| | In the National League, the pitchers hit. In the American League, the pitchers sit on the bench and watch designated hitters hit.
But what happens in the World Series? Since 1986, they've played by National League rules in the National League team's ballpark and by American League rules in the American League team's ballpark. Since 1986, AL teams are 22-13 at home and 15-21 on the road.
So, how much of this is due to the DH rule? Intuitively, we might expect to see two different effects:
National League teams would be at a disadvantage in the American League parks because the NL teams don't carry players for the specific purpose of DH'ing.
American League teams would be at a disadvantage in the National League parks because the AL pitchers don't get nearly as much hitting practice as their NL counterparts.
Intuition is great, but have we really seen these effects in the World Series? To find out, we compiled hitting stats for all designated hitters and pitchers since 1976, the first Series in which the designated hitter was used (from 1976 through 1985, the DH was used every other year in all games).
DH Stats AB Runs Hits RBI Avg
American 231 32 54 32 .234
National 230 30 61 29 .265
In terms of production from the DH "position," there has been virtually no difference between the two leagues. The American Leaguers have the slightest edge in runs and RBI, while the Nationals have the slightest edge in batting average. Yes, 31 points of batting average looks like a lot, but given the number of at-bats involved, it's really not.
Pitchers AB Runs Hits RBI Avg
American 151 6 9 7 .060
National 133 9 12 4 .090
Yes, the National League pitchers have been somewhat better at the plate than American Leaguers. But again, the difference is so small that it's really not worth mentioning. The pathetic AL pitchers are hitting just .060 ... but if they'd just collected four more base hits in the last 23 years, they'd be at .086, nearly even with the NL pitchers. That's just a roundabout way of saying that the difference between them isn't statistically significant.
This year might be different, of course. Atlanta's pitchers are well known for their (relative) batting prowess, and the Yankees appear to have more and better options at DH than the Braves. But generally, when the World Series rolls around, the rules differences between the leagues don't amount to much.
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