Tonight's baseball game in Atlanta may be last time pitchers are at bat.

[underpants]

Game changer. *Possible* end of era tonight. The new MLB CBA is very very likely to have universal designated hitter. Tonight *might be* the last baseball game with pitchers at bat.

[True Dough]

1. Good riddance!

I know Zack Greinke relished his at bats last night and throughout his career. But many pitchers don't. And some get hurt at the plate or on the base paths.

Let the hitters hit and the pitchers pitch. The fans benefit.

And before an old-school traditionalist weighs in about the art of bunting and strategy, yeah, the game changes. But the American League adopted the DH rule in 1973 and it's not like fans have forsaken AL games in favor of NL games (at least not in droves, that's for sure)! It's kooky to have two sets of rules for MLB all this time.

The powers-that-be do need to keep working on speeding up the game, however. Their efforts to date have been in vain. The average length of a game in 2021 hit an all-time high: 3 hours and 10 minutes. That's a bit much, IMO.

[Hoyt]

2. Not fan of Dez Hitter, but not big deal. Preferred football where players played offense and defense

[Auggie]

3. The DH dumbs down baseball. Perfect for the USA, I guess.

[El Supremo]

4. Have you told Shohei Ohtani that?

A few pitchers will still bat. They won't be prevented. It will just clean out the dead wood (Hey, I like that metaphor!).