The DH isn’t doing anything to help the St. Louis Cardinals
I have to admit that St. Louis Cardinals baseball with no fans in the stands is better than I thought it would be.
But, after the first three games with the designated hitter in the National League, it’s every bit as terrible as I thought it would be. If the baseball gods are listening, please put a stop to this nonsense in 2021 and beyond.
It’s not being a homer to say that I think the Cardinals were among the best hosts in baseball during the opening weekend. A lot of parks appeared and sounded creepy, despite their best efforts. I think cardboard fans in the stands were more distracting than empty seats were. If teams were trying to make baseball seem less lonely by putting fake people in the seats, they did it at the cost of making the games appear to be cartoonish. The piped in crowd noise was distracting at some parks. But at Busch Stadium, the ambient nose was more appropriate. It was a murmur in between the action and rose and fell in an appropriate way. The Cardinals were able to replicate the in-game experience by playing the musical crowd teasers, walk-up songs, and they even shot off the fireworks when a St. Louis player hit a home run. If you had the television on in the background, you might not have noticed the difference between a COVID-19 game and normal times.
Fortunately, the Cardinals won two of three to get off to a good start. There is no time for falling behind in a 60-game season. A two out of three pace is necessary at all times and St. Louis surely couldn’t afford to miss an opportunity to earn a couple of wins against the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates. But, if the designated hitter was supposed to be a big boost for the offense of National League clubs, it sure didn’t help the Cardinals at all.
St. Louis DH Matt Carpenter managed only one hit in his first 10 at-bats of the season — and that hit came on a ball that Pittsburgh’s right fielder could have caught if he took a better route to the ball. So, really, Carpenter did nothing to enhance the Cardinals offense batting in place of the pitcher.
But it’s worse than that. Carpenter would have played anyway, St. Louis fans know if there was no DH in the NL that Carpenter would have played anyway, manning third base instead of sitting on the bench waiting for his four chances a game to try to beat the shift or hit a home run. The real benefactor of the DH was Harrison Bader who batted ninth instead of the hurler. The center fielder didn’t collect a single hit in the Pirates series.
I would argue that the Cardinals would have fielded just as good or better of an offense with the pitcher in the lineup because Edman could have started in the outfield in place of Bader and Carpenter could have played third instead of Edman. The you lift the pitcher for a pinch hitter after two at bats and take advantage of the opposing manager’s inability to shuffle relievers because of the dumb new substitution rules and you’d be guaranteed two late game advantageous match-ups. Ironically, the biggest boost the DH gives the Cardinals is it improves their defense by replacing Carpenter in the field with the versatile Edman. But I am unconvinced Edman wouldn’t take third base away from Carpenter if there was no DH. With the exception of a couple of brief power outbursts the last two seasons, Carpenter hasn’t impressed at the plate.
Another reason the DH stinks is because in this short season teams have long benches — and few opportunities to get guys into games for the at-bats they need to stay sharp — or the innings pitchers need to keep from getting rusty. The American League brand of baseball is brainless and boring — but the fact that fans aren’t in the stands in National League ballparks doesn’t give them a chance to stand up against this nonsense and be heard.
The Cardinals walked away from their opening series where they needed to be. But it looks like there is a lot of room for improvement with Bader, Carpenter, Edman and Dexter Fowler all struggling to put the ball in play. St. Louis was too reliant on home runs to score in their opening series. They need to find some balance in their offense and create other ways to score.
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Scott Wuerz is a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan. The Cheap Seats blog is written from his perspective as a fan and is designed to spark discussion among fans of the Cardinals and other MLB teams. Sources supporting his views and opinions are linked. If you’re looking for Cardinals news and features, check out the BND’s Cardinals section.
