With Sunday’s 10-4 closing record, the American League put away the National League for the eight straight season, with a final count of 131-121. It was the overall power of the junior circuit that made the difference, sending 255 baseballs over the fence compared to 208 by the older league.
Here's a look at the biggest winners and losers from interleague play:
INTERLEAGUE WINNERS
The two biggest winners from the American League were the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Angels. Each posted a 13-5 record, with the Bronx Bombers picking up +5.9 units and the Halos were a baseball best +8.00 in interleague action. In fact, the Angels are a major league best 62-28 since 2007 in their battles with the NL, for a whopping +28 units.
The National League was not a complete failure as Atlanta and San Francisco took advantage of the situation to post a 10-5 records. The Braves helped baseball bettors walk away with +4.4 units and the defending World Series champions were finished interleague up 5.1 units.
INTERLEAGUE LOSERS
If the cream rises to the top, then mediocrity can coat the basement with a thick layer of unsightly play. Houston has the worst record in baseball and it’s no surprise the Astros had the poorest ledger against the AL with a 4-11 mark and a profitable play against proposition at -5.4 units. The Chicago Cubs were next at 5-10 (-3.6 units) and were positioned to have a better record since three of their wins came in the first game of the series.
Last place Kansas City picked up the rear in the AL with a 5-13 (-7.25) mark and were particularly inept against the NL West where they were a distressing 1-8.
Among the most shocking performances were the Cincinnati Reds, who were 6-12 in interleague play. Last year’s NL Central division champs have tumbled all the way to fourth place with an uneventful 43-42 record. They helped contribute to their division posting a 37-56 overall rate against the American League.
WHAT DID WE LEARN?
The Yankees were three games better than Boston (10-8), which is why they are in first place and the Red Sox are not.
Cleveland (11-7) regained the AL Central division lead by being four games better than Detroit (7-11) and restored their confidence as a club. They now know they can take adversity head on and still come out ahead, something they have not done in years. The underachieving Chicago White Sox kept pace with Cleveland with an 11-7 effort and are back in the division race in the final week before the All-Star break.
The L.A. Angels picked up four games on Texas and has caught the Rangers, giving them the belief they are still a division contender.
Arizona (10-8) had the same number of victories as San Francisco, but picked up three more losses as a result of the unbalanced schedule, which is the difference in the standings in the loss column between the two teams.
Atlanta was one game better than front-running Philadelphia (9-6) and strengthened its claim to be the wild card team.
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