Designated hitters are coming soon to a big-league ballpark near you. That became clear last week when commissioner Rob Manfred announced National League clubs have shown a greater interest in adopting the DH rule. He wouldn't have said anything if it weren't at least in the long-term plans. It won't happen this season. It might not happen next season or the season after. But it's going to happen.
I am all for it.
It is time.
That's nonsense.
No other sport operates with two sets of rules for its teams. It's especially jarring that baseball does because it places so much importance on statistics. It is impossible to compare offensive and pitching numbers between the National League and American League because the games are so different.
The best solution would be for the American League to eliminate the DH. The National League game is so much more entertaining -- OK, at least to me -- because of the strategy. Does Clint Hurdle pinch-hit for Gerrit Cole late in a game when Cole is pitching well? Does Hurdle make a double-switch? National League managers have to make tough decisions in nearly every game. American League managers make out their lineup card and sit back and watch the game.
But the DH rule is in the American League to stay. Taking it from the American League, just like adding it to the National League, is an action that must be negotiated with the players' union. The current collective bargaining agreement is up Dec. 1 and a new one must be negotiated between the teams and the players. The players won't give up the DH position because it usually goes to an older player who has a bigger salary. They gladly will add it to the National League for the same reason.
The players eventually will get their way in this case. Baseball, like all sports, values scoring more than just about anything else. As much as I like the strategy involved in a 2-1 National League game, more people seem to prefer an 8-7 American League slugfest. They will tell you it's a lot more fun watching David Ortiz hit than a Boston Red Sox pitcher. I get that. I have to admit it's not very exciting watching Francisco Liriano bat, although it was a blast seeing him close his eyes and hit a three-run home run off of the Los Angeles Dodgers' Mat Latos in August.
Many in baseball also are increasingly worried about a star pitcher being hurt while batting or running the bases. Those pitchers are paid too much for that to happen. Remember how A.J. Burnett had to delay the start of his Pirates career in 2012 after bunting a ball off his face in spring training and breaking an orbital bone near his right eye? Last year, St. Louis Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright was lost for most of the season after his left Achilles tendon was torn when he stepped awkwardly out of the batter's box.
I will say it again:
The DH rule is coming to the National League. It will be a universal rule in the game.
I am guessing we will adjust.
The American League has used the DH since 1973. It has survived. So have the fans in its cities.
I hated when baseball started interleague play in 1997. How will the game survive, I asked. What will happen to the sanctity of the World Series?
Well, how did that turn out?
I hated when baseball expanded its playoffs in 1969 for the first time, hated when it added a wild-card team in 1994 and really hated when it added a second wild-card team in 2012. Dilution of the playoffs will ruin the game, I predicted.
Right.
All of the changes have created more interest in baseball in more cities. The changes have been great for the sport, although you might disagree about that winner-take-all game between the two wild-card teams. If you still are cursing Madison Bumgarner and Jake Arrieta, you are not alone.
You probably will curse the DH rule at first, too. But, if you have an open mind, you will learn to live with it. Who knows? You might even learn to like it.
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