{mosimage}Watching Boston steamroll Colorado in the World Series got me thinking about why the American League is so much stronger than its National League counterpart.

Let's face it, it didn't matter which playoff team (Arizona, Chicago, Philly) represented the NL in the World Series, Boston is just too powerful from head to toe, which is unfortunate for the fans by the Lake pining for a title, because so are the Indians, who choked on the opportunity to thump the Rocks for a world championship ring.

And, as a matter of fact, both the Angels and Yankees would also have been favored against Colorado had they advanced to the Series.

The AL isn't just more talented in one area (like pitching or fielding) compared to the NL, but rather it's actually more talented in all areas. Because of this inner-league advantage, AL organizations are forced to perform better in order to survive against its division rivals.

Take the AL East for example. Think about what teams like Baltimore, Tampa Bay and Toronto must do organizationally just to hang near Boston's and New York's wealthy and talented lineups.

Simply put, Baltimore, Tampa Bay and Toronto must invest more financially, scout better and ultimately over achieve in all facets of the game just to compete for a division title compared to, say teams in the NL Central.

The NL Central was so mediocre this year, had Tampa Bay (66-96) been playing in this division they would have stayed in contention until the final weeks of the season.

More specifically, Toronto (83-79) finished third in the AL East, 13 games behind first-place Boston and 11 games behind second-place New York. However, had the Jays played 2007 in the NL Central its talent could have very well won the division by 13 games (the finished 85-77) playing the likes of Cincinnati, Houston and Pittsburgh.

The inverse of this theory

So, would a team like the Reds be better or worse playing in the AL East?

As it stands, the Reds can get away with maintaining mediocrity in the weak NL Central because there's no Boston or New York franchise pushing them. Furthermore, you can bet that if owners believe they only need to win 85 games for the division crown that's exactly how much they'll invest into the team.

So, until an NL club invests enough to continually blow the doors off its league's competition, count on NL teams tweaking rosters for above average standards while AL teams strive towards above Boston/New York standards.

What could have been

This being said, I can't shake the fact that this could have, should have and would have been the Indians year had they only held on to the 3-1 ALCS lead. It seemed like the Tribe was destined to win it, but came up short.

The Boston hangover may not even be the worst of Cleveland's problems. First, there's this surprise to deal with, and secondly, this dilemma isn't going away any time soon.

Flash back

This World Series sweep by Boston is reminding me of the 1998 Fall Classic when New York swept San Diego 4-0.

In game one, the Bombers slugged their way to a 9-6 victory against San Diego. The Yankees started by collecting four runs on six hits against the Padres' Kevin Brown (who later became a Yankee in 2004) knocking him out of the game after 6.1 innings. Brown was replaced by an ineffective Donne Wall (2 runs on 2 hits in 0.0 innings) - who was replaced by an ineffective Mark Langston (3 runs on 1 hit in 0.2 of an inning) which eventually gave New York an easy 1-0 series lead.

This year, Boston staked a 1-0 series lead in similar fashion spanking Colorado 13-1 in game one. The Sox began the game by tagging Jeff Francis for six runs on 10 hits through four innings of work. Then, Francis was replaced by an ineffective Franklin Morales (7 runs on 6 hits 0.2 innings), who was replaced by an ineffective Ryan Speier (3 walks in 0.0 innings), which eventually snowballed into the most lopsided World Series game one score in history.

During the ‘98 series, the Yankees won game two 9-3 and next took a stranglehold on the Padres and the series by winning a nailbiter in game three 5-4. San Diego got off to a solid start in the third contest posting a 3-0 lead after six innings. Padres' starter Sterling Hitchcock was brilliant lasting 6.0 innings allowing only one earned run. However, the Yanks rallied back against the Padres bullpen scoring five runs after the sixth inning. Then, Mariano Rivera closed the door on San Diego pitching the final 1.2 innings preserving the Yankees one run lead.

Similarly, the Red Sox took control of the 2007 series by winning a nailbitter as well. Despite the Rockies plating a first inning 1-0 lead against Curt Schilling in game two, the Sox jumped in front with two runs against the Rockies' rookie pitching sensation Ubaldo Jimenez. Boston held the 2-1 lead long enough to turn the ball over to Jonathan Papelbon who closed the door on Colorado over the final 1.1 innings.

The Yanks completed the ‘98 sweep winning a tightly played game four 3-0. And similarly, Boston wrapped things up against Colorado taking game four 4-3.

However, this is where the similarities stop. Sammy Sosa had the honor of throwing out the first pitch of game one in 1998. What are the chances Sosa is ever handed that privilege again?

The last guy to win the Triple Crown and Red Sox legend Carl Yastrzemski threw out the first pitch this year.

Sweeping away the World Series

Todd Helton's facial expressions during the final outs of the series appeared to be that of a player understanding he may never return to the Fall Classic. Helton's facial contortions also reminded me of these two guys.

Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio and Helton should all be heading to the Hall of Fame despite not winning a World Series ring, according to the Hall of Fame monitor, a Bill James creation that attempts to assess how likely (not how deserving) an active player is to make the Hall of Fame.

Using this scale, (100) means a good possibility a player will be voted into the HOF and (130) is a virtual cinch to make the Hall.

Biggio is graded as (172), Helton (162) and Bagwell receives a (149) rating.

Links • As Jonathan Papelbon used 95-mph heat to strike out the final batter (Seth Smith) of the World Series, I noticed something. Catcher, Jason Varitek, stuffed the baseball in his back pocket as he rushed towards the mound to celebrate.

Let's hope it doesn't turn into another ugly mess like it did three years ago.

• The next manager of the Yankees played in the 1998 series.

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bob said:

	report abuse vote down vote up

January 26, 2008
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bob said:

	good article
	report abuse vote down vote up

January 26, 2008
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Bullpen Brian said:

	Bob: stay tuned, more baseball is on the way! And, thanks for reading this article
	report abuse vote down vote up

January 26, 2008
Votes: +0

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