Pitch Hitting

Heres whats interesting - there may be nothing more painful to watch in the sport of baseball than a pitcher with a bat in his hands - yet the fact that the pitchers are so bad at the plate is exactly what makes asking them to hit so great for the game.

Say what you want about how ridiculous it is forcing each team to have a virtual black hole at the end of their lineup, how its generally accepted that the pinch hitter has one of the toughest jobs in the game, coming in cold in the middle of a contest, or the amount of games where a pitcher gets pulled in the middle of a dazzling outing simply because his utter uselessness at the dish is surpassed, however feebley, by a washed up veteran who gets 10 ABs a week.

It is exactly the ineptitude of the hitters occupying the pitchers spot in the lineup that makes the NL game fascinating. The pinch hitting with a man on second and two outs in the sixth and the pitcher due up, the double switch , and the pinch running if the vet gets to first (because he may not be able to hit very much anymore, but he sure as hell can't run to second) with a young speedster, who either way will have to be replaced when its his turn to hit because that's not what he's here for - he's here to run for the guy who hit for the guy who can't hit - thank god for the double switch!

It's not every sport that turns its inane ideas into compelling theatre , but in this case there is no way baseball would be the same without it. In fact it would be very much like the AL , where the teams are better for a reason. THIS REASON. There's no dwarf star floating around your lineup constantly destroying your teams chances to field the most competetive team. And there's nowhere for the pitchers to hide and so only the best survive and grow stronger due to their competition. But that dosn't matter, there is nothing to manage. No wonder the bullpens grow more relevant by the day - in the NL you need them because you're pulling your pitcher every time he has to hit - in the AL you're trying to find something to do.

I honestly can't tell which league I prefer, or if I support correcting a flaw, no matter how entertaining it might be. Imagine making your punter be the QB, your worst shooter throw all your free throws, or your goalie take your teams shootout attempts, even just once a game. That would be great, but would never happen because it's way too stupid. For now, I guess we just sit back and enjoy it for what it is and hope noone notices that it's completely ridiculous.