So, JORR, are you claiming that the difference between the AL and the NL is equal to the difference between the NL and the Midwest League or was that just hyperbole to illustrate a bizarre point?

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

It was hyperbole to illustrate a salient point. There have been times when the disparity between the leagues has been quite large.

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Communists are just people who are terrible at capitalism.

So, one could not compare pitcher wins across leagues either.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

You need a large sample to make an effective comparison of anything in baseball, being that at its heart it's a game of time and repetition. If you saw Steve Dillard for two particular weeks in 1979 and never watched baseball again, you might believe he was one of the greatest players ever to play the game. If you saw Bob Hazle play the last month in 1957 and never watched baseball again, you might believe he was one of the greatest players ever to play the game.

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Communists are just people who are terrible at capitalism.

So, one could not compare pitcher wins across leagues either?

_________________
"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

In a single season? Why would you have to? There's a separate Cy Young winner in each league.

But in most instances, over the course of a significant big league career the sample of work between an AL pitcher and an NL pitcher is going to be large enough and against a diverse enough group of opposing teams and opposing starting pitchers that a comparison should be germane. The exception possibly being the 50s to through the mid-60s as the AL was much slower and more reluctant to integrate and thus, the NL was a far stronger circuit for an extended period. That's been quite unusual throughout baseball history, however.

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Communists are just people who are terrible at capitalism.

Yeah. In a single season. Why? Why not? So we can compare stats, effectiveness, for the purposes of determining contract offers for players crossing leagues, and whatever.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

I've never had to determine a contract offer. I doubt you have either. I don't see any real purpose in trying to compare Jake Arrieta to Chris Sale using any stat at all.

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Communists are just people who are terrible at capitalism.

Dude. Really?
You don't just kinda bullshit around with friends talking about which pitcher is better than the other? Like say on a message board or at a bar or something? This is bizarre to you?

_________________
"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

But that's all it is, is bullshit. You can certainly use whatever you want. It's not scientific fact, although plenty of non-scientists have created a cottage industry by selling the idea that it is.

You know that when Sale goes 11-14 or Ryan goes 8-16 I don't think it was a good season regardless of any other numbers. If we're sitting at the bar arguing, I'll say Jorge De La Rosa was better than Sale in 2013 and Tommy John was better than Ryan in 1987. It doesn't mean any more or any less than Voros Mccracken using FIP to argue the opposite.

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Communists are just people who are terrible at capitalism.

Also, I get the feeling you're attempting to reveal some illogic in my position on W/L records vis-a-vis my position on whether the team with the most wins should receive home field advantage in the World Series. In fact, both positions are based upon the same sound logic, they are both a reflection of how a team/pitcher performed against its/his opponents, nothing more.

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Communists are just people who are terrible at capitalism.

So you then don't think that the team that played the best against its opponents should receive home field advantage?

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

I have no issue with that. In fact, I suggested earlier in the thread that the correct answer is probably to award home field to the league that has the better record in interleague play. Are you arguing just to argue?

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Communists are just people who are terrible at capitalism.

I didn't think we we arguing.
But I do prefer the idea of better record, either in a season or interleague play, getting home field over the stupid concept of the all star winner which was a stupid knee jerk reaction to momentary angst about the ambiguous outcome of a pointless game years ago.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

When I say better record in interleague play, I mean overall, not the specific World series team. But I'm an old guy. I see the leagues as two separate entities. I realize they have become increasingly homogenized and once the DH is implemented in the NL or eliminated in the AL that will be complete. One huge change in the AL that went largely unnoticed by the public was the change from the large exterior chest protector to the shell for the umpire and the effect that had on the strikezone. When I was a kid, the two leagues had two distinct strikezones.

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Communists are just people who are terrible at capitalism.