Great Graphic: Church of Baseball

Now that spring training is offically underway I thought it was time for another great graphic on baseball.

Now we all learned from Bull Durham that there should constitutional amendment outlawing astroturf and the designated hitter (though I am not sure how such an amendment would impact the Blue Jays).

But if the wisdom of Crash Davis isn't enough for you here is another reason why the National League is better: They are more efficient.

In 2011 the average American League team payed over $1,197,954 per win (total payroll/regular season wins) while the average National League team payed $1,096,742. So the American League was paying over 9% more than the National League per win.

Now if you take individual teams out of it, the National league was still more efficient. With two more teams it is not surprising the National League had a higher total payroll ($1.417 bln) than the American League ($1.368 bln). It is also not surprising that the National League had more regular season wins (1,290 than the American League (1,138). But the average cost per win for the American League was still over 9% higher than the National League ($1,202,832 vs. $1,098,712). Here is a graph that breaks it down by team: