Astros To The AL West

[Rice Cube]

Were at 1/3 of the teams. Least of all major sports if I am not mistaken

I think the main complaint is why have so many games to decide the best teams if a couple of them are going to be forced into a sudden death play-in match while the other three who make the playoffs as division winners may be eliminated by random chance due to the nature of baseball. I think it's just something that we'll all have to get used to though.

 

[Jntg4]

Were at 1/3 of the teams. Least of all major sports if I am not mistaken

You're right.
CFL: 6/8: 3/4: 75%
MLB: 10/30: 1/3: 33.33% (after expanded playoffs)
MLS: 10/19: probably around 47% (after Montreal expansion)
NBA: 16/30: 8/15: Over 50%
NFL: 12/32: 6/16: 3/8: 37.5%
NHL: 16/30: 8/15: Over 50%

 

[dabynsky]

Isn't baseball already a single league with two conferences? That's how I view it. They have a common draft, player movement including trades between the two and a single collective bargaining agreement. The only difference is one rule. It stopped being two leagues years ago.

While I love the tradition of baseball, I like the DH and interleague play. I like seeing NL teams at Comerica and being able to go to NL parks every year to see the Tigers.

The elimination of league umpires was really the start of this trend if you ask me, and I realize that this is the trend. I wasn't stating that this wasn't the first step towards this, but rather that we were in the process of becoming like every other league. 15 teams and constant interleague is going to force a decision on the DH issue one way or the other because teams can't be playing by two sets of rule for the entire season. Which is the same point that was being made about playoff teams. That this addition of another wildcard is just another step towards getting closer to the ratio of the NFL or NHL of playoff teams (thankfully not as ridiculous as the NBA where over half the teams make the postseason).

I am well aware that this trend started many years ago, but it doesn't mean I have to enjoy baseball becoming like the other leagues.

 

[hsvj60]

All this is being done to set up a play-off like in the NHL where everyone except grampa n gramma go... keep MLB traditional drop the 3rd division go back to 2 divisions and let the top 4 teams go and let the boys of summer play. DH needs to be kicked in the ass too!!!

 

[MotorCityCub]

All this is being done to set up a play-off like in the NHL where everyone except grampa n gramma go... keep MLB traditional drop the 3rd division go back to 2 divisions and let the top 4 teams go and let the boys of summer play. DH needs to be kicked in the ass too!!!

I was with you right up to the end. I'd like to see the top 4 make it, go to balanced scheduling across a of baseball (play every team every year), but put the DH in both leagues. Nothing more exciting than watching the 8 hitter get intentionally walked twice a game only to watch the pitcher strike out on three pitches.

 

[dabynsky]

I was with you right up to the end. I'd like to see the top 4 make it, go to balanced scheduling across a of baseball (play every team every year), but put the DH in both leagues. Nothing more exciting than watching the 8 hitter get intentionally walked twice a game only to watch the pitcher strike out on three pitches.

I know the NL is going to lose in the DH battle, but it still will be sad to see the end of real baseball. You can complain about pitching around the 8 hitter, but this is the way the game has been played for well over a century now. And I will always argue that their is excitement in the strategy involved in the pitchers batting.

 

[MotorCityCub]

I agree with your assessment about baseball being played with the pitcher hitting, but these days, and for probably the last 25 years 99% of pitchers have no interest in batting. When pitchers were ballplayers and played 9 innings the DH could be considered a gimmick. These days when managers have to consider taking their ace out in the 5th inning so he doesn't have to bat, there's something fundamentally wrong with the game.

I don't believe any of the minor leagues or college conferences bat the pitcher. So you've got pitchers who hit when they're 18 and not again, for the most part, until they're 23-25.

 

[dabynsky]

I agree with your assessment about baseball being played with the pitcher hitting, but these days, and for probably the last 25 years 99% of pitchers have no interest in batting. When pitchers were ballplayers and played 9 innings the DH could be considered a gimmick. These days when managers have to consider taking their ace out in the 5th inning so he doesn't have to bat, there's something fundamentally wrong with the game.

I don't believe any of the minor leagues or college conferences bat the pitcher. So you've got pitchers who hit when they're 18 and not again, for the most part, until they're 23-25.

You're mostly right about the minor leagues. When two NL clubs play each other in the minors at the AA or AAA level, they do or have the option of having their pitcher bat. I don't disagree that the trend has been forcing us to this point. It doesn't mean that I still can't mourn the eventual disappearance of what I and millions of others grew up and experienced as baseball for the past century and several decades.

 

[Rice Cube]

I'd be okay with pitchers batting if they actually gave a shit. Good-hitting pitchers are rare, and auto-bunts are annoying as hell.

