Mets360 - Choices and consequences of being a Mets fan against the DH

 

By Brian Joura November 12, 2020

FanGraphs is running a poll, asking readers what they thought of the changes MLB made for the 2020 season. The first question is about the NL adopting the DH and asking if it should be that way going forward. My vote was for “no” and I was disappointed to find out that slightly over 75% of the fans voting in the poll voted the opposite way. It’s too bad we don’t have a poll from the same source on the same question from November of 2019 to compare. My guess is that it would have been much closer back then. Probably not 50-50 but perhaps 60-40.

There are several reasons to prefer the game with a DH and there’s no need for me to list them here – or anyone to tick them off in the comments section – because this is a discussion we’ve all had more times than we can count on the fingers of two hands. For me, it’s always come down to the fact that if you prefer to watch baseball with a DH, you have the opportunity to do so by watching AL games. It doesn’t mean you have to root for the Yankees. There are plenty of interesting teams in that league that deserve additional fans.

But if you prefer to watch a game where all parties have to bat and field and run, the only place to do that is in the NL. That was taken away from us last season and it seems likely it will be taken away permanently, whether that decision comes in 2021 or with a new CBA in 2022. For people like me, who want to see the game played this way, we’re in the unfortunate position of having to root for the owners using this as a way to get concessions from the MLBPA that the union doesn’t want to give, just to get one more year of real baseball in.

And things are further complicated for Mets fans, who had the opportunity to get another bat in the lineup with the DH in 2020. It makes things easier to have that extra offensive position. But is easier really best? Cue the scene from “A League of Their Own.”

“It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard everyone would do it. It’s the hard that makes it great.”

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