Any MLB fans here???

at least the "ghost-runner" business and 7-inning games will be going away... good riddance.

 

Yeah, I looked but couldn’t find anything either. My impression is one of a general lack of it so I was wondering if any other teams use it.

 

For real! And bring on the universal DH.

 

I hate the DH. No play, no hit. Might as well not have 2 leagues.

 

I hear you, but no one wants to see batters come up and hit sub .100 or get hurt batting. It will give starters a chance to go deeper into games in some cases.

 

There are good hitting pitchers too and it eliminates too much strategy from the game. Starters will go deeper(?), that trend is headed the other way. I simply do not want 2 leagues that are the same. Fine if you want to keep guys that can hit but can’t field a position around in the AL but for me I want the line up card to mean something. 9 men hit, those same 9 men play, no exceptions. You want a different hitter, that player comes off the field. DH is too Mickey Mouse for me. “Nobody wants this or that” is a bs assumption. Yes. A lot of pitchers can’t hit, but occasionally they do anyway and those exceptions make it even better, not worse.

 

imo all the DH purity talk is overhyped. it’s not like pitchers haven’t become a ridiculously specialized part of the game as-is. i mean, if you want baseball purity, make it like the old days then… no specialty bullpen relievers, no closers. just a universal bench for subs. and the pitcher is just one of the position players that goes back to playing left field or whatever on the other days. obviously, he bats too.

i don’t really care. i’m an AL fan so i’m not gonna tell the other half what to do. i do think it’s kind of dumb to have inter-league play baked in to the regular season where NL teams have an obvious advantage. that and the fact that no other pro/semi-pro league on the planet has pitchers hit– an admittedly AL talking point, but still true... But then Shohei’s out there proving everyone wrong, in the AL no less!

not necessarily calling anyone out, i have NL friends always talking about the strategy and the purity of NL ball that’s lost in the AL and i just don’t see it that way. ironically i do prefer the typical NL small-ball style offense then the all-or-nothing strike-out homer fest common in the AL.

 

I’d rather see more games with both other divisions than inter league games. Those can be done in spring training to satisfy any cross town rivalries that many teams don’t have anyway. DH is boring, I can’t imagine growing up playing baseball without ever fielding or throwing. It’s like having a participation position.

 

i don’t think i’ve seen a DH in little league… ever? not too sure what you’re on about there, that’s not a thing afaik. specialty positions don’t really exist until maybe college/semi-pro ball.

 

saw this earlier, say what you will about him but the man’s got taste!

https://www.nj.com/yankees/2021/09/...l-take-2006-toyota-tacoma-to-todays-game.html

 

My point is that no kid sets out to DH. It’s an artificial fabrication that shows up later and is imposed on the game.

 

dude. most mlb pitchers were shortstops growing up. they switch to pitching when going pro because an mlb roster has 15 pitchers on it and 1 shortstop. you’re making my original point for me.

and lots of AL teams don’t use 1 guy as a DH, that 90s era stuff. it’s often used to get a position player an off day without losing his bat. rotated through the week for multiple players.

 

DH isn’t just ‘90’s era but over a hundred years. Pitchers are the best athletes but suddenly the stop being able to hit after high school? No, they stop trying because they don’t have to. Watching A’s and Giants games as a kid it was obvious to me which league played baseball and which one played funny ball. Whatever, like it or not it’s on the way. I just think it sucks that both leagues have to be forced into the same cookie cutter.

 

my mans. DH came into play in the 70's, not 100 year ago. as for you liking it or not, i couldn't care less. it literally doesn't impact me at all.

all i'm saying (and will continue to say) is that anybody claiming that it sullies the purity of the game, or that it wasn't the original intent of baseball, is making an intellectually dishonest argument (see above). just say you hate it - or you'll forever be an NL fanboy - that i can't really argue with!

/ DH

 

ok, i was curious and found a pic from today. gerrit cole's tacoma:



pretty rad. looks like KO2s, but mostly stock (i guess he’s not wasting his time here on TW…? ).

 

And all is right in the NL west now. Should be a fun weekend of baseball though!

 

it was awfully quite in here lately.

 

I've always been a fan of the idea of having "pinch hitter cards"... or to explain it better... say like in other sports the team starts with an allotted amount of timeouts. Basically at the start of the game give each team... say... three pinch-hitter cards they can use during the game at any time. NL rules apply... but If they want to have a player pinch-hit they can use a card like a timeout. I think that would add a lot more intrigue to the strategy.

 

It both sullies the game and wasn’t the original intent. Both true regardless of what you say or don’t say. One is an emotional opinion, the other fact. I can say I don’t like it and be perfectly honest. I can say it’s an add on and be perfectly factual. “Intellectual honesty” what does that even mean in this context?

I want a game where the same nine players play on both offense and defense and their permit to play in the field is secured by their spot in the lineup, very simple.

The DH only applies to pitchers so where does that leave Ohtani or Bumgarner or any of the other complete ball players that pitch? Why only for pitchers? Why not be able to designate any position for that game? If you’re going to muck up the rules then finish the job. If not then leave one league alone so two-way pitchers can hit in the games they pitch.
If the AL wants to have its own set of rules that apply to games in AL parks for AL fan boys, have at it. If that’s perceived as a disadvantage when playing in NL parks too bad, the AL made that choice.