I hate this changing of rules but it’s been going on for a long, long time. Regarding the DH, here’s a compromise I could live with. Take the pitcher out of the batting line-up, no DH. An eight man line-up works just fine for both leagues then stop screwing with this beautiful game, PLEASE.
That's probably the best compromise I've seen. 8 position players and 1 pitcher. Only the position players get to bat. Expand the roster to 30 players so the union will approve the rule change.
“...Take the pitcher out of the batting line-up...”
And that removes part of the strategy of the game. Who’s in the pen, who is available to pinch hit, who’s on base and if they can run, what is the inning, how many out, is a base open, sacrifice or bunt and can the pitcher in the lineup do it, hitting to the right side, can a stolen base help, hit and run, fly ball...? All of that disappears and the need for decisions goes with it. And what happens when the pitcher out of nowhere drives the ball up an alley for a bases clearing hit double?
It all gets down to the long ball and that isn’t done that often even though they lowered the mound, jazzed the ball, shortened the fences or made them lower, and outlawed a number of pitches that made hitting a little more defensive and less aggressive. According to Fox Sports, there were 5,944 home runs hit in MLB in 2021. And there were 161,566 plate appearances. If you do the math, that’s a home run every 27.1 at bats. If a pitcher throws a perfect game, that means none to be hit. But if the pitcher faces everyone twice as many times as that, that will mean 2 home runs from 54.2 plate appearances.
And they are trying to speed up the game by using pitch timing rules, keep[oinmg the batters in the box, and camera strike zones because it’s so slow. And extra innings are starting with the last put out starting at second base to speed it up.
It’s a whole new game called getting richball. And all sports are playing it. In MLB, it’s not that the rules need to be changed. It’s that they need to find people that can play it.
wy69