MLB Will Implement Universal DH

#1      
SI.com

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred announced Thursday that a designated hitter will be implemented in the National League in 2022.

Manfred’s announcement comes as MLB and the Players’ Union continue to negotiate a host of issues amid a lockout. Manfred also announced Thursday a draft lottery will be added as an anti-tanking measure.

I realize this was going to happen. I hate watching pitchers struggle at the plate. Worse yet, get injured while batting or running the bases. Even so, it kinda sad. There have been so many changes to the game that I grew up with and fell in love with.

Now get off my lawn.
 
#2      
SI.com



I realize this was going to happen. I hate watching pitchers struggle at the plate. Worse yet, get injured while batting or running the bases. Even so, it kinda sad. There have been so many changes to the game that I grew up with and fell in love with.

Now get off my lawn.
I prefer no DH; the strategy is a much bigger part of the game than in the AL.
 
#4      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky
This commissioner is tearing apart the fabric of the grand old game,,,,,,,

star a runner on 2nd base in extra innings.................WTF was that ??......this ain't t-ball or Little league
requiring a relief pitcher to face 3 batters minimum....................smh.............

i don't like the DH , but it has always seemed strange to have 1 league with it , 1 league not....

Millionaire owners and millionaire players messing with baseball is so under appreciating the fans who make this sport special

I still can't believe Schrerzer's 3 year contract , $ 43 million A YEAR...........................................JMHO
 
#5      

Illwinsagain

Cary, IL
This commissioner is tearing apart the fabric of the grand old game,,,,,,,

star a runner on 2nd base in extra innings.................WTF was that ??......this ain't t-ball or Little league
requiring a relief pitcher to face 3 batters minimum....................smh.............

i don't like the DH , but it has always seemed strange to have 1 league with it , 1 league not....

Billionaire owners and millionaire players messing with baseball is so under appreciating the fans who make this sport special

I still can't believe Schrerzer's 3 year contract , $ 43 million A YEAR...........................................JMHO
Fixed it for you. I knew that the DH was coming, as we all did, still don't like it. Even though, it cost Waino a season.
 
#6      

ChiefGritty

Chicago, IL
This commissioner is tearing apart the fabric of the grand old game,,,,,,,
The game has torn apart its own fabric. It is a dramatically, measurably slower, duller game and those trends are accelerating. Just an endless procession of pitchers going shorter and shorter stints throwing harder and harder, with hitters swinging harder and more wildly, and both parties waiting every longer between max-effort moments at the plate.

All of this tinkering is meant only to BRING BACK the baseball we all grew up loving. They're throwing spaghetti at the wall and some of it is dumb and there's some risk of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. But the path the game has been on is a self-reinforcing spiral to becoming a less and less watchable product, not unlike when every time a player attempted to drive to the hoop it was an offensive foul in the Big Ten some years back.

The charge circle (and other related changes) didn't create some new tradition-insulting kids-love-it e-basketball. It allowed the game the Flying Illini played to come back.

That's what baseball needs to do.
 
#7      

mhuml32

Cincinnati, OH
I prefer no DH; the strategy is a much bigger part of the game than in the AL.

For those that are wishing the DH didn't exist, why is no one also pro-position players pitching? Always viewed it as dumb that hitters just hit and field but pitchers, who are infinitely more of a specialist within the game for the past 70 years, are still required to hit, field, and pitch.
 
#8      
For those that are wishing the DH didn't exist, why is no one also pro-position players pitching? Always viewed it as dumb that hitters just hit and field but pitchers, who are infinitely more of a specialist within the game for the past 70 years, are still required to hit, field, and pitch.
I agree with this (reminds me of when the QB on a football team would also be the kicker or something) but I'll also note that I do love it when a position player does pitch. Maybe they should create an incentive to make this happen more often. Like if a position player strikes out an opposing batter, the batting team loses a run.
 
#9      
I’d rather have 9 DH’s than 1. Put your 9 best hitters in the lineup and your 8 best fielders on the field. Obviously most players would both hit and field like now, due to roster size limits, but you could bat a couple of DH-only types and still play that all-glove SS in the field, with occasional pinch-hitting duty. Separate batting lineups and fielding lineups. Traditionalists would freak!
 
