Rosters are still 24-25 players, although I think you would hard pressed to find a team that doesn’t use all 25 spots (barring injury or weird schedule glitches). It’s too valuable to have another arm in the bullpen or another bench bat to fret about another $450k or whatever the minimum salary is.
So what are the reasons for making pitchers come to the plate (I won’t say “hit”), anyway? That it’s somehow part of “the purity of the game”, IOW something George Will remembers from his boyhood, that the double switch is actually something interesting to see, that there’s actually some value in seeing a guy who’s throwing lights out getting pulled in favor of some off chance of extending a rally, that it’s somehow fun seeing an inning clogged up and thrown away? That’s pretty much it, right, that the game should somehow be played the same way that it was a hundred years ago? Did I miss something there?
Here’s a hint - it ain’t, and the arguments in favor of leaving the one remaining pro league playing by an archaic rule are all laughable. Time to make the NL move into the 21st century, or at least out of the 19th.
Because there are 9 fielders, and a batting order has 9 slots in it? There isn’t room for a 10th guy unless you change the rules to allow it. By default, baseball doesn’t have a DH. That’s the way it is in youth leagues, before players start to specialize at the higher levels.
If you went to the park with your buddies, you wouldn’t play with a DH. Obviously major league baseball is a lot different from that, but all I’m saying is that if you start from a no-DH system, you have to make a change to go away from it.
At the risk of concocting a slippery slope argument, couldn’t you say the same thing about shortstops? Why not have two DHs? Nobody wants to see Slappy McGritterson trying to leg out an infield single while he chokes up on the bat.
Begging the question. Changing the rule is the very topic of the thread. Besides, non-NL lineups do indeed have 9 slots in the order, in case you hadn’t noticed.
Every single pro league but one does have it. What’s that about a default?
He’s got a better shot at it than most pitchers, and he won’t be mainly trying to protect his arm in the process, either. Which would you rather see?
Anybody want to tell me how the DH rule has improved baseball? I’m not waiting for the answer, because it hasn’t.
Numerous posts have gone deeply into that already. Have you any *substantive *basis for your own obvious preference?
Aside from “that’s what God intended”, the game is more interesting. And I consider my preference to be very substantive.
You’re all ignoring the overwhelming evidence against the DH, the Yankees use it.
(We should get together sometime and discuss almost anything but this issue).
Yes, you are mistaken. In pro baseball, the DH must bat in place of the pitcher. In many lower levels, such as high school, the DH can bat for any player.
Yes, I admit it shoulda been an exclamation point. 
And, FTR, I haven’t paid much attention to baseball since the Cubs CHOKED in '69. I mean, how could they…really…what the fuck?
Er, that’s 43 years of WTF?, isn’t it. But sweet Jesus, WHAT THE FUCK?
Something about a goat, I’ve heard.
(sputtering) But Sam Sianis brought in the WRONG goat TOO DAMN LATE! The (hated) Mets had the pennant years before.
As an aside, John Belushi worked for his uncle Sam, and created the bit based on him. They still have a neon sign saying “CHEESEBORGER, CHEESEBORGER” in the window of their location at Grand and Madison.
As another aside, Wife kept missing the Belushis at parties when she was young. “You need to meet them. Your sense of humor is just like theirs.” Well, John’s, at least. She’s far funnier than Jim.
What have I started?
I like the DH. My reasons:
I want to watch the best players play baseball. Watching a pitcher hit is… not watching something good.
Pitchers aren’t chosen for their hitting, so the comparison to any everyday player is not apt. Because a pitcher’s pitching ability is paramount, a team won’t try to “trade off” by having a slightly worse pitcher start just because he bats .030 points higher. And they certainly won’t trade off by having a terrible pitcher start just because he bats .100 points higher. These are trade offs that do happen in everyday players.
I like having different rules in the AL and NL. I have an AL team (my precious preciouses) and an NL team. The two leagues have a slightly different flavor, and it’s fun to get the variety.
I fucking hate bunting.
I think that’s about it. I’m in an interleagueal marriage, and if I won’t convert for him, I ain’t converting for any of you! 
You are wrong. But I admire your devotion.
Rosters are 25 man; the 24 man roster was abandoned in 1990. A team might occasionally play a game with only 24 men available but that’s usually due to some last minute roster alternation and the logistics of getting a guy up from the farm or another team or whatever.
The 24-man roster didn’t last long for the rather silly and obvious reason that each team was only saving a major league minimum salary. Teams weren’t cutting the GOOD players.
Interesting note; beginning this season, a team has the option of having a 26-man roster on any day when they are scheduled to play a doubleheader.
Another travesty. Double headers are meant to be challenges. Now they’ll just put a uniform on another relief pitcher.
Speaking of doubleheaders, how come I’ve never been to an NFL doubleheader?
It’s like they hate America or something.
Thanks for the update on the 24 man rule. Funny, but I thought the same thing when it went into effect (they will only have to pay a minimum salary), but I never realized it was reversed. I guess the players won that back in a negotiation.
Appreciate the correction, and I haven’t heard about the 26 man thing either.
Actually there have been several opinions stated in this thread on how baseball is better with a DH. You don’t agree with them, that’s nice, National League for you.
Everyone that does agree, that’s nice, American League for them. The anti DH camp though does seem to be a lot more of the “You’re wrong because I said so, lalalala i can’t hear you” sort