besides the fact the nl is a joke for the most part, the tigers played in arguably the best division in baseball. I can't fathom the reasoning that nl pitching is better, as the majority of nl pitchers coming to the al, have their era increase by at least a run a game. Take a look at Josh Beckett, Randy Johnson, matt clement, and carl pavano for proof. Also look at clemans extremely small era pitching in the NL, compared to his era in the al in his last couple years with the yanks. The NL pitching might show good numbers, but it is usually because of the fact there is no dh, most of the nl's 2b/catchers/and ss aren't great hitters. The bottom 3 on most nl teams in the lineup are gimme outs for the most part. There are exceptions but if you take every 2b/ss/c avg in the nl and then the al, I bet the al is much higher on avg. Also saying pujols is the best is a stretch as well. There are several hitters that are in the same ballpark as him. Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz, Ryan Howard, Vlad Guerro, Derke Jeter (w/o the power) and Arod are all excellent hitters. The reason why they play the games is anything can happen on any given day. Right now everything is falling in for the cards, they are an above avg, top 8 team in the league and they are playing well and the tigers are not.