#10      

SKane

Tennessee
The game is no fun to watch anymore because of the constant pitching changes and fielding shifts.

Teams that tank for years (Pirates for decades) and batters washed up by age 30 because the pitchers have become so dominant.

There are certainly some great athletes but the game is no longer something worth caring about.

I guess that some of the new ballparks are nice. PNC would be great if only the Pirates had a major league quality team to play in it.
 
#11      
To me, continuing to have the leagues with two different sets of rules was the worst of all possible options and they should have resolved this back when interleague play became a permanent thing. I would have preferred a more creative solution, like a "designated pinch hitter," but it is what it is.
 
#12      

Illiniaaron

Geneseo, IL
All I know is that as I become a crochety old man I care less and less about a lot of sports I used to love. For mlb its a combination of issues, including the Cubs moving to Marquee. I used to be an avid Hawks fan, now I haven't watched a game in a couple of years. Used to love the Bulls, but just don't find the game interesting anymore. The only sport I really like to watch anymore is college and pro football.
 
#13      
All I know is that as I become a crochety old man I care less and less about a lot of sports I used to love. For mlb its a combination of issues, including the Cubs moving to Marquee. I used to be an avid Hawks fan, now I haven't watched a game in a couple of years. Used to love the Bulls, but just don't find the game interesting anymore. The only sport I really like to watch anymore is college and pro football.

Welcome to the curmudgeon club.
Old Man Animation GIF by Shilstone Arts

We have a secret handshake but nobody cares.

I liked the Hawks but knew they wouldn't remain competitive after the Kane and Toews contracts.
While I have been a Lakers fans since the 70s I lost interest in them when Kobe had his sexcapade. I liked and appreciate the Chicago Jordans but as a team I stopped when Scottie decided to sit out the last 1.8. Yeah Michael came back the next year but I still wasn't happy.
 
#14      

bdutts

Houston, Texas
I'm good with the change. Any way to implement the same rules in both leagues outweighs any perceived negatives with having a pitcher hit. And I'm anti-DH overall.

Regarding the point about having players pitch: That's pretty interesting. I'd say as long as they aren't infielders, shouldn't be a big negative in blowing out someone's arm. Looks like Ohtani played a total of 16.2 innings in the field last year (none in any previous years) but I wonder if he was still taking the mound during the times he was in the field. We don't see it anywhere in leagues higher than high school. Certainly, we don't see much of it after high school.

I'm guessing due to the nature of "stretching starting pitchers out" and the nature of the schedule for pitching every 5th day (extra workout days, etc.) probably prevents those guys from playing the field. No one wants to risk Max Scherzer playing the field and blowing out his shoulder making a throw from a position. But I don't really know, that's just my guess. If contracts were not guaranteed or more like the NFL, you could see more of that.

I'm a grumpy old man, too. The only team I watch is the Hawks. I like watching the young guys to see how well they are developing. I don't even watch the Illini any more and that goes for both football and basketball. I hope they win but I don't watch. I stopped watching the Cubs last year when they gave up in the offseason. The only game I watched was Independence Day game that my brother had on at his house when I was visiting. But otherwise, no games.
 
#15      
All I know is that as I become a crochety old man I care less and less about a lot of sports I used to love. For mlb its a combination of issues, including the Cubs moving to Marquee. I used to be an avid Hawks fan, now I haven't watched a game in a couple of years. Used to love the Bulls, but just don't find the game interesting anymore. The only sport I really like to watch anymore is college and pro football.

When we are kids, we are looking for heroes. It’s only natural to look for role models.

Yes, we have parents and other family members. But we want more. We look for things to get interested in and excited about.

We start to play sports on our own. And we look to those much older guys who are playing the sports much better than we can as kids. They become our heroes.

We don’t worry about player contracts and business plans and marketing rights and cost of parking. We just care about the games and the players.

