Because of the babying of the AL to do what they want like with stadium roofing, etc... Bunch of sissy crybabies.
Who's that on the AL bench? Oh, it's a multi-million dollar .300+ hitting DH who can only play half the game. How often do NL lineups pitch against big-sticked, no-gloved mercenaries coming off the bench?
well i'd rather watch NL baseball than that DH garbage any day of the week. but, yes the AL has far far better teams.
All this talk of payrolls and media attention or DH doesn't fully explain why the AL, particularly the AL Central, is kicking @ss over the NL this year. Looking at the payrolls the Detroit Tigers (14) and Minnesota Twins (19) have lower payrolls than the Cubs (8), Stros (9) and Cardinals (11) and have convincingly dominated those teams and they are dominating NL teams both on the home and on the road. Neither the Twins or Tigers are media darlings either and up until the game against Roger Clemens few outside of MN had heard of Francisco Liriano even though he is so far the most dominating lefty or Joe Mauer who is batting around .390. At the moment there is just a huge talent gap between the leagues.
I did, among others for who have ever since the inception of the DH abomination. I will continue to make the argument, too. The presence of excess talent on certain AL rosters does not quantify the AL as a better league. The "DH" brand of baseball sucks. The AL sucks.
Fine. But don't forget that that means you have to subtract the Marlins too. I don't see what the big deal is about the DH. Other than the National League, it's used by essentially every other league in baseball, be it professional or amateur, major or minor, high school, college, little league, etc.
I'm not a big fan of the DH but if the Stros had the DH though we might be able to get to see Bagwell play a few more seasons.
Where do you live??? Here in South Texas, the pitcher *always* hit on *every* level I was invollved in (didn't play in college). IIRC the minor leagues with NL affiliations do not use the DH. Do they use that crap in Japan, Mexico, Venezuela or Cuba?
See, I was thinking is we had a DH, Burke and Lamb would always have a place in our lineup. But it must not work or our league would use it.
i love the NL so much more than the AL for reasons beyond being an astros fan. i think the NL is more pure and requires so much more strategy than the AL, where batters and HR's dominate. the AL has very good pitching as well, but at the end of the day, teams in the AL need to be offensive juggernauts to win. having manny in the LF cutting off throws to make a triple relay to home plate, allowing an inside the park homerun shows how little emphasis is put on defense in the AL. down by 3 runs? eh... the NL and its rules exhibit baseball at its best. that being said, i don't think it's a stretch to say that the AL is better than the NL this year. as a baseball fan, i just have to admit that and understand that the AL Central is sick this season. it'll come around and the NL will get its share, but for now, that's just what it looks like. even in games played in NL ballparks (where AL pitchers must bat and managers must find places to put their DH), the AL has won the majority of those games. i think it'll be more evened out by the end of the season, though. the DH system is a disgrace, but the teams in the AL have proven to be better than the NL thus far. of course, the astros are still the best team in baseball.
The AL is good and the DH helps, a lot...There is much more strategy involved when your pitcher bats...
Per real life: Did you have a DH when you played baseball in little league, high school, or elsewhere? Just because "everybody's doing it" (and everybody's not) doesn't make it any less than what it is: cheap pansy-ball.
If I were baseball commissioner for a day, the first and only thing I would do would be to eliminate the designated hitter. It is a travesty to me that baseball is played under two distinct sets of rules between the AL and NL.
The DH is like nuclear proliferation, once the genie's out of the bottle it can't be undone. The only hope that El Baradei(sp?) can stop it from spreading.to the NL.
