In case there is any doubt which league has the better teams:

[El Supremo]

All – Time Interleague Results Year by Year

1997: NL won 117 – 97 (.547) NL up yearly series 1 – 0
1998: AL won 114 – 110 (.509) Yearly series tied 1 – 1
1999: NL won 135 – 116 (.538) NL up yearly series 2 – 1
2000: AL won 136 – 115 (.542) Yearly series tied 2 – 2
2001: AL won 132 – 120 (.524) AL up yearly series 3 – 2
2002: NL won 129 – 123 ( .512) Yearly series tied 3 – 3
2003: NL won 137 – 115 (.544) NL up yearly series 4 – 3
2004: AL won 127 – 125 (.504) Yearly series tied 4 – 4
2005: AL won 136 – 116 (.540) AL up yearly series 5 – 4
2006: AL won 154 – 98 (.611) AL up yearly series 6 – 4
2007: AL won 137 – 115 (.544) AL up yearly series 7 – 4
2008: AL won 149 – 103 (.591) AL up yearly series 8 – 4
2009: AL won 154 – 98 (.611) AL up yearly series 9 – 4
2010: AL won 138 – 114 (.548) AL up yearly series 10 – 4
2011: AL won 134 – 118 (.532) AL up yearly series 11 – 4
2012: AL won 142 – 110 (.611) AL up yearly series 12 – 4
2013: AL won 154 – 146 (.513) AL up yearly series 13 – 4
2014: AL UP currently 105 – 88 (.544)

ALL Time: AL leads the NL 2295 – 2076 (.525)


http://mlbreports.com/interleague2014sked/

[Auggie]

1. Since the DH was established in '73, the A.L. leads the N.L. in Worlds Series wins ...

22-18.

But I'd much rather watch a National League game. That's real baseball.

[bluedigger]

2. Never understood what's so great about watching pitchers flail helplessly.

Funny, maybe, but not compelling. To each their own, I guess.

[hughee99]

3. Come on, who doesn't go to a game hoping to see the 8 hitter Chico Lind walk

so the pitcher can throw to Mike Bielecki (for those 1987 Pirates fans out there).

[frylock]

4. because managers have to decide whether to pull helplessly flailing pitchers..

when you have runners in scoring position. it's called "strategy."

[El Supremo]

5. So being a pitcher in the NL...

is just being a temporary stand-in for a good pinch hitter? That is strategy? It's dumb. Why not have a permanent pinch hitter? The Designated Hitter.

And the double switch is just a device to keep a pitcher from having to bat soon. That isn't strategy either. It's just a way around the fact that managers really wish pitchers didn't have to bat. It's an admission that there has been a major flaw in baseball for more than half a century.

[frylock]

6. the DH was put in place as a marketing gimmick to boost crappy AL attendance..

why not just make the guys wear short pants, or sign a little person to the roster?

[Auggie]

8. +1 ... I think it was also put in place to appeal to clueless morons

[frylock]

9. well, I wasn't go to say anything....

[El Supremo]

10. Did you know that there was a study done that shows...

ABSTRACT

Since its introduction in 1973, major league baseball’s designated hitter (DH) rule
has been the subject of continuing controversy. Here, we investigate the political
and socio–demographic determinants of public opinion toward the DH rule, using
data from a nationwide poll conducted during September 1997. Our findings
suggest that it is in fact Democrats, not Republicans, who tend to favor the DH.
In addition, we find no effect for respondents’ proximity to American or National
League teams, though older respondents were consistently more likely to oppose
the rule.

http://artsci.wustl.edu/~jgill/papers/qjps.zorngill.pdf

So that makes you an old-fart Republican.

[Auggie]

11. I could alert on this ...

but I won't.

[frylock]

13. good thing i'm not a democrat

[El Supremo]

14. And you must hate America!

[frylock]

15. and children too

[El Supremo]

16. Me too!

“I like children. If they're properly cooked.”

“Children should neither be seen nor heard from – ever again. ”

― W.C. Fields

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

7. I agree

I also like a game that tries to clock in under 3 hours. Never got the appeal of watching five hours of Terry Francona and Joe Girardi come out to the mound every time the pitcher farts or gives up another massive home run to some "future hall of famer" like Marcus Thames or Alex Rios. When it's past midnight and only in the sixth inning....bleep that noise.

[ProfessorGAC]

12. Some CHerry Picking In This Data

The Cubs play a lot of interleague games because they have a national following/fanbase, but they've been terrible for years.

When Yankess and Red Sox were both good, they were in many IL series for the same reason.

Because of the Texas connection, the Astros and Rangers played routinely, and Houston has been bad for a while, mostly in the NL.

The difference between .525 and .475 is only one win in 20 games.

If someone really did a detailed view of this and did a view of bad teams vs bad teams and good teams vs. good teams, it very well may be a different picture.