Pitchers can't hit.

"Major League Baseball has expanded its pool of postseason teams to 10 -- up from four just 19 years ago -- and next year will re-align into 15-team leagues that make for at least one interleague series all season long. But the biggest change of all may be around the next corner: the end of baseball as it was originally designed."

I think the introduction of mitts was the end of baseball as it was originally designed, but, whatever. Most things are inferior if they cling to how they were originally designed.


"Moreover, events of this winter spotlighted the negotiating advantage that AL teams have over NL teams with the use of the DH. Prince Fielder (nine-year contract) and Albert Pujols (10 years) jumped to AL clubs as free agents in part because AL teams can afford to offer longer contracts because a player can transition to the DH role as he ages. Eleven of the 13 richest contracts ever given to position players have been bankrolled by AL teams."

I think the lack of a DH hurts NL teams as described.


"There is no question that the style of NL baseball is more interesting and nuanced than AL baseball. Yes, it's a better game, the way chess is a better game than checkers. Game 6 of the 2011 World Series, just like Game 6 of the 1975 World Series, is one of the greatest games ever played because there was no DH. Texas manager Ron Washington used nine players in his number nine spot in his order. St. Louis manager Tony La Russa used pitchers in four of his nine spots and -- when down two runs in the 10th inning -- ran out of position players and had to use a pitcher to hit for a pitcher."

Hooray, everybody. He had to use a pitcher to hit for a pitcher.

Blech.

It's hardly like comparing chess to checkers. It's like comparing tic-tac-toe to tic-tac-toe.

I can easily make a counter-argument that Grady Little would have kept his job if he had the pinch-hitter option making his decision for him.

Besides, what do you remember about Game Six in 1975? You remember Fisk's homer. Another non-pitcher hitting another homerun.