The buzz word these days for baseball is “drama.” It replaced “power,” which died with the advent of strict steroid testing several years ago and now will be buried with the expected HGH testing component of the anticipated new labor agreement between Major League Baseball and the players union.
That new deal will have a number of changes in the business of baseball, from an added wild-card team in each league to interleague play every day of the season.
The wild-card additions will result in not another five-game division series, but a one-game playoff between the two wild-card teams in each league.
The one game, sudden death type of playoff game creates “drama.” The change was fueled by the remarkable last day of the 2011 season, when three games played simultaneously decided the St. Louis Cardinals and Tampa Bay Rays would be in the postseason and the Atlanta Braves and Boston Red Sox would not.
It was the talk of the sports world the next day.
Then came the playoffs themselves, finishing with a seven-game World Series that was filled with “drama.” The in-game managerial decisions of St. Louis’ Tony La Russa and Texas’ Ron Washington created more “drama,” particularly in St. Louis, where National League rules applied.
So if “drama” is in and “power” has been drug-screened out, why are we still stuck with the designated hitter?
The different rules between the two leagues will be illustrated every single day of the 2012 season, when at least one interleague game will be played.
Every day of the season, either one AL team won’t be able to use their DH or one NL team will have to supply a DH.
Approximately 10 percent of the season, AL teams won’t be able to use the player they pay to be the DH in his specified position. And NL teams will have to compete with one of their pinch hitters against an AL team that likely has a well-paid DH in their lineup.
The DH has been around since 1973. The abomination of both leagues having two sets of rules only reared its ugly head in the World Series until 1996, when interleague play began, and it became more of an issue during the interleague play segments of the schedule.
Now it will be an issue every day of the season, and that’s not the kind of “drama” baseball wants.
Examiner columnist Thom Loverro is the co-host of “The Sports Fix” from noon to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on ESPN980 and espn980.com. Contact him at [email protected].
