Ugh. Scherzer. Shut up. The American League instituted the DH in 1973. Since then the count by league has the American League slightly ahead (22) in World Series Championships than the NL (20) since. So lets call it a coin flip. So to say the DH is a huge advantage for American league teams is bs. Yes they get to hold onto aging sluggers but they also have to handicap themselves to huge contracts to bring said sluggers to their team (howd that work out for the angels and josh hamilton?). So yes, the giants would have no shot to bring a player of his caliber to their team, but here in lays my point on why the DH in effect is detrimental to a team, and basically the count being so close is semi- proof to my point.
A team in the NL essentially is built around 2 elite starting pitchers, and 1 slugger in the middle of the lineup and those players are surrounded by key role players and elite relief/speciality pitchers. So lets take the Giants model. Slugger:Posey. Pitchers: Cain/Lincecum, Bumgarner/???. So instead of having a second elite pitcher they have another slugger (Pence) and a very good bullpen (Affeldt, Lopez, Petite, Romo, Casilla, Etc). So the money that would've gone to overpay for a DH can now go to higher than average role players (Pagan) and a very good bullpen when managed well (Bochey, Righetti) can beat any AL team blasted with big name sluggers but can't lay down a bunt when there's a runner on 2nd and no outs to get him to third (small ball).
Getting back to my original thesis. The thing that makes baseball so much different than many other professional leagues is that the different leagues involved are themselves different. So as the AFC/NFC and East/West are different leagues there is no difference in terms of actual play (talent and geography non withstanding) that makes playing in one different. So yes, a big bulky overpaid aging veteran that a team will eventually be handicapped with during the last few years of their contract i'd rather watch a team play small ball and not just wait for the lineup to turnover. Did you choose to come to the NL? Yep.
On a similar note, Joe Posnanski had an interesting post the other day (http://joeposnanski.com/a-strange-argument-against-the-nl-dh/ ) in which he actually argued that he would like to see the two leagues even more separate and distinct. I like his idea, and would love to see it--then the World Series and All Star Game would assume such a different character.
ReplyDeleteThere was a time when the two leagues were completely separate. Those were good times. However, interleague play did give us the opportunity to see teams play that never played each other.
ReplyDeleteOkay, to the point, what did Scherzer say? Did he say the AL had a big advantage? What a crock. Totally agree with you. To be honest, I wish the DH would go away.