Double Plus: the Impending DH in the National League

By Jeff Wiser On January 22, 2016 · 8 Comments

I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all. There’s no designated hitter in the NL and that’s a good thing as far as I’m concerned. I like the double-switch. I like how the manager really has to pick his spots. I like how utilizing the bench and the bullpen are more heavily-tied to strategy in the NL as opposed to the AL. But I’ll get off my soapbox, not because I want to, but because I might just have to. With the league’s collective bargaining agreement set to expire at year’s end, there’s plenty of momentum behind the idea that the DH could make it’s way to the National League in the near future.

If you’re asking “why?” the answer is simple. Offense is down across baseball. It’s been down for several years. PED’s aren’t out of the game, but their effects seem to be largely diminished. The strike zone has expanded some and defensive shifts have made defense more efficient. Run prevention was the new wave ten years ago and after decade spent perfecting it, it’s just harder to score runs these days. As Matthew Kory explored earlier in the week, it could add something like 200 more home runs to the NL over the course of the season, and those alone are going to result in more runs scored without a doubt.

Still, many fans aren’t going to like it. We’re not traditional fans here at Inside the ‘Zona, which you’ve probably picked up on, but I like the traditional aspects of the NL game and so do others. At least, so I thought. A Twitter poll revealed something different.

Welp, that’s pretty clear. Granted, it’s only 204 votes and the poll was pretty informal – it was hosted on Twitter. Still, the gap that revealed itself was stark and, frankly, shocking. I’d always imagined opinions were split something closer to 50/50. As it turns out, my assumptions were right and my poll was indeed skewed. @Bill_TPA of The Platoon Advantage did a wonderful job of clarifying the situation by issuing a more widely-used poll in a great article he posted on Wednesday. Here’s what he found:

Clearly, there’s league bias at work. I must have a lot of AL followers on Twitter. I was happy to see that the “noes” outweigh the “yeses” overall, but that’s just me.

Regardless of what I or anyone else thinks, it does look like the DH is coming. Commissioner Manfred stated this week that it will be up for debate in the next round of talks. We could see it as soon as the 2017 season, although I’d imagine they’ll give NL teams at least one more year to plan for implementation. Making the decision, then demanding teams find a DH in one offseason seems unreasonable. Then again, if the commissioner wants something, he might just be able to get it.

This will obviously have an impact on Diamondbacks. They’ll need a DH, or a player to replace whichever player they slide into that role. We won’t get to watch Zack Greinke bat, which is a real shame, but we won’t have to watch the others bat, which is a sort of relief. The bench gets shorter, but then again, there will be less switching. The pitching staff will have to face better hitters in place of the pitcher. That’s going to inflate ERA’s for starters by something like a quarter of a run. The team will also have to find money to pay a DH rather than a bench bat that doesn’t play much. That’ll certainly have to be factored into the equation. Then again, maybe Peter O’Brien finally has an opening should MLB make the DH effective in 2017.

More offense is good for the game, I guess. But I will certainly miss the strategic nuance of the NL if and when there is a designated hitter in both leagues. The Diamondbacks will have to make adjustments and spend more money to employ one. The pitching staff is going to lose three at-bats a game against paltry hitters and that will have an impact. It seems as if this is just a matter of time and whether we like it or not, it’ll have a big impact on the game.

8 Responses to Double Plus: the Impending DH in the National League

Anonymous says:

January 22, 2016 at 10:21 am

Get at least 30 percent of the games on free tv again. Have steamer, minecraft video game nights. Dh isnt going to make baseball more popular.

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Dave says:

January 22, 2016 at 11:41 am

and you can always DH for Ahmed!

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Rick says:

January 23, 2016 at 6:36 am

I lived in Orange County CA for years and learned to enjoy the DH. Yes, strategy was removed but it was countered with the excitement and anticipation knowing an auto-out wasn’t coming to the plate. If a pitcher is throwing a great game and can go a few more innings, I don’t like seeing him removed for a hitter late in a close game. He’s more valuable to the team getting 6 more defensive outs then the probability of a pinch hitter adding value. (A .333 hitter doesn’t get a hit .667 of the time. That’s a good trade-off?). Bottom line…I don’t like seeing pitchers hit for the same reason I don’t want to see the 3rd baseman pitch.

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Anonymous says:

January 23, 2016 at 11:34 am

the dh makes baseball suck balls, ubiquity and beer softball comes to mind.

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Jim Ellis says:

January 23, 2016 at 12:27 pm

The DH argument works on both sides. It’s a game and can be imagined and reimagined endlessly if we let it. We don’t because the part of the game we pay attention to are the best adults playing for a mega corporation, the MLB. Don’t get me wrong, I love that meaga coporation and I proudly put on my dbacks gear and walk around my adoptive home of Vienna, Austria as though people somehow know just how lucky I am to root for this team. (They don’t but I don’t care, I’ll bump into an American soon enough). If I’m watching kids play or friends, then I might have a good argument for a tee or for a fourth outfielder, or seven inning games and so on. The business decision might be DH but I, andstrictly a fan, want to see the pitcher try to hit, bunt or get on, along with all the double switches and other manager specific parts. I say get rid of the DH in the American League! It will look more like the kids playing little league that we all know and respect as the true played of this great kids game anyhow.

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Dave-Phoenix says:

January 25, 2016 at 8:08 am

The DH in the NL is long overdue.

It is ridiculous that two leagues play by different rules. This is especially a big deal since inter-league play was initiated and “all” NL teams play games against AL opponents. Now that inter-league play is spread out over the whole season, it is even more critical.

You don’t see the AFC and NFC playing by different rules.

The only two choices are eliminating the DH in the AL or adding the DH in the NL.

I personally am in the group that favors adding the DH in the NL.

The league batting average for pitchers was .133. That makes the game less exciting any way you slice it.

While it is true that there is a lot more strategy late in a game without the DH, the only reason there is more strategy is because “you have a big hole in the lineup”!!!

I’m just tired of pitchers being “rally killers”, especially in the early innings. So many times, a team in big trouble in the early innings gets a “get out of jail free card” by walking the number 8 hitter and the pitcher ends up ending the inning. That’s not strategy. That’s a “gift”.

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Anonymous says:

January 25, 2016 at 9:39 pm

Your football analogy is stupid because there’s never been designated anything nfc afc.

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- Dave-Phoenix says:
  
  January 26, 2016 at 8:20 am
  
  No its not.
  
  That could apply to any rule.
  
  What if only the AFC had implemented the new extra point rule, and the NFC kept the old one in place? That would be just stupid.
  
  That basically what MLB has done for the past 45 years…
  
  Reply