In the meantime, I saw this posted on NBC Sport's Hardball Talk site. I should also mention the original article was by Bob Nightengale of USA Today. Basically, one of the proposals that Baseball is batting around is doing away with the American and National Leagues if some sort of 2020 season is played at all.
I'm not going to go into it again why I'm skeptical that baseball is coming back this season, because I would be very, very happy to be wrong. If baseball does come back in some sort of hybrid fashion I don't have a problem with whatever they decide to do to the leagues.
One consequence of intermingling the leagues would be, at least for 2020, a universal DH. I'm sure that there are hardcore National League fans who would not be happy to see this happen. Quite understandable.
I used to believe that, but I believe that having the DH is a huge advantage for American League teams getting the most out of their roster. In a perfect world I would love to see both leagues go without the DH, but that is almost completely unlikely to happen. I've felt for some time that the NL had to implement a DH to even things out.
I'll miss those strategy decisions of whether to leave a pitcher in or pinch hit for him. I'll miss watching those pitchers who are great athletes and decent hitters help their own cause.
I won't miss the extra bunting, something most pitchers are fairly terrible at anyway. I won't miss watching pitchers who are virtual automatic outs take their feeble swings. Most of all, I won't miss the advantage that AL clubs enjoy in roster management over NL clubs.
Whether baseball resumes this year or next, there is an opportunity that this monkey wrench that the Coronavirus has tossed into our sports to make some overdue changes that would be at least a little less jarring after a layoff. While I respect the views of those who don't want the game to change in that manner, I still think it's the right thing to do.
Back later with another look back to 2005.
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