Quote:
Originally Posted by Brad K
AL fans are totally inexperienced with the thrill of being able to argue endlessly about whether a manager should have hit for a pitcher, or not hit for a pitcher, or left him in pitching until they got to his spot in the batting order, or pulled him and then having to hit for a fresh reliever.
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Except many of those moves are pretty much mandated by the scenario.
To my mind, expecting a pitcher to hit is rather like expecting a goalie in hockey to also play as a forward. The pitcher, like the goalie, is a specialized position requiring very specialized skills. Let them focus on that task and let those with the time to train and practice hitting be the batters.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brad K
Seems to me all the wild card people who talked about the thrill of the underdog winning should want to see those pitchers bat. Not as much of a thrill as an inferior team winning the world series but a possibility that could be experienced every day. Where ARE the wild carders who should be here demanding an end to the DH.
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I'm ambivalent about the wild card. For me, the idea setup is a league divided into two 6-team divisions with the first-place teams advancing to the league championship series. (5- or 7-team divisions are also acceptable, but are less than ideal numbers. 8-team divisions are a little too large.)