DH in both leagues?

[ScottT]

There is only one correct answer.

[Jeff M]

Without a doubt. National league baseball sucks.

[The God of Runs]

I dunno. I like seeing Shuck get at-bats

[Angels Never Die]

It should be the same for both leagues.

[The Dude]

No one wants to see pitchers hitting every game, its time for the change, especially with this new schedule. Or at least allowing DH during inter league play would be acceptable.

[DW711]

The Braves would probably average three homers a game if there was no dh.

[arch stanton]

No one wants to see pitchers hitting every game, its time for the change, especially with this new schedule. Or at least allowing DH during inter league play would be acceptable.

I do. I hate the DH. Everyone should be a full participant in the game.

[CaliAngel]

Everyone freaking knows the pitcher batting is a waste of an out, it's fine if the NL wants to stick to it but making it a constant AL headache is downright ridiculous, and that's why interleague should have never been created to begin with. I've been against it since day 1. 

 

Who gives a crap who plays in the World Series if they've already seen eachother 8 times during the season...

[Redondo]

Don't like the pitcher batting. DH in both leagues is the way to go.

[gotbeer]

I like that the two leagues are different.   Adds a little variety and strategy to the game.  

[OregonLAA]

^^^^

Exactly. I love that they're both different. It's part of what makes baseball so unique. And I love that teams have to adapt to the other style. Most fans of National League teams would say get rid of the DH and most fans of American League teams would say get rid of the pitcher batting

[YouthofToday]

Yes. No hesitation.

[AZMike]

No one wants to see pitchers hitting every game, its time for the change, especially with this new schedule. Or at least allowing DH during inter league play would be acceptable.

 

Here's what they should've done to deal with the problem of unequal sized divisions, instead of moving Houston then being stuck with having to do interleague every week:

 

• Drastically reduce interleague
  • eliminate all except perhaps the 2+2 game rivalry series (good for Rating$).
  • To the extent they do have interleague, it shouldn't actually count toward the standings except as a tiebreaker
• go back to two divisions per league (two divisions of 7 in the AL, two divisions of 8 in the NL) 
• Division winners + two wildcards advance to the playoffs. 
• Every round of the playoffs is a best of 7

[2002_halos_II]

Seems that NL Pitchers are routinely replaced with a PH anyways. Maybe 1 at bat per game.

[Troll Daddy]

Hell No!

[ScottT]

I do. I hate the DH. Everyone should be a full participant in the game.

 

This isn't a decathlon.   I don't want to watch Jonathan Quick play center,  Lionel Messi play goalkeeper, or Peyton Manning play safety.  I don't want to watch Albert Pujols pitch or watch Jered Weaver bat. 

 

I don't want to watch the worst hitters on the bench come up because you have to hit for the pitcher. If a pitcher is throwing well, but the bases are loaded, I don't want him to be taken out because he can't hit.   The DH makes baseball a better game and more appealing to the masses.  That's why everyone uses it except for the National League. 

[FabulousFabregas]

If they're going to have more interleague yes.  It's not an even playing field bench wise, since the NL teams build their benches based around good pinch hitters while AL teams don't.

[2002_halos_II]

I'm pretty sure during interleague - home rules apply so the DH is used in the AL park and the PH is used in the NL park by both teams. I think the pitcher has to have at least 1 at bat in the NL park?

[Ray McKigney]

Clayton Kershaw votes No.

[ScottT]

Clayton Kershaw is a career .148/.178/.163 hitter.  That is a minus 5 OPS+

 

I don't want to pay to watch a blind squirrel find a nut.   Wait, I'd pay more to watch that than watch Clayton Kershaw hit. 

[Docwaukee]

Yes.  Back in the day when the game wasn't nearly as specialized it was fine.  Both leagues should be the same one way or the other, but now that we have the DH in one league and 7 man bullpens, it doesn't make as much sense to have to switch people around all the time.  The two to three at bats the pitcher gets every game is just dumb.  It's essentially an automatic out and also allows the other team to consistently pitch around the #8 hitter as well so it almost like 1.5 lost abs every time through the lineup. 

[AZMike]

Yes.  Back in the day when the game wasn't nearly as specialized it was fine.  Both leagues should be the same one way or the other, but now that we have the DH in one league and 7 man bullpens, it doesn't make as much sense to have to switch people around all the time.  The two to three at bats the pitcher gets every game is just dumb.  It's essentially an automatic out and also allows the other team to consistently pitch around the #8 hitter as well so it almost like 1.5 lost abs every time through the lineup. 

With 5-man rotations and the fact that most minor league games have the DH means that pitchers often go years without swinging a bat at all by the time they reach the majors. Not only that but only seeing a few at bats a week of live pitching is simply not enough playing time to be good at hitting, period. 

 

I agree it should be the same in both. I wouldn't mind pitchers batting as much if it were consistent throughough both leagues (and the minors) but the cat is out of the bag with the DH. No way would the Players Union would ever agree to removing the DH (no way do players like Pujols get their contracts without it), Consequently I voted toward DH for both.

 

Now removing or scaling back interleague might reduce the problem somewhat but that still doesn't help out w/ the fact that the DH is almost univerally used in the minors (DH rule is default unless both teams are NL affiliates and/or managers agree to let pitchers bat). Also, pitchers who start their careers in AL clubs and get traded to NL would still have not pitched at all during their development in the minors.

[arch stanton]

This isn't a decathlon.   I don't want to watch Jonathan Quick play center,  Lionel Messi play goalkeeper, or Peyton Manning play safety.  I don't want to watch Albert Pujols pitch or watch Jered Weaver bat. 

 

I don't want to watch the worst hitters on the bench come up because you have to hit for the pitcher. If a pitcher is throwing well, but the bases are loaded, I don't want him to be taken out because he can't hit.   The DH makes baseball a better game and more appealing to the masses.  That's why everyone uses it except for the National League. 

I don't want to watch a big clod stand and wait for a fat pitch, then gimp his way back to the dugout and spit seeds. Walk, strikeout, homer baseball is far more boring than watching a team actually work to score some runs. If runs are at more of a premium then players like Trout are even more valuable and there's room for a greater diversity in roster building. 

[Vegas Halo Fan]

It should be the same for both leagues.

 

This. No matter what is decided upon, there needs to be one uniform rule, not this "using the ground rules of the home team" in interleague games mess. The same thing happens in the minors, when AL and NL farm clubs meet.