But then we get older. We become the same age the players are. And we have adult worries like jobs and mortgages. Yet we still watch sports because it still interests us on some level — but we sense that things have changed.

And as adult fans, we begin to think about things like player contracts and business plans and marketing rights and cost of parking and salary caps and free-agency and...

And as we do, the game gets less mythologized. We begin to see it as just another form of business and making money for rich guys. And we see how our former heroes care more about chasing the dollar than playing for ‘our team’. As they say, we realize we are really rooting for laundry and a logo. The innocence we had is gone.

And some of us begin to fall away from the game and teams we loved. Not all of us, of course. We want to hold on to that sliver of youth that we remember from our past.

We hope to feel that excitement again about our game and about the game they play. But it can never be the same. The game changed. Our team changed. And WE changed, too.

What we can hope for is that it provides us with a couple hours of freedom from other cares and worries of the World. If it can still do that — we’ve still got something to love.

And we realize (if we didn’t already) that our real Team are our team members throughout Life that help us win the Life games we chose to play. Our true heroes.
 
#16      
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The universal DH was inevitable. Pitchers are getting worse at hitting and to see them flailing away adds nothing to the enjoyment of the game. I'd love to see Schwarber come back to the Cubs and be their full time DH and part time first baseman. His bat plays well in Wrigley.
 
#17      
I’m not going to miss seeing pitchers hit.

Pitchers slashed .110/.150/.142 last year. That’s putrid.

I’ll miss that element of strategy there, but it’s really only when there’s men on in the 5th or 6th inning. In every other situation it’s automatic - let the pitcher fail earlier and take him out later.

I would have preferred some sort of “designated pinch hitter” that would have reduced the pitchers coming to the plate while keeping an element of strategy, but obviously that’s not happening.
 
#18      

Ryllini

Lombard
I'm fine with the DH, it was bound to happen. I think about every professional league and college level use a DH. The 2 major things I want to see are:
a hard salary cap and a minimum and also want to see an international draft.
People don't like the how long the game takes, you probably don't like baseball as much as you thought. Pitching changes, hard heat, launch angles are proven in today's game. If those are the things that teams think are going to give them the best chance, who is anyone to tell them otherwise?
There is always a great story in every season in baseball. Many Cardinals fan like myself, we had a winning streak to close the season. I forgot about everything else, but winning. The shortened season with no fans, my white Sox fan father in law said it best, I forgot about that !!!! as soon as the first homerun flew over the wall. It wasn't a Sox player.
 
#19      
I'm fine with the DH, it was bound to happen. I think about every professional league and college level use a DH. The 2 major things I want to see are:
a hard salary cap and a minimum and also want to see an international draft.
People don't like the how long the game takes, you probably don't like baseball as much as you thought. Pitching changes, hard heat, launch angles are proven in today's game. If those are the things that teams think are going to give them the best chance, who is anyone to tell them otherwise?
There is always a great story in every season in baseball. Many Cardinals fan like myself, we had a winning streak to close the season. I forgot about everything else, but winning. The shortened season with no fans, my white Sox fan father in law said it best, I forgot about that !!!! as soon as the first homerun flew over the wall. It wasn't a Sox player.

There have been studies done and the longer game times is all about the pitcher taking longer between throws. They (especially the relievers) are being asked to throw 95+ on every pitch. And that’s a lot easier to do if you throw the ball once every minute instead of once every 30 seconds.

But I don’t think length of games is as big a problem as the lack of action. More Ks, more BBs, more HRs, fewer stolen bases means less action. Less stuff happening.

I think it might be time to move the walls back. Golf had to make the courses larger to accommodate bigger, stronger golfers. I think baseball might have to do the same. Also increase the size of foul territory for more outs instead of balls going out of play.

Maybe make 2nd base larger to make base stealing easier. Limiting pitchers to 2 or 3 pickoff attempts per at bat would also help.
 
