHIP and 5th in wins. only 2 behind the leader. im sure Price will win it though.

If you look at the how the AL builds a team vs the NL you start to see why this may be the case for ERA:

The AL builds to have 9 hitters, with the DH being power in the pitchers position

The NL builds having utility players who pinch hit for pitchers usually later in the game.

So, the point is pitchers in the AL have 9 guys who can hit, while in the NL it is generally considered that the pitcher is an easy out.

(Exceptions to every rule, there are some good hitting pitchers, but for the most part the pitcher is a much easier out than any other member of the team who comes up to bat, almost providing a break for the guy who is pitching in a sense)

When a pitcher goes from the NL to the AL his ERA will go up, for example.

Cy Young AL: There are some good pitcher's right now, and you could make a case for several:

Lester, Lee, Buchholz,Price, Cahill, Hernandez, Weaver,Petitte...I'm going to let the season continue to unfold. This could get interesting. Right now if it were to be awardedI would say:

It would be Cliff Lee

I still believe that the AL is the tougher league in both pitching and hitting. Getting traded to the AL from the NL is like getting promoted........tougher league and better players.

Here's my reasoning.

AL pitchers, like Cliff Lee and CC Sabathia, were traded from AL teams to NL teams and shut down the National League like it was the minors.

But the same thing happens with hitters moving from the AL to the NL. Look at Matt Holliday and Juan Pierre for example. Holliday was great in Colorado, bad in Oakland, and great in St. Louis. Juan Pierre is a career .300 hitter and now in the AL, he's hitting in the .260's.

There are more examples of each and there are exceptions. But the AL is much stronger in hitting and pitching than the NL in my opinion.

BQ: Not sure yet........maybe Cliff Lee, David Price, Trevor Cahill, King Felix, Gavin Floyd, Carl Pavano, CC Sabathia........I think we'll see down the stretch who really impacts their team the most.

Wow, you get a much better chance of scoring in the AL, while in the NL, you have a better chance to throw a no hitter. Weird huh?.

BQ: Hopefully David Price since Im a Rays fan but I wouldnt mind Cliff Lee either..

Buy. They have had the most absurd run of injuries I've ever seen and have still stayed close to contention until almost the end of the year. If the Skankees and Rays were not both such great teams, the Red Sox would still be in it. This hasn't been the most thrilling Red Sox season, but the team deserves some credit for keeping things together they way they have.

It's just as it is. It's a coincidence. The better MLB hitters are in the AL. Every one of these hitters are position players and not DH'ers. As for pitching, that's where the use of the DH comes into play. The AL should be slightly higher ERA's because of it.

I think it's mostly coincidental. Sure is strange, though!

As far as the Cy Young is concerned, I actually see Sabathia making a good run at it. He's already right there in the running, but he usually gets better down the stretch. David Price would be the guy if the season ended today, but as a young guy he's more likely to tire out.

this nothing new..the NL has had better defensive numbers than the AL..since the DH was instituted

yes, because of the DH spot, AL games are higher scoring, and there is more batting action. in the NL there is one garenteed out, which makes it easyer on pitchers.

BQ John Lester