 

[brett05]

Just because it's been around for years does not make it right.

That said it is ok to mourn

 

[dabynsky]

Just because it's been around for years does not make it right.

That said it is ok to mourn

I agree that just because it has been around makes it right, but to me it makes baseball too much like other sports with free substitutions. I understand it is more exciting to see David Ortiz hit than Ted Lilly, but if we are going for maximum amount of excitement why don't we allow DHs for slick fielding middle infielders and so on?

 

[Rice Cube]

I agree that just because it has been around makes it right, but to me it makes baseball too much like other sports with free substitutions. I understand it is more exciting to see David Ortiz hit than Ted Lilly, but if we are going for maximum amount of excitement why don't we allow DHs for slick fielding middle infielders and so on?

I actually like the idea of using a designated fielder. It'd be kind of funny if they actually expanded the rosters to allow offensive and defensive separation like in football, but I kind of like the way it's set up now so that each team can try to exploit the others' weakness (i.e., hit it to left)

 

[dabynsky]

I actually like the idea of using a designated fielder. It'd be kind of funny if they actually expanded the rosters to allow offensive and defensive separation like in football, but I kind of like the way it's set up now so that each team can try to exploit the others' weakness (i.e., hit it to left)

See that to me is baseball. I know I sound like a crotchety old guy when I say that, but that is part of the deal of baseball. That you have to live with the flaws of a player in one area of his game to enjoy the benefit in other parts. That is why I don't like the DH, and that is why I will mourn the eventual forcing of the DH on the NL.

 

[Jntg4]

DH is ***, but I'll live with it (so Soriano can stop fielding), considering the benefit (more inter-league).

 

[MotorCityCub]

It's funny, our different viewpoints probably can be traced to what we're accustomed to seeing every day. I grew up in an AL only city where the DH is the only thing I've known. I enjoy "interleague" play not because of the pitcher batting, but because I want to see the NL teams and their best players in person. I know with TV I can see everybody, but seeing the best players in baseball at Comerica is a treat.

I don't like seeing the Indians, Royals, White Sox and Twins 14 times each year at home, but we've seen Cincinnati and Philly maybe once each since 2006, both on the road. I want to see every team at least every other year in our park.

 

[brett05]

Pitchers hitting is ***, but I'll live with it (so Soriano can stop fielding), considering the benefit (more inter-league).

fixed!

Fielders don't pitch why should pitchers bat?

Pitchers terrible batting isn't exactly a weakness. They don't practice it nor should they.
They need to pitch period. It's time NL pitchers pitch to a 9 man lineup not a 6.5 lineup.

AL teams need to stop being severely penalized when playing in an NL park and the advantage an NL team gets when coming to an AL park needs to be removed

 

[dabynsky]

fixed!

Fielders don't pitch why should pitchers bat?

Pitchers terrible batting isn't exactly a weakness. They don't practice it nor should they.
They need to pitch period. It's time NL pitchers pitch to a 9 man lineup not a 6.5 lineup.

AL teams need to stop being severely penalized when playing in an NL park and the advantage an NL team gets when coming to an AL park needs to be removed

That is funny that you claim getting the DH is an advantage for NL teams when they can't carry guys that can only mash like AL teams can for the whole year.

Look I get that it will happen, but by using the same logic why not just allow free substitutions all the time because players aren't good at everything?

 

[Rice Cube]

That is funny that you claim getting the DH is an advantage for NL teams when they can't carry guys that can only mash like AL teams can for the whole year.

Look I get that it will happen, but by using the same logic why not just allow free substitutions all the time because players aren't good at everything?

Free substitutions would make the game much easier for managers. It'd look like a football package substitution between each play :lol:

 

[brett05]

Again let's look at this logically. The NL team gains an advantage as they get to use a real hitter and not a pitcher in AL parks. The AL loses when it goes to NL parks as it loses a top 2-3 hitter replaced with an auto out pitcher

You don't have free subbing as you are suggesting because the fielders are paid to hit and field and they practice both so you deal with a weakness.

 

[Rice Cube]

Again let's look at this logically. The NL team gains an advantage as they get to use a real hitter and not a pitcher in AL parks. The AL loses when it goes to NL parks as it loses a top 2-3 hitter replaced with an auto out pitcher

You don't have free subbing as you are suggesting because the fielders are paid to hit and field and they practice both so you deal with a weakness.

Most AL teams are so much better than their NL counterparts that they wouldn't blink when losing the DH. If both leagues were equal it'd be something worthy of complaint, but as it is, I doubt they really care. They basically have to decide whether they want to hide their DH at 1B or LF, or to leave him on the bench as a pinch-hitter.