Some things in life will never make sense. One of those things is National League Baseball. Being a Red Sox fan my whole life, I never knew how lucky I was to only watch American League Baseball. Getting to the World Series so many times has been an eye-opener. The Red Sox are 16-3 against the National League in the World Series since I have been alive. The Red Sox pummeling the NL isn’t the only reason why the league is trash.
The fact that the pitcher hits in the NL is so asinine that words can’t even describe how ignorant it is. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good old fashion pitcher but lets at least make it challenging. Having the pitchers hit gives away free outs in a sport that needs more offense. In the modern day era of baseball, the shift has changed everything for hitters. Players know need to have as Alex Cora would call it “A Humble Approach”. Too many players are home run or nothing and baseball has a real contact problem. Having a bum pitcher in the batting lineup doesn’t help those issues.
It also creates a huge problem for resting players. Managers in the NL feel pressure to get their guys out there every day. Having the DH allows players to get off their feet and can still have an effect on the game. The top tier teams in the NL will continue to have these sort of lineup issues. How much more effective and valuable would Kyle Schwarber be if he could DH every day. Then GM’s in the NL feel pressure to trade those sorts of players. Add in the fact that American League teams operate with an extra hitter in the World Series creates a huge disadvantage for NL teams.
The most asinine part of the pitcher hitting in the NL is the fact that the same rules don’t operate in the AL. Could you imagine if you could only shoot 3-pointers in the Eastern Conference in the NBA? The West didn’t allow the 3-pointer. It makes no sense. How are the rules not uniform throughout the same sport? Imagine in the NFL the AFC allows no kickers or punters but the NFC does allow them. It makes zero sense. Either put the DH in both leagues or make the pitcher hit in both leagues. The fact that there are two separate rules contradict the laws of logic.
The NL is just a total snoozefest in general. If you sent the NL to witness protection, nobody would notice. Realistically, they belong in AAA. Since 1988, the American League is 23-6-1 against the NL in the All-Star game. The talent discrepancy between the two leagues has been noticeable for a very long time. I can’t speak for the other AL teams but it almost feels like a bye when the Red Sox reach the World Series. Any time the Red Sox reach the Fall Classic, I feel no worry about them winning the title because the entire league is a joke.
The 2018 World Series was a total joke. The Dodgers couldn’t even make me sweat. It took them 18 innings to beat the Red Sox one time. In the other 4 games, the Dodgers rolled over and basically got their bellies rubbed. Dave Roberts put together one of the worst managerial performances I have ever seen. The entire NLCS was a joke in itself when Roberts and Craig Counsel kept trying to on up themselves on horrible decisions. In the end, Counsel won the idiot-off after he started Wade Miley and took him out of Game 5 after one batter. I would have been furious. Bullpenning doesn’t work and reverting to smoke in mirrors in October probably means you don’t belong there in the first place.
Would the Dodgers have beaten the Red Sox even if Dave Roberts was perfect? No, they were outmanned and outclassed but they could have put up a fight. Roberts decided to sit his top four home run hitters (Max Muncy, Cody Bellinger, Joc Pederson, and Yasmani Grandal) in the first two games of the series because of lefty was on the mound. I don’t know if these calls come from Andrew Friedman upstairs or Roberts himself but if this would have happened 10 years ago, someone would have been thrown in jail for being a crazy person. In game two, we had the Alex Wood debacle when Roberts pulled Pedro Baez for no apparent reason to get the lefty, lefty matchup against Rafael Devers. In comes Eduardo Nunez and bang, the game is over with a three-run dinger. How about Game 5! Kike Hernandez hit third in an elimination game. Words can’t describe how long Dave Roberts IQ has to be to make that move. Hernandez hit .133 during the postseason and really is nothing more than a number 9 hitter but apparently the binder told him what to do. I’m all for analytics but some analytics are downright stupid. I could go on and on. Hey, maybe pull the plug on Rich Hill again since nobody was hitting him.
All National League fans should be embarrassed that the Dodgers are the best the league had to offer. Hey, roll out that dead dog choke artist Clayton Kershaw again. He will probably get the job done hahaha. How many times can you call on Ryan Madsen until you realize he will shit the bed again. Until the NL adopts the DH, they can no longer be taken seriously.
