Here's an observation:
The American League Central Division has 13 All-Stars. The National League Central Division has 11 All-Stars, despite having one more team than the AL Central. (In fact, the AL Central has more All-Stars than any division in baseball.)
The obvious conclusion to this data set is that the Kansas City Royals are a much better baseball team than the St. Louis Cardinals.
Here's my logic. Both teams got one All-Star, Gil Meche for KC and Albert Pujols for St. Louis. But of the teams that each Missouri club has to play, KC's divisional opponents have 5, 3, 3, and 1 All-Star, whereas St. Louis's division rivals have 4, 2, 2, 1, and 1 All-Star. Clearly the AL Central is the superior division, and since a big chunk of the season is played in the division, it is understandable that the Royals have the record they do, though the Cardinals ought to be cleaning up in the relatively wimpy NL Central. The Royals have to play against 12 All-Stars on 4 teams, whereas the Cards only play against 10 All-Stars scattered over 5 different teams!
The data are irrefutable. The Royals are obviously the better team.
10 comments:
That logic is tough to follow. I need to go polish my World Series Trophy . . .
Vladdy Guerrero, an ANGEL, won the homer run contest! Whoo hoo! The Royals, who?!?
Seamhead, You mean the one from 1985 that you ... oh, wait.
So where was Pujols last night?
Andy,
I would encourage you to think of it this way...the Redbirds have turned into EVERY OTHER post-World Series baseball team by following in this logic: "We've won the championship, so let's trade our winning players for absolutely horrible ones...especially in the bullpin. Because who needs good pitching when you've just won the World Series? We really need umpteen bazillion more dollars to run a team that won't produce next year. Oh, and can we make the $30.00 hotdogs $50.00?"
All-in-all, I love my Cards. Even though they haven't been producing ANYTHING worthwhile this year, regular season or otherwise. Give 'em time...they'll win another Championship trophy...much sooner than Buddy's Ballboys.
Just remember: You have 1985. We have: 1926, 1931, 1934, 1942, 1944, 1964, 1967, 1982, 2006.
Hmmmm...9 vs. 1...sounds pretty good to me!
BOOOYEAH!
Andy, you may be righter than I originally thought.
The two teams split their interleague series 3-3. Their records, 38-50 for KC and 40-45 for StL aren’t that different, and here's a real shocker.
Based on the number of runs they’ve scored, the Royals’ record should be 41-47, and the Cards’ record should be 36-49! (This is from the Pythagorean W/L system, explained here http://tinyurl.com/yp4vn6). This suggests that random factors (luck) are going the Cards way and against the Royals.
Their records against common opponents:
Colorado – KC 2-1, StL 4-3 (advantage Royals)
Detroit – KC 2-7, StL 0-3 (advantage Royals)
Angels – KC 5-2, StL 1-2 (advantage Royals)
Milwaukee – KC 1-2, StL 1-4 (advantage Royals)
Oakland – KC 4-3, StL 2-1 (advantage Cards)
Philly – KC 2-1, StL 1-2 (advantage Cards)
TOTAL – Royals 16-16, Cards 9-15
And speaking as a White Sox fan, those World Series memories can be awfully bittersweet when things are going bad in the present!
Your logic makes perfect sense to me. But I really like Larry's scientific method. cb
Is this the same logic you use to explain the 4 members of the Trinity?
Adam, you left out 1946. That's 10 - 1 for those of you filling out your scorecards at home.
You are correct...I had that down, and for whatever reason I didn't type it. Thanks for helping the cause.
10 to 1!
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