Debunking the Myth of National League Mediocrity

The refrain of much of the 2024 season is that parity has left the National League mired in mediocrity, far behind the American League. That’s a false narrative.

It’s easy to see how that story came about. At the end of the June 4 game, the Atlanta Braves held the top Wild Card position with a 34-24 record. The San Diego Padres held the second NL Wild Card position with a .500 record (32-32). No other NL team (non-division leaders) had a .500 record, and the Chicago Cubs held the third playoff spot with a 30-31 record.

Meanwhile, it seemed like the American League had much better playoff contenders. In addition to the division leaders, the Orioles held the first Wild Card at 39-20, .661 W%. Kansas City held the second spot at 36-26, and the Minnesota Twins held the final seed with a 33-27 record, a full six games above .500.

Fast forward to July 28th and the situation looks completely different. Below I break down the records and standings to show just how evenly matched the leagues are at the moment.

The first piece of evidence that the AL isn’t all that much better than the NL is the interleague record. The NL leads the AL 229-221 and topped the AL from 1982-1962. A gap that small doesn’t necessarily mean the NL is better, but it’s certainly your first indicator that things are pretty evenly matched.

The Phillies still look like the strongest team in MLB at the moment. The Dodgers have been dealing with a terrible series of injuries, but are still atop the NL West and have nearly the same winning percentage as the Orioles. The Astros, despite having performed very well over the past month or so, have the lowest W% of any division leader.

The Yankees have by far the most wins of any Wild Card contender in any league. They also have just a 13-15 interleague record and have the second worst record in MLB over the last 30 games at 10-20

The Braves have struggled due to key injuries to big names like Spencer Strider, Ronald Acuña Jr. and more recently Ozzie Albies and Max Fried. Outside of those two top Wild Card teams, there’s little to choose between the Padres and Mets and Twins and Royals.

It should also be noted that the Twins and Royals both have somewhat inflated records due to identical 9-1 records against the Chicago White Sox. The Southsiders are a historically bad team. Their .252 W% has them on track to lose 121 games. Since 1901, the highest losing total in MLB history belongs to the 1962 New York Mets who lost 120 games.

Again, there’s little to choose from in terms of win-loss record among the hopefuls fresh out of Wild Card position. The reigning National League champion Diamondbacks have overcome a slow start and are 30-18 since June 4.

They are set to bring back two key starters in the coming weeks: Merrill Kelly and Eduardo Rodriguez, and have already bolstered their bullpen with the arrival of AJ Puk.

The other four teams behind them are clearly suspect, but so is the American League. The Red Sox are having a surprisingly good season, but they are certainly not without their flaws.

The Mariners have collapsed from a 10-game lead in the AL West. And speaking of which, the only reason the Rangers are still in the mix is ​​because they’re in the weakest division this year.

These are the four worst teams in each league. As noted above, the White Sox, who face more AL teams than NL teams, are the AL doormats. As a result, there are nine teams in the AL above .500, compared to eight teams in the NL.