Everyone Hits as Baseball Embraces the DH

Despite being a life long Twins fan, my viewing of baseball on TV was regulated mostly to Cubs, Braves and Mets games in my youth as my cable provider carried stations with these teams. I always found it frustrating and disappointing to watch pitchers flail at the plate. And I always have laughed at the "strategy" of inserting a PH in the 6th or 7th inning with a possible rally. That's not intelligent strategy, it's putting in a better hitter. Even in the AL that is done.

I read an article, many, many years ago that discussed the differences in the AL vs NL game. The NL had the reputation as being a more defense minded league who played more to speed and situational hitting. (Things I enjoyed and still do). The jist of the article is the NL teams largely played in larger parks than their AL counterparts, and also had more turf fields vs grass. Thus they adapted their game as such.

Everything from ballparks to hitting approaches have changed over the years. The entire bunting, SB and situational hitting format of years past has changed. Its time for a universal DH. Let pitchers pitch. Players aren't expected to pitch, so why must pitchers be mandated to hit?

I've always felt AL teams in NL parks were at a disadvantage. While the arguement can easily be made that NL teams, at this time, are not necessarily equipped with a quality DH option, they are still replacing a generally poor hitter with a better one. Further, they may have a poor defender playing a position for his bat, but can let him DH in favor of a better fielder taking his spot against an AL opponent.

It's time to make this a universal change.

My main issue is that NL pitchers' stats get inflated. They're guaranteed easy outs and more strikeouts. When you replace a guy like Nelson Cruz at the plate with a weak-hitting guy who bats .046 at the plate 3 times per game, just think about the advantages.

Let's say a pitcher gets 20 starts and gets to face, on average, weak-hitting pitchers 2.5 times per game. That's a total of 50 easy outs that his AL counterpart isn't getting. That's 17 innings worth!

Meanwhile, it's not like his AL counterpart is getting to face average hitters - instead, he's facing THE BEST hitter on the opposing team. So he's getting 17 innings against very, very difficult hitters like Nelson Cruz or JD Martinez.

I'd just prefer if both leagues did the same thing, for continuity purposes.

Then again, at this point I'd just be happy with regular old baseball without any changes! Here's hoping they play ball this summer.

Personally, I do not care DH or no DH, but now that interleague play will never go away, we need one rule to play by.  As pointed out the DH allows some great hitters to keep playing later in their life as a DH.  One thing I would point out, is until Astros came to AL to even leagues at 15 each, there was only 14 AL teams for years so even less teams that did DH.

I agree that with the change in way game is played DH will happen I think in both leagues.  This does not mean when you get a pitcher that can hit they cannot be allowed to DH on games they do not pitch.  Look at Otani.  McKay from Rays is being used in duel roles at times.  

Funny how there is now a rule that position player cannot pitch, unless extra innings or a huge gap late in game, but yet pitchers can play other positions and hit.  The DH is not an easy spot to fill, it seems like it would be, but look at many long time greats that would DH and play positions over a year.  Many would hit better when they were in the field than when they DH.  Not all of course, but many have talked about it is a mind game you need to work through.  I know when I play I hate sitting on the bench, even between innings of fielding I will walk around and never sit, could only imagine what it would be like to sit and watch for innings except for the short amount of time you are hitting.

How many more rules will they have to change to speed the game back up since this will obviously make the games longer. Plus I think it would negatively impact the Twins, I know that is a biased take, but, how likely will the Twins be able to outbid the Mets and the Dodgers for the likes of a Nelson Cruz??

Despite being a life long Twins fan, my viewing of baseball on TV was regulated mostly to Cubs, Braves and Mets games in my youth as my cable provider carried stations with these teams. I always found it frustrating and disappointing to watch pitchers flail at the plate. And I always have laughed at the "strategy" of inserting a PH in the 6th or 7th inning with a possible rally. That's not intelligent strategy, it's putting in a better hitter. Even in the AL that is done.

I read an article, many, many years ago that discussed the differences in the AL vs NL game. The NL had the reputation as being a more defense minded league who played more to speed and situational hitting. (Things I enjoyed and still do). The jist of the article is the NL teams largely played in larger parks than their AL counterparts, and also had more turf fields vs grass. Thus they adapted their game as such.

Everything from ballparks to hitting approaches have changed over the years. The entire bunting, SB and situational hitting format of years past has changed. Its time for a universal DH. Let pitchers pitch. Players aren't expected to pitch, so why must pitchers be mandated to hit?

I've always felt AL teams in NL parks were at a disadvantage. While the arguement can easily be made that NL teams, at this time, are not necessarily equipped with a quality DH option, they are still replacing a generally poor hitter with a better one. Further, they may have a poor defender playing a position for his bat, but can let him DH in favor of a better fielder taking his spot against an AL opponent.

It's time to make this a universal change.

Bill James brought this up in his (I think) 1986 Baseball Abstract.   It ain't strategy if everyone does it.   It is a rote tactic.  The pitcher is coming up to the plate late in the game so you pinch hit, or if the pitcher is up and he bunts. 

He showed there was a lot more "strategy" in the American League because the choices were much more varied (the standard deviation of bunting, pinch  hitting,  sacrificing, etc) in the American League vs. the National.   Having the DH gave the manager a wider range of tactical choices than in the National.

But his other point is why do people think "bunting" is such a big strategic concept?

Yet another Manfred move I don't like. No real comment about it during the 2020 situation, but: yuck, not for me.

I want the highest level of tension in every AB of a baseball game. A DH delivers that desired experience.

Pitchers hitting lowers the tension for, sometimes significant, periods of the game. This lowering of tension makes a baseball game less interesting. Baseball, and all forms of entertainment, need more tension, not less.

In the game of baseball, tension creates drama. Drama creates a better baseball viewing experience for the observers of that game. 

To use a Gleeman-esque terrible analogy of the day, it's like having an automatic garage door opener. We all take it for granted that we'd prefer an automatic garage door opener, but back when they came out, some people probably didn't want one, thinking it's so unnecessary and even diminishes the experience of garage & car ownership. But once you have one and no longer need to expose yourself to the procedural drudgery of leaving your car to park it safely away in your garage, you realize you love it. That is what the DH will be like for NL fans.

Ultimately, I am happy for the fans of NL teams that will get to experience the heightened tension and added drama that the DH adds to an observed baseball game.

Especially being the I just moved to Phoenix and would like to have more tension in those games I will be watching in the future. The only downside will be that there are less opportunities to go hit the can while at the ballpark watching a game.

I hate the DH. I don’t care about pitchers hitting, hell I just watched Jason Castro flail away for the last three years. I like the strategy that it brings to the game and the position switches