Cardinals have traditionally had good hitting pitchers. Gibson, Forsch, Wainwright. Used to really like watching them hit.
Baseball's had a boner to make the DH universal for awhile now. This was the perfect opportunity to add it. MLB just added a bunch of even more unpalatable new rules like: "Hey let's put a free runner on 2nd in extra innings" or sapping the number of innings. Before long there'll be ties, with tie-breakers being which team hit the most homers.The DH is absolute fuck all horseshit.
My 9 guys vs. your 9 guys. Not, "My 8 and (2) ½ guys vs. yours". Some pitchers can hit.
The union really likes it, one more contract per team.
Worst union in pro sports, I'm not surprised.
...and removes a whole layer of basic baseball strategy.
The DH is absolute fuck all horseshit.
Fans either love it or hate it and it seems to be almost completely dependent on whether your favorite team is in the AL or NL. I'd estimate that of the time I've watched baseball games since a child, 99% of it was NL, unless it was the playoffs and an NL team just wasn't playing.
Either accept it, or do like me and stop supporting bastardized baseball with political/social horseshit tossed in your face.
I'd see that as an opportunity as a pitcher to become a .200 hitter and force opposing pitchers to have to strike me out. Your worth to a team in the NL if you can hit becomes exponentially higher.
This.
A middle of the pack pitcher that can hit can find his way to start a game in a 7 game playoff series. A #3 pitcher who can't hit will find himeself in the relief duty.
I used to love seeing pitchers who could hit doing things like fouling tons of balls off, forcing the opposing pitcher to raise their pitch count late in a game. There's sooo much strategy to having the pitcher batting in the 9-hole.
