DH to the NL??

[dgo71]

I appreciate the well thought out reply. While I respect your opinion, what I'm reading is that the long answer is really just expounding on the short answer - personal preference. And that is completely fine. It does however confirm my suspicions that most anti-DH folks are in the purist group. Again, fine to appreciate the nostalgia of the game but it doesn't lend itself to a high degree of change. It's a little like saying the GPS is terrible because folding maps worked just fine.

With the way the game has become specialized, it takes some changes to stay competitive and keep the winning edge. A purist example might be that pitchers regularly finished the games they started, or even logged 250, even 300 innings a season. With pitch counts that is becoming more and more of a rarity. The bullpen is critical, and it's gone beyond simply a dominating closer, to now having 7th inning guys, setup men, LOOGIs, etc. To say that hasn't been an improvement for the game depends on what side of the fence you're on. A fan may think, from a purist standpoint, this has diminished the quality of pitching. The teams however, feel it increases their chance of winning, and that is the paramount goal of every team. Just ask the last several World Series winners how they feel about bullpens and their importance to the game. The same can be said of the DH. I know as a Yankee fan much of my life that David Ortiz in 2004 was a killer, and whether he played the field or not he certainly was a major player in the Sox curse-ending WS run.

I didn't take the time to research this, but it may even be argued that without having to focus on other aspects of the game, pitching has improved in the AL because pitchers can focus solely on their primary function. There are only so many hours in a day, and any time spent in the cage is time they are not working on grips, release points, arm angles, landing off the mound, overall philosophy, etc. Again, not sure this is a proven fact but on the surface makes sense to me that focusing on one aspect versus two or three would yield better results.

I definitely agree with your point on the AL and NL playing very different games, and that's mostly my biggest problem with all of this. It's increasingly apparent too, with interleague play now integrated into the schedule every day and not just some cross-town novelty. Interesting topic. Another unique thing about baseball is the hours of debate that can be had about all of the game's subtle nuances. Thanks for your thoughtful response!