While Major League Baseball's owners and the players union negotiate financial terms for a potential, shortened season in 2020, a number of alterations will be made to the league itself to facilitate such a scenario.
Divisions are likely to be realigned. Fans likely won't be at any games early on, if not for the entirety of 2020. Some teams, if not all, could be playing at different locations, including their spring training homes in Arizona or Florida (particularly if their respective governors don't allow for pro sports to return on time). The postseason could stretch deep into November. Rosters would need to be expanded.
MLB will have to do anything it can think of to make a shortened season a reality and to cram in as many games as possible. That way, there's at least some baseball (and to put it in terms that would likely motivate the league further: there's some TV money to recoup).
There's one other rule change that is reportedly on the table to make all of this a smoother transition for teams: the elimination of the designated hitter for 2020. But looking to 2021 and beyond, perhaps it's time for the league to make that a permanent amendment to its constitution.
The main points of contention against not having the DH in both leagues: many pitchers almost never swing a bat as much as needed to be a threat, and it has become tiring having to see one of the nine spots giving away outs.
Yes, CC Sabathia could crush some baseballs, which was fun to watch. And yes, Bartolo Colon going yard at Petco Park is probably the greatest baseball highlight there ever was or will be. Josh Tomlin could hit a little, too. But, it doesn't seem prudent to give up one of the nine spots to a group of players who are having to focus all of their time on other skills.
Over the last three years, among pitchers with at least 100 plate appearances, Zack Greinke has the best wRC+ in the league _ at 64, meaning he's 36% below league average. He's the only pitcher who has a wRC+ above 40. Only 15 pitchers have a wRC+ that is even a positive integer, with 100 being league average.
Among qualified hitters last year, how many had a wRC+ below 64? One. Milwaukee's Orlando Arcia, a shortstop not known for his bat, at 61. To put it another way: Baltimore's Chris Davis, over the last three years _ which includes arguably the worst stretch for a regular hitter in history when he at one point went 0 for 54 _ has a wRC+ of 65, still one notch ahead of the best pitcher over that same timeframe.
A few laughs might be had by teammates when an American League pitcher with little or no experience hitting in the last decade or so has to pitch in a National League park and therefore take batting practice. Meanwhile, the managers are holding their breath, just hoping that prized pitcher eventually returns to the dugout without injuring himself.
And it isn't to say pitchers are fragile or aren't athletic enough to hit or run the bases. It simply requires movements they aren't normally trying to make. Pitchers are on regimented throwing routines. Suddenly trying to crush a ball over the Green Monster at Fenway Park or tagging and scoring from third isn't on that list. Some pitchers, especially those on AL teams, have only swung a bat once or twice in a decade and are suddenly taking up one of the nine spots in the lineup.
Indians manager Terry Francona has spoken on the topic for years. His point of contention with the DH only being in the AL is that the leagues primarily play with the same set of rules all year _ until the World Series, the four to seven most important games of any year. Then, all of a sudden, the AL has to reconfigure their lineup. The Indians, for example, in 2016 had to have Carlos Santana in left field at Wrigley Field, with Francona's blood pressure likely rising any time a ball was hit that way.
"I don't think it makes it a bad game," Francona said before Game 3 of the 2016 World Series. "I just don't necessarily agree with this. I just think you set your team up the way you set it up and then you get to the most important games and you're doing something different."
Last year, the Indians entered the final series of the season still alive for a playoff spot. That series took place in Washington D.C., under NL rules. It put the Indians in a situation of having to adjust their lineup at a crucial time.
"I wish that would get changed," Francona said last September. "I really think it would benefit the game and it would be more fair. But I doubt if they're going to do it by next weekend."
Max Scherzer, Jacob deGrom, Masahiro Tanaka, Chien-Ming Wang, Adam Wainwright, Carlos Zambrano and Mark Prior are among the list of pitchers to be hurt while batting or running the bases. Scherzer is perhaps a prime example as one of the premier pitchers of the last decade. He's won three Cy Young Awards in seven seasons. And yet, because he has to bat for some reason, he's been hurt while in the batter's box multiple times, both in games and during batting practice. Those are injuries that don't need to be incurred. The players have generally been in favor of the universal DH anyway, considering it could lengthen the careers of some sluggers with 15 additional DH spots open in lineups.
The extra, strategic demands of the National League can be fun. It does put even more pressure on managers late in games. But it also means that, if we're talking about a World Series game and likely one of the team's best relievers pitching late in the game, for example, either the pitcher _ one of the worst "hitters" in the league _ has to bat in a key situation, or one of the team's best pitchers has to be taken out of the game in favor of a pinch-hitter. Instead of getting the dramatic decision of whether the manager will pinch-hit or save the pitcher, let's skip that altogether and see the best possible pitcher vs. batter matchups in the game's biggest moments. It just makes more sense to allow the best pitchers to pitch as much as they can without having to worry about sacrificing outs for their offense.
It's not even just about that one spot in the lineup, either. It's the previous spot or even two spots that are negatively affected. There's no way Batter No. 8 will get to see many hittable pitches in any key, early-game situations when the pitcher is waiting on deck.
Look at Cesar Hernandez, signed by the Indians for the 2020 season (if there is one). While Hernandez was in Philadelphia, he had a couple of strong seasons batting at or near the top of the lineup. He was then moved down the order, closer to the pitcher's spot, and had to then change his approach from one based on patience to one of aggressiveness. He now had to be the one to drive in runs. He couldn't get on base to keep the lineup moving, he had to swing at anything close. He struggled, he was non-tendered, and it was a key reason why he was available to the Indians this winter at all.
The counterargument against the DH simply because that's how the NL has operated for more than century isn't really a valid point. Just because that's how things were in the beginning isn't a reason to keep them around. Half the sport adjusted in 1973. It's time for the Senior Circuit to finally follow suit. Let's see the best pitchers face the best batters one-through-nine.
This is one change MLB can keep.
