In Game Five of the 2019 World Series, Houston Astros starting pitcher Gerrit Cole came to bat three times, and made three outs in a 7-1 win. Cole’s 0-for-3 will likely go down in baseball history as the final at-bats for a Major League Baseball pitcher in games that count.
Say hello to the Designated Hitter, National Leaguers. It’s coming very soon to every ballpark near you.
And it’s coming to stay.
The much debated DH rule was brought into play in 1973 and has been the law of the land – in the American League only – ever since. When interleague play began in 1997, it was decided that the DH would be used in all games played in AL ballparks, while pitchers would continue to bat in NL parks. So actually, for the past two decades plus, the AL has been at a disadvantage in interleague play – having their pitchers forced to bat (and run the bases) on the road, while giving the NL teams an extra bat in the line-up in AL stadiums.
That advantage is about to disappear. The playing field is about to be leveled permanently.
Baseball “purists” have hated the DH from the get-go. Some sight the need for more strategy in the NL. Some want pitchers to be actual baseball players and swing the bat. Some just don’t want to see a one-dimensional player take at bats without playing in the field.
Those who crave more offense want to get rid of what they see as wasted at bats by pitchers who, effectively, can’t hit. They want more action, and not more sacrifice bunting. It looks like these are the people who are going to get their way after 22 years.
The full time DH era will start very soon. When baseball finally gets the current long-delayed regular season started, it’s planning to do so under some very different arrangements. That includes a “regional” schedule, with a lot more games between teams in their immediate vicinity, regardless of which league they’re in. For instance, the New York Yankees and the New York Mets will play more times than normal in 2020. And one of the other changes is that ALL the games will be played using the DH for the first time ever.
The reason given is that pitchers will likely have shorter outings – at least at the start of the season (whenever that is) and it will just make things easier for all the managers to have the full-time DH for a part-time season. Even the purists can probably live with the plan for this year.
But here’s where it gets a little more interesting. The DH is widely expected to be adopted across the board when the next collective bargaining agreement kicks in for the 2022 season. That would leave only the 2021 season left for National League pitchers to come to bat. In other words, we’d have the DH in 2020, no DH in 2021, and then the DH returning full time in 2022.
Which makes no sense whatsoever.
What does make sense is for MLB to just get this over with. Make the move. Get consistent. Tell the world that the DH is now here to stay and live with the fallout.
Sorry haters.
It’s been seen as being inevitable for several years now. Even those of us who wish the DH had never been invented have come to the sad conclusion that there would be a time when the DH became universal. That time is now. The Major League Baseball Players Association wants it – it gives an extra high paying job to an aging vet in most cases – and those National League owners that have been holdouts have recently softened.
And before the pandemic stole the season and the headlines, there had already been whispers that both sides weren’t wanting to wait to make a change they’re both in favor of, and that it would happen for the 2021 season.
Now, thanks to COVID-19, it’s “Welcome to MLB’s new normal.” The game that is continually striving to attract new fans doesn’t have much choice anymore. That new normal will include the Designated Hitter in both leagues.
So, as for pitchers ever coming to bat again in a professional baseball game, as the announcers say, “It’s gone…and it aint coming back.”
Listen to Mark Knudson on Monday’s at 12:30 with Brady Hull on AM 1310 KFKA and on Saturday mornings on “Klahr and Kompany” on AM 1600 ESPN Denver.
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