'Fourteen or 15 was the last time that I hit regularly in a league. Houston starter Framber Valdez fanned in his lone at-bat.'To be honest with you, the last time that I hit was in the regular season in San Diego, I thought I was done hitting,' Valdez said through a translator a day earlier.

So who knows, maybe the Hall of Fame will scoop up the bat Astros reliever Kendall Graveman used when he struck out looking in the eighth inning of a 9-5 win in Game 5. Sure, a few pitchers might get an at-bat here and there, maybe in extra innings when teams run out of position players. 'To me, that’s not real baseball,' he said Saturday. Good riddance, says Houston shortstop Carlos Correa.

'Once it ever changes to no DH, then it will probably never change back, and that’s something that would sadden me,' he said. 'It’d be different not to see it anymore.'ĭarn it, says Houston manager Dusty Baker. 'I grew up with it, that’s what I know,' Braves Hall of Fame pitcher John Smoltz said. More than a century of strategy and baseball fabric, ripped away. Plus, the little nuances that would disappear: the bat boy running out a warmup jacket to the pitcher at first base, the on-deck hitter lingering near the batter’s box to give his hurler more time to walk back to the dugout. So would the risk of a $20 million ace pulling his hamstring while running the bases.

Sacrifice bunts would shrivel up and automatic intentional walks to face the pitcher would vanish, too. No more Greinke grounding a single up the middle, as he did Saturday night in Game 4 (he also lined a pinch-hit single Sunday night). No more Bartolo Colon flailing and losing his helmet - or shocking everyone by going deep. No more Madison Bumgarner swinging for the fences. We’ve definitely brought it up,' Braves starter Ian Anderson said. 'I think it’s definitely going to be pretty special that this could be the last pitchers ever hitting in baseball. That meant Sunday night’s game at Truist Park might’ve marked the final time a pitcher ever appears in a big league batting order. There’s a good chance Major League Baseball will bring the designated hitter to the National League next year - likely forever.

Joe don t wanna be a player no more