#20      

Ryllini

Lombard

I think pitch clocks are worthless. I’d rather see a pitcher comfortable in throwing what he is throwing, especially 95mph plus. The few minutes it shortened really is negligible. I think what you mentioned about action has a huge impact, but their analytics don’t square away the positive effect of running. I love hitting the ball to the opposite field and poking the ball where the defense isn’t, but I don’t think moving walls to force teams to play the way we want is the answer. I’d be more than willing to listen to curbing over exaggerated shifts. That is a gray area though, forcing a team not to do what they think is best served to help them win.
 
#22      
.
The universal DH was inevitable. Pitchers are getting worse at hitting and to see them flailing away adds nothing to the enjoyment of the game. I'd love to see Schwarber come back to the Cubs and be their full time DH and part time first baseman. His bat plays well in Wrigley.
I told my office manager if the NL had the DH last year the Cubs probably wouldn't have let so many players walk. She's a big Cubs fan and her eyes kinda glossed over at the prospect.
 
#23      
There have been studies done and the longer game times is all about the pitcher taking longer between throws. They (especially the relievers) are being asked to throw 95+ on every pitch. And that’s a lot easier to do if you throw the ball once every minute instead of once every 30 seconds.

But I don’t think length of games is as big a problem as the lack of action. More Ks, more BBs, more HRs, fewer stolen bases means less action. Less stuff happening.

I think it might be time to move the walls back. Golf had to make the courses larger to accommodate bigger, stronger golfers. I think baseball might have to do the same. Also increase the size of foul territory for more outs instead of balls going out of play.

Maybe make 2nd base larger to make base stealing easier. Limiting pitchers to 2 or 3 pickoff attempts per at bat would also help.
I'm certain pitchers are a cause for delays and longer games but batters are culpable too. Mike Hargrove "The Human Rain Delay" got it going. I absolutely hate when a batter takes a pitch then steps out to unbuckle are re-buckle his batting gloves. He didn't do anything. They are not loose.

I'm sure I've mentioned it here before. I was watching a replay of Don Larsen's perfect World Series game. It looked odd. (Besides the camera angles and no on screen stats.) Whenever a batter struck out they tossed the ball around the infield and back to the catcher Yogi Berra who gave it to the pitcher. The game took 2:06 to play. I remember looking at the box scores for games in the 60's Gibson or Fergie games were just over or just under 2 hours consistently. If batter stepped out or dug in too deep pitchers let them know it.

Something else that has added to the game is the extra time between innings for commercials.
 
#24      
Something else that has added to the game is the extra time between innings for commercials.
There's actually not more time between innings. It's just that they play commercials for longer. Now, they cut to commercial immediately after the last out and come back close to the next pitch. Back in the 80s, there'd be a minute or two of the announcers talking after they came back from commercial. The break is just as long. They just squeeze a couple extra commercials into the same amount of time.

Here's a great article comparing the broadcasts of a game from 1984 (Mets at Cubs) and a game from 2014 (Brewers at Pirates). The games had identical scores, the same number of pitches thrown, the same number of baserunners and the same number of batters come to the plate. The 2014 game lasted 35 minutes longer and the article looks for what took up the extra time. It's a fascinating read and really entertaining, especially if you have any nostalgia at all for 80s baseball.

https://www.sbnation.com/a/mlb-2017-season-preview/game-length
 
#25      
There's actually not more time between innings. It's just that they play commercials for longer. Now, they cut to commercial immediately after the last out and come back close to the next pitch. Back in the 80s, there'd be a minute or two of the announcers talking after they came back from commercial. The break is just as long. They just squeeze a couple extra commercials into the same amount of time.

Here's a great article comparing the broadcasts of a game from 1984 (Mets at Cubs) and a game from 2014 (Brewers at Pirates). The games had identical scores, the same number of pitches thrown, the same number of baserunners and the same number of batters come to the plate. The 2014 game lasted 35 minutes longer and the article looks for what took up the extra time. It's a fascinating read and really entertaining, especially if you have any nostalgia at all for 80s baseball.

https://www.sbnation.com/a/mlb-2017-season-preview/game-length
ok. I recall (Probably in error) that they were playing more commercials in the early 2000s and they cut back the time eliminating one of the 30 time slots.