The junior senior circuit

In the last two World Series, the National League representatives won nary a single, solitary game. The Boston Red Sox swept the St. Louis Cardinals in 2004, and the Chicago White Sox swept the Houston Astros in 2005.

That's zero victories, which, given the recent results from interleague play, is the same chance we'd give the "senior circuit" of doing anything this October.

It may only be June, but after another week of getting blasted by the best of the American League, the writing for Fall may be on the wall. The National League is terrible, quite possibly without a single team that could even qualify for the playoffs if any of them played in the AL.

Which is why a wager on the Series right now has all the makings of a great futures bet – take the AL representative over the NL representative in five games or less right now. You probably won't get odds that good in October.

Or do you still trust the New York Mets, Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, Astros or whatever joke comes out of the NL West?

It is not even that the Mets, Cards and 'Stros are a combined 14-25 in this wave of interleague play. It is the way they lost. AL teams outscored those teams 225-168.

Consider the Mets, who looked like the best team in baseball when they were beating up on National League competition. After getting swept by Boston (and outscored by 15 runs), they are 3-6 against the AL this month and have to face the New York Yankees in the Bronx this weekend. Against the Red Sox, their pitching staff was shelled, their bats silenced and their late-inning heroics were non-existent.

Consider the Cardinals, who looked like they always do – a championship caliber club with a ton of talent that had weathered the injury to Albert Pujols. Then they walked into the teeth of the tough AL Central and wound up 1-8. The White Sox outslugged them, the Detroit Tigers out-pitched them and the Cleveland Indians, who are no one's pennant favorite at this point, stole two of three at Busch Stadium.

Consider the Astros, who with Roger Clemens out of retirement were supposed to charge back into the hunt to defend their NL pennant. The Minnesota Twins, White Sox and Tigers left them 2-7, gave Clemens two losses and proved there is no pop in those bats after consecutive shutouts in Motown.

Consider Cincinnati, which managed to win series against the Indians and the Kansas City Royals but can't shake that whacking the White Sox laid on them two weekends ago – a home sweep where they were outscored 28-11.

In a quirk of scheduling, interleague play matched up the best of the AL and the best of the NL. It was phenomenal, like a midseason World Series preview, a feeling out process where any number of three-game stands might be replayed the last week of October. Only it turned out to be an avalanche.

The result is that a wild horserace has broken out at the top of the AL. After feasting on NL competition, seemingly everyone is 9-1 in their last 10.

The White Sox have won 15 of their last 19 games, a hot streak that saw them lose a game in the standings to Detroit, which is merely on a 16-3 tear. Boston is riding a 12-game win streak in which it gained just one single game on the Tigers for the best record in baseball.

It's worse for those trying to get into the playoff chase. How'd you like to be Minnesota? The Twins have won 17 of their last 19 games, an outrageous run. At 42-35 overall, if they were in the NL Central, they'd trail St. Louis by a game and be first in the wild-card race. In the AL Central, they are 11 almost-hopeless games behind Detroit and 8½ back (and in fourth place) in the wild card.

Thanks to a 131-79 advantage in interleague play, there are only five teams in the AL under .500.

Even the dredges of the AL are having fun. The Royals and Tampa Bay Devil Rays – a combined 41-85 against AL teams – are nonetheless 18-12 against the NL.

You don't need to wait until next week's All-Star game to figure out the better league. The Oakland Athletics, Toronto Blue Jays and Yankees, none of which is in the top three of the AL, might be better than anything the NL has.

All of this makes us again wonder about the World Series, where, sure, anything can happen but, then again, so can another sweep.

League dominance is cyclical – both have had their runs of dominance – but the AL's cycle doesn't seem likely to end this year unless the NL contenders make some serious roster additions.

The three most likely AL pennant winners – the Tigers, White Sox and Red Sox – are a combined 39-6 against the NL. The three most likely NL pennant winners – Mets, Cardinals and Reds – are a combined 14-22.

Detroit has a four-man rotation to die for. The White Sox are the defending champion who just keeps on churning while their manager sucks up all the drama. And Boston hits harder than a Vegas hangover.

The NL? Well, at this point it has a lot of questions and bruised egos. Of course, someone has to come out of there and get blistered.

So four months out, baseball fans, we're encouraging you to once again get ready for the Fall Classic.

The American League Championship Series.