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My favorite baseball team was just purchased by a man named Jim Crane. They're moving away from the NL Central division into the AL West to battle their new adversary - the Texas Rangers. Now, there will be 15 teams in either league, and each division will have 5. Needless to say, I hear they're also adding an extra team into the Wild Card race, so the two teams that get the Wild Card will slug it out before advancing to the next round - no pun intended. What's your intake on all this, boys and girls?
The main thing that I don't like about this is the increase in interleague games. I actually like interleague games. Being a fan of a NL team and having lived in predominantly NL cities I enjoyed getting to see the AL teams and players. What I don't like is how this is probably a nefarious step towards implementing the DH in the National League, one of the few remaining havens for pure baseball.
What I don't like is how this is probably a nefarious step towards implementing the DH in the National League, one of the few remaining havens for pure baseball.
So what is your problem with the DH? I like the idea, it removes a plate appearance from someone who isn't a good enough hitter to hold a ML job as a hitter and replaces him with someone who is. Would you insist that the NFL force the placekickers and punters to also play linebacker or offensive tackle? Do you truly enjoy watching NL pitchers being hopelessly overmatched when batting?
Let me anticipate the "removes strategy from the game" argument, just in case that is your reason. No one goes to the park with gleeful anticipation of "Hey! We get to watch Dusty Baker making the double switch today!" No great brain is required to identify a point in the game where a pinch hitter becomes more valuable than the guy who has been on the mound.
I'm no militant on the subject, if they removed the DH rule and went back to the way it was in both leagues, I would not be protesting or threatening a boycot of the games, it isn't a big deal. I don't understand why so many seem offended by the rule. The rule gave us a few more years of Don Baylor, Frank Thomas, Edgar Martinez and others than we would have otherwise received, the rule has provided us with the career of David Ortiz.
The main thing that I don't like about this is the increase in interleague games. I actually like interleague games. Being a fan of a NL team and having lived in predominantly NL cities I enjoyed getting to see the AL teams and players. What I don't like is how this is probably a nefarious step towards implementing the DH in the National League, one of the few remaining havens for pure baseball.
My pun was they were "slugging" it out. You know? Like Louisville Sluggers and slugging percentages? The other was advancing to the next round like boxers. So in other words "Slugging it out until the next round" was something boxers do. That was the pun.
So what is your problem with the DH? I like the idea, it removes a plate appearance from someone who isn't a good enough hitter to hold a ML job as a hitter and replaces him with someone who is. Would you insist that the NFL force the placekickers and punters to also play linebacker or offensive tackle? Do you truly enjoy watching NL pitchers being hopelessly overmatched when batting?
Let me anticipate the "removes strategy from the game" argument, just in case that is your reason. No one goes to the park with gleeful anticipation of "Hey! We get to watch Dusty Baker making the double switch today!" No great brain is required to identify a point in the game where a pinch hitter becomes more valuable than the guy who has been on the mound.
I'm no militant on the subject, if they removed the DH rule and went back to the way it was in both leagues, I would not be protesting or threatening a boycot of the games, it isn't a big deal. I don't understand why so many seem offended by the rule. The rule gave us a few more years of Don Baylor, Frank Thomas, Edgar Martinez and others than we would have otherwise received, the rule has provided us with the career of David Ortiz.
That is bad?
I feel that the pitcher hitting is more logical. 9 players that attempt to both prevent and score runs.
I doubt that many would be in favor of 18 man lineups with 9 offensive players and 9 other defensive players though that would raise the quality of both offense and defense. Miguel Cabrera can hit but there are surely 30 better defensive firstbasemen in the minors. Brendan Ryan is a great defensive player, but why should I watch him hit there are so many better options?
As for strategy, yeah, I do think it effects strategy. Some situations are obvious. Some are less so. Tie game, two aces squaring off, 0-0 game in the seventh. Pitcher comes up with runners on and two out, do you hit for him? If you do, do you double switch? You surely remember jturr's thoughts on the subject in regards to LaRussa.
I won't quit watching baseball when the NL adopts the DH. I will start advocating for my 9 hitters and 9 fielders idea though.
The main thing that I don't like about this is the increase in interleague games. I actually like interleague games. Being a fan of a NL team and having lived in predominantly NL cities I enjoyed getting to see the AL teams and players. What I don't like is how this is probably a nefarious step towards implementing the DH in the National League, one of the few remaining havens for pure baseball.
I like that it might balance out the schedules, so that you don't have situations like where the Phillies play the Yankees and Red Sox while the Braves play the Orioles and Royals for no other reason than "just because" (and I'm not being literal, but those sorts of things do happen). I like that every team has to beat out 4 other teams to win their division- it's not fair that the NL Central winner has to beat out 5 teams while the AL West winner only had to beat out 3.
I don't like the extra play-in game. You could have a situation where two teams who finished 8 games apart play just one game (where anything might happen) to advance/go home. It kind of renders the 162 game record meaningless even more than division series play does. And I agree that I don't want it leading to the DH in the National League for reasons I don't feel like debating.
I won't quit watching baseball when the NL adopts the DH. I will start advocating for my 9 hitters and 9 fielders idea though.
Good, but we should take it a step further. Nine fielders, nine hitters and nine baserunners. Just because you can hit the ball doesn't mean that you are well qualified to be running the bases, so there should be a system where one guy hits the ball, and a fleeter fellow is crouching behind a starter line to do the running if needed.
We could also have the field policed by 18 defenders...nine of whom are allowed to try and catch the ball, and another nine who trail after the catching defenders and have the ball flipped to them for the throw. If one of the throwers should accidently or deliberately touch the ball before a catching defender has touched it, a penalty is enforced. That would be a great rule, it would have given us 20 years of Ellis Valentine rather than the brief career he actually enjoyed.
But I'm drawing the line before we get to the point where the pitcher has to broadcast his intended pitch so so other team can send up their left-handed backdoor slider hitting specialist.
Good, but we should take it a step further. Nine fielders, nine hitters and nine baserunners. Just because you can hit the ball doesn't mean that you are well qualified to be running the bases, so there should be a system where one guy hits the ball, and a fleeter fellow is crouching behind a starter line to do the running if needed.
We could also have the field policed by 18 defenders...nine of whom are allowed to try and catch the ball, and another nine who trail after the catching defenders and have the ball flipped to them for the throw. If one of the throwers should accidently or deliberately touch the ball before a catching defender has touched it, a penalty is enforced. That would be a great rule, it would have given us 20 years of Ellis Valentine rather than the brief career he actually enjoyed.
The increased interest in the game would surely bring in enough additional revenue to fund these 15-20 additional players without cutting into the top salaries.
Getting back to the thread topic Astros, it'll be interesting to see how they approach this season. They will need a DH next year. Will they acquire one during the season? Will they sign a free agent after the season? Will they play Brett Wallace at first enough to see if he can hit?
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