In some ways I agree but it does kind of give us (I know, I fell for it) a reason to watch the game, and for the players to play it. It's more than an exhibition game. The fact that the AL is 9-0-1 in the past 10 All Star Games...and have won more than a few World Series lately--shows that the AL seems to be the dominant league. (For now; as has been pointed out, the NL has been the dominant league in times gone by. Oh, and interleague play this yr has been dominated by AL as well.)
Should the NL continue to say-no-to-the-DH and be a more
strategy-intense league (double switches, pinch hitting for
pitchers), following the tradition of original baseball...
or should they embrace the DH? From what I've heard,
the NL is the only pro baseball league that still has no DH...I believe the minors all have it.
One disadvantage of not having the DH: Your star pitcher
works a walk and gets on base; eventually, he tries to score but gets injured sliding into home, and is out for the season. That won't happen with AL (exc. in interleague play, or All Star games played in NL parks).
Why do pitchers do better and last longer in the NL? They have to face less "real" batters since they have to face
the opposing team's hitter (though sometimes they'll face a pinch hitter).
Your NL team really needs to score, and guess who's up--
the pitcher. You could take him out for a pinch hitter but he's been doing fairly well--you're just one run behind--
and boy would a good pinch hitter look good now. But you can't; you gotta leave him in...to ground out harmlessly or
strike out.
Pluses and minuses to DH I guess.
oops, that should say "they have to face the other team's
PITCHER..."
...I'll add to the example above, what if there's _two outs_ and the pitcher is due up, and you really could use a good
HITTER...