Quote:
Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr
I agree. But rules should be made to benefit or restrict everybody. Not a single individual or team. Here & there we had a centuries worth of capable hitters on the mound. They didn't change the rules for Ruth, so why Shonei?
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Well, they didn't have the DH rule back then so there'd be no reason to say, "no, you can stay in the game even though you were relieved from your pitching duties".
While I can somewhat sympathize with the sentiment that rules shouldn't be made for specific players, there have been plenty of rules in various sports restricting what certain gifted athletes are allowed to do and while some may have improved their game, some probably made their games worse. I like that baseball went the positive route however and said, you're gifted, we're not going to penalize you and say you can't continue playing as the DH simply because you're also pitching. I think we should ask whether the rule improves the game first and foremost rather than dismissing it simply because it only effects a small percentage of players.
And I think allowing Shohei or any 2-way player to continue DHing once they're done pitching is a good thing. I want to see more do it in the future and so I want to encourage it, not discourage it.