The swan song is playing for National & American Leagues

Baseball's impending expansion sets the table for cataclysmic changes

This is one guess at what an expanded 32-team MLB might look like from Fangraphs:

I try hard to fight the old guy within me. Baseball today is so different from the baseball I started watching nearly 60 years ago. I loved late 1960’s baseball! And 1970’s and ‘80s baseball too. I remember when the DH came into play in 1973 and being a strong National League guy, looking down on the ‘Junior’ circuit for giving in and adopting the gimmicky DH rule. Having two leagues in baseball is a time-honored tradition and one that I think is likely to fizzle out.

The history of two leagues in MLB

The National League is appropriately termed the ‘Senior Circuit’ since it debuted in 1876 as compared to the American League’s inaugural season of 1901. Before 1973 (the first year of the DH), National League baseball and American League baseball were different from one another. The styles of play were different and the only time players from both leagues saw each other was at the All-Star Game (first played in 1933) and the World Series.

The All-Star Game continued to be played with the DH being used in AL parks after 1973. This continued into the 1990’s before interleague play began in 1997. Aside from the World Series, watching the best of both leagues compete to win, since there was ‘league pride’ on the line, was fun and exciting! Even after 1997, the ASG felt like it was important long after it truly was important for league pride.

After the 7-7 tied All-Star game in 2002 (the teams had run out of pitchers), for 14 seasons 2003-2016 the ASG was played with the stakes being that the winning side would have its league receive home-field advantage in the World Series. Interleague play and the ability to watch MLB games from all over the U.S. had lessened the fan’s interest in the All-Star game.

MLB’s response was a lame attempt to create more interest in the midsummer classic and fans were generally as unimpressed as I was. Today, the World Series home-field advantage is based on the regular-season records of the two individual pennant winning teams. That’s a better was of deciding which team gets the extra home game by a long shot.

The end is nigh for the AL being separate from the NL

For we old-timey baseball fans, please enjoy the last couple of years of having a separate American League and a National League. Baseball loves to hold onto its traditions and this one going away will hurt more than any other sport. I admit that it’s mostly out of the sake of nostalgia.

When the NL was deeper, but the Yankees were best

The NL was a deeper and clearly better league from 1949 through 1964. National League baseball was leaps and bounds ahead of the AL because the NL was quicker to sign black players after Jackie Robinson debuted in 1947. The AL also lacked parity due to Yankee hegemony. The Yankees won 14 pennants in that 16-year period.

Before 1973 the style of baseball from the NL to the AL was considered different. The NL was a speed, pitching and defense league while the AL was its offense-minded counterpart. Orioles manager Earl Weaver, famous for being a fan of the three-run homer once said, “The key to winning baseball games is pitching, fundamentals, and three-run homers”. The idea being that three-run homers can turn a close game into a comfortable victory or coverup errors and deficits.

The rules and equipment weren’t the same

For 51 seasons the AL and NL played under different rules (DH vs. no-DH). The style of play was different since not having to pinch hit for the pitcher changed the way managers would approach managing the games.

Another difference was that the AL umpires wore their chest protectors outside their coats whereas NL umpires had it underneath. Consequently, the NL umpires could crouch down lower, and this resulted in the perception that the AL had a higher strike zone than did the NL. The last umpire to wear the outside chest protector was Jerry Neudecker who retired in 1985 and had been grandfathered in when starting in 1973 the AL ordered umps to stop wearing external pads to improve the consistency of pitch calling.

Each league in MLB had its own league president making its own rulings on goings-on in its own league. The practice was finally scrapped after 1999. Before he was MLB commissioner Bart Giamatti was NL president. The league president would rule on protests, player suspensions, and other details that are today handled by the MLB Commissioner’s office.

Once the DH is universal why were there still two leagues?

Good question. Think about the other major sports in the United States. The NFL, NBA, and NHL are one league. There is one MVP, one scoring champion, one leader for any category in the entire league. There’s no NBA Eastern or Western Conference scoring, assists, or rebounds leaders. The leading passer in the NFL is not designated by conference. Nobody cares who is the AFC’s or NFC’s leading rusher is if that player did not lead the entire NFL.

If MLB was do away with the American League and National League there’d no longer be two batting average, two home run or two RBI champions. HOFer Ty Cobb’s 12 AL batting titles and Honus Wagner and Tony Gwynn’s eight NL batting titles would matter less and be etched into permanent history. For a game so steeped in tradition I think that would be a greater loss than it might first appear. Aaron Judge might be the last AL all-time single season home run champion with his 62 in 2022. Although this season the Mariner’s Cal Raleigh and Judge are making a bid to hit more than 62 homers. Baseball has the most history and leaning away from that seems like a terrible idea.

My son Gordon, co-host of our podcast, had difficulty fathoming that the AL and NL could be melded together as conferences in MLB once the league expands to 32 teams, something that seems quite likely in the not-too-distant future. 16 playoff teams with two conferences. Two divisions in each conference. Each conference is then seeded 1-8 and there would be four playoff series for the World Series combatants. It would look a lot like the NBA and NHL playoffs. It would also mean more revenue for MLB owners and players as well as the outlets that carry and broadcast playoff games. Which is why I can’t deny that this will be the future for MLB. No AL, NL. Just MLB.

I don’t like the idea of doing away with the American and National Leagues. Is that enough of reason for things to carry on the way they have for 125 years? I say yes. How about you?

About the Author: Mark Kolier along with his son Gordon co-hosts a baseball podcast called ‘Almost Cooperstown’. He also has written baseball-related articles that can be accessed on Medium.com and Substack.com