Atlanta Braves: Universal DH is coming in 2020 and it won’t be temporary

Atlanta Braves fans await the results as the owners discuss their plan to play a modified 2020 season with the players. Among the topics being discussed is the universal designated hitter.

Many Atlanta Braves fans have expressed their displeasure with the idea of the DH tainting the hallowed grounds of the senior circuit, but I believe after we get a taste of it this season there will be no going back.

The current collective bargaining agreement between the players and the league expires in December of 2021. I don’t know if they would/could amend it to keep it next year, but my belief is that once the National League gets an extended look at their teams with a DH in use, fans will wish to keep it. Some may bury it deep down inside of them, fearing that their fellow fogeys will find out and deride them for their conversion to the “dark side.”

You know you want it. You know what they say, once you go with a designated bat, you don’t go back.

It’s like the first time you try a high-quality toilet paper, you can’t go back to the cheap stuff. In fact, I once worked somewhere that had low-quality, almost sandpapery TP, and since I had previously been pampered by my multi-ply paper… I brought my own.

Call me snooty, but once you get a taste of the high life it’s hard to go back.

It’s like if you’ve eaten canned tuna your whole life then finally go to a sushi bar that knows what they are doing. It’s like you’ve only ever had a pet cat and you think you are a “cat person” until you finally get a dog.

You realize just what you were missing out on.

I read an article from Yahoo Sports that inevitably mentioned the downside of not being able to see Madison Bumgarner hit. He’s a career .177 hitter with an OPS+ of 46. The only reason his big hits are memorable is that he’s a pitcher. If he were held to the same standard as every other hitter the Giants would have never let him near a bat.

It’s like Bartolo Colon’s magical home run off James Shields. Why was that so special? Because it was a miracle akin to Happy Gilmore sinking the putt off the Volkswagon’s windshield, through the gauntlet of the felled camera tower, and in the hole.

It won’t take long for us to have a game in which Mike Soroka is spinning a gem in the sixth or seventh inning. Say it’s tied with two outs and a runner on third with the nine-hole hitter up to bat. Under normal circumstances, Soroka would likely see a pinch-hitter to give us the best chance at driving in the go-ahead run.

You don’t concede that run just because Soroka has a low pitch count and has his best stuff. We need that run. But…leaving him in is the same as conceding it. Major League pitchers are just not hitters. It’s so hard to hit in the majors.

If Dansby Swanson, Nick Markakis, or even Ender Inciarte strolled up to the plate in that spot, I simply can’t believe there will be Braves’ fans wishing Soroka was the man holding the lumber. I also highly doubt you’d be wishing upon a lucky star that Snit calls for a pinch-hitter, which is likely to be the case. A guy like Markakis or Ender would be called upon to pinch-hit while Soroka’s day would be through, even though he was unstoppable. I’m already upset.

I pondered in a previous article about how many times Minnesota Twins fans watched Byron Buxton rip one from the nine-hole and said to themselves, “man, I’d much rather have Jake Odorizzi up.”

I know you don’t want to hear this, but you are going to like the DH. If the players and the owners can come to an agreement on money (no problem, right?) then we get to try it on for 2020. Take it for a test drive.

Don’t be the chick who buys a nice dress for the ball just to return the next day. You know you want to keep it.

The players already want it. Right now, aging sluggers and designated hitters only have half the market available to them in free agency.

This is happening. Lie back and enjoy it Braves fans. I promise it won’t hurt.