World series

[Hamilton2]

Congrats to dirtdevil on the title!

[4EverGreen]

Congrats indeed! And the AL title drought continues. I trust I'm not the only AL owner a bit salty about this.

[PhillyDynasty]

Congrats! SEA confirms that we are salty I thought this was our year...

[dirtdevil]

anything can happen in a 7-game series, and bad teams don't make it to the world series. so the AL drought has some fairly significant portion of luck involved. having said that, i'm not sure how to put this gently. the AL has been.....not good? I mean, KC has been trying to rebuild for about 3 seasons now and they won 95 games last year. hammy traded everything that wasn't nailed down and he was in the race for half the season. for the bulk of the past several seasons there were usually about 4 NL teams who would have been, at worst, the wildcard team in the AL.


still, 2 out of the last 20 years (and 4 of the last 30) is pretty crazy.

[tworoosters]

NL keeps winning because there is way more top end talent in the NL.

Currently there are 84 red letter players on AL rosters and 135 on NL rosters, that's 60% more which is crazy.

[Hamilton2]

I'm tempted to try to do a deep dive on this, but the reality is that there are a handful of owners in the NL who are driving each other to build deep, talented teams to even get to the playoffs. The AL, with our current ownership structure, just isn't pushing each other as aggressively. It starts with the draft. If we went back and looked at the # of 1st round picks, by league, for the past decade, I'll bet that the NL has out-picked the AL by 25% or more. Maybe I'll look at it this weekend.

[tworoosters]

If we went back and looked at the # of 1st round picks, by league, for the past decade, I'll bet that the NL has out-picked the AL by 25% or more. Maybe I'll look at it this weekend.

Over the past 10 drafts, 2116-25, the NL has made 94 selections & the AL only 66.

While this certainly goes a long way to accounting for the current talent disparity it doesn't explain the NLs dominance over the past 3 decades. I am one of those who believes that any seven game series is a bit of a crapshoot but 26-4 is well beyond the law of probability, and assuming that those additional 1st round picks were acquired in return for top end talent the AL should have been more competitive.

[dirtdevil]

assuming that those additional 1st round picks were acquired in return for top end talent the AL should have been more competitive.

That’s a large assumption. You’re also assuming that those picks were traded by teams who then went on to contend.

[tworoosters]

assuming that those additional 1st round picks were acquired in return for top end talent the AL should have been more competitive.

That’s a large assumption. You’re also assuming that those picks were traded by teams who then went on to contend.

Generally in the sim teams don't trade away 1st round picks unless they are getting top end talent in return, though there are exceptions, and if you are trading for top end talent you should be doing so to contend.

[tworoosters]

So let's examine the NL 1st round picks traded away and whether they received top end talent in return & whether they were contending teams

2016
Detroit trades 1st round pick to Cinci to acquire Mike Monroe

Monroe was OS32 at the time and a 3 time All Star, he didn't help Detroit contend but he was a top end starter

Boston trades 1st round pick to Atlanta to acquire Johnny Alexander who went on to help Boston to 6 playoff appearances while 6 All Star appearances, winning 2 Gold Gloves and being the 2122 AL MVP

There were 3 other 1st round picks dealt that year but they all stayed in the same league

2117
No inter league 1st round trades

2118
Detroit, once again, trades their 1st round pick to Cinci in a deal that nets them Jake Lavelle and Jake Madrid. The pick ended up being #1 overall and while both players acquired had lengthy careers neither could really be called top end talent

2119
San Francisco traded their 1st round pick (#10) to KC for Doug Cannell, Cannell didn't post great numbers but San Francisco went to the playoffs 4 times and won 2 Championships during his tenure

2120
Back in 2118 Toronto traded two 1st round picks to St Louis for 3 players, one of 1sts was #2 overall in the 2120 draft. The three players Toronto got back Okamoto, Doyle and Lavelle (again) did little to help Toronto who did not really contend. Quite frankly this trade made no sense to me at the time, or in retrospect, from Toronto's end but it sure worked out well for St. Louis

Texas traded their 1st round pick (#14) and some other stuff to Los Angeles for Pablo de Santis, Texas were already contenders and de Santis helped them stay that way, he was a 2 time All Star and won a Cy Young in his five years in Texas so he counts as top end.

The other deal was two 1st round picks being exchanged so doesn't really affect the balance of power

2121
The second half of the Toronto/St Louis was this year's Toronto's #1 (#7), we've been through this

Back in 2119 Washington traded a pair of 1sts, this year's (#10) and their 2122 1st to Brooklyn in a package that netted them Goob Patton and Fred Bruner, Patton has been very good, he's A overall and has made 4 All Star teams while Bruner, while certainly useful doesn't meet my definition of top end. Washington hasn't made the post season but been in the mix so I'll give them contender status.

Texas traded their 1st round pick (#15) and other things to Atlanta for Don Leach and Ossie McCreery, Texas were contenders and continued to be, Leach was definitely top end talent.

2122
Seattle traded traded Detroit's 1st round pick (#6) to Brooklyn in a deal in which Seattle acquired Miyake, Hartranft and Bowman all three of whom are top end and Seattle are contenders

The second 1st round pick went from Washington to Brooklyn, we've been over this.

Texas traded their 1st round pick (#13) to Philly, who traded it to St Louis, for Bunky Hollins and Mark McElyea, McElyea was top end, Texas were contenders.

2123
Texas traded their 1st this year (#12) and in 2124 to Brooklyn for Buck Sims, Sims is certainly top end and Texas were still contenders.

Seattle traded their pick this year (#13) and in 2125 to Cinci along with a bunch of other stuff for a bunch of stuff including Mike Hallahan, Hallahan is top end, most of the other stuff wasn't, and Seattle are contenders.

Boston traded their 1st round pick (#15) & their 1st round pick in 2124 to San Diego in a deal which netted them Rolando Thomas and Gene May Thomas is certainly top end and I would say May is as well and Boston are contenders.

2124
Texas' second 1st round pick (#10) went to Brooklyn to complete the Sims deal

Boston's 1st round pick (#14) went to San Diego to complete the Thomas/May deal

St Louis traded their 1st round pick (#13) and some other things to Texas to acquire Sims, top end and contending

2125
Atlanta traded their 1st (#5) and other stuff to Texas for Leech Bohne Bohne is top level and Atlanta should be contenders

Back in 2122 Texas traded their 1st round pick (#6) to Cinci for three pieces highlighted by Tom Urbani, Urbani was top end and Texas were competing.

The second 1st round pick in the Hallahan deal between Seattle and Cinci was #15 this year.

I think the general pattern holds, most of the 1sts were dealt by teams that were contending at the time of the deal & most got top end talent in return, there are a few exceptions.