There Is Apparently Chatter The National League May Adopt The DH As Early As 2021, Which Is TERRIBLE (Or INCREDIBLE, Depending On Who You Ask)
So this tweet has been making its rounds on Twitter today and like pretty much everything else on Twitter, the public reaction to it seems split down the middle. Pretty much every fan of an American League team that I follow loves it and pretty much every fan of a National League team that I follow hates it.
As a Mets fan I hate it for the same reason a lot of those NL fans hate it. I don't mind the starting pitcher getting 2-3 ABs per game despite some of them looking like a Barstool blogger at the dish because I personally like the strategy that comes into play. Deciding if you let a pitcher bat in a big spot if he is cruising on the mound or pull him for a pinch hitter, as well as which pinch hitter depending on the matchups and part of the game, is much more interesting than having a 9 Big League hitters (8 depending on your Catcher situation, maybe 7 if you have an all leather no wood middle infielder).
The AL fans will tell you that having a player that is pretty much an automatic out in your lineup is stupid and the injuries that happen when a pitcher does anything outside of throwing or fielding is an affront to the game of baseball as well as America. I swear to God, if I have to hear about the Shakespearean tragedy of Chien-Ming Wang one more time, I am going to puke.
I've heard the arguments that chicks dig the long ball, offense is necessary to keep baseball's ratings up, both leagues should have the same rules, and that the DH helps keeps hitters that have lost a step in the field or have an iron glove in the game. As someone whose team is on the hook for roughly $100 million to a 37-year-old 2nd baseman one year removed from a PED suspension, I should welcome the DH with open arms and legs, even if the greatest moment in baseball history happened when one of my team's pitchers went yard.
However, I just can't get behind the DH movement because I don't like DH baseball. I've watched a bunch of it and have never liked it. Would that be different if I grew up as a fan of the Yankees instead of as a fan of the Mets? Potentially. But you can also make the case I would like baseball, nay life, a hell of a lot more if I grew up as a fan of any baseball team other than the Mets.
In the end, the DH issue is like The Last Jedi or your political views. If you like it, you are going to like it no matter what people say to you. If you don't, you don't. And if you think you are going to change other peoples' minds by screaming at them how right you are, you are wrong.
Other than me and all the cultured people that enjoy the finer things in baseball who hate the DH and are 100% right instead of the uncultured DH fans with scumbag tastes that clap like neanderthals any time a bat hits a ball.
P.S. For all the talk about Big Sexy's home run, the greatest moment in pitchers hitting history may be the infamous Mr. Koo vs. Randy Johnson showdown.