Yomiuri Shimbun, Tokyo

By Shuko Tsuji 

May 15, 2018 – The designated hitter was brought about to make a more exciting game. Or at least that was the thought process. But has it worked? The PEBA has a designated hitter available to both leagues and plays a very exciting game of baseball, but in the LRS only the Shining Stars Group has this rule.  Does that mean the Bright Blade Group is less exciting? Without the pitcher having to bat, leagues with the designated hitter should score more runs, and therefore generate a more exciting game of baseball – an especially relevant consideration in this fast-paced world where the common fan does not seem to appreciate 1-0 nail-biter. So it stands to reason, then, that the LRS provides an excellent platform to launch the argument for establishing the designated hitter worldwide. The numbers, however, tell their own story.

Even with the pitcher batting for himself since the PEBA buyout in 2010, the Bright Blade Group has had similar numbers to the Shining Star Group. The BBG actually averages more runs scored per season than the SSG, but only by 5.2 runs. How can this be?  It might be said that the BBG makes up for the lack of a designated hitter by using strategy to score slightly more runs than the SSG, but that is not the case. The mean batting average for each league is .263 with OBP favoring the Bright Blade Group by only two points. OPS, on the other hand, favors the Shining Star Group by four points. Those numbers are interesting because almost every pitcher in the LRS is noticeably a weaker hitter than the average position player. Armed with this knowledge, and the statistics above, there can only be two conclusions to be made from the statistical similarity in the two leagues: either the average DH is as bad a hitter as the pitchers in the BBG or the BBG must have positional players who are, on average, better hitters than those in the SSG. Since the former is obviously not the case, the latter must be closer to the truth. But then, what is the point of a designated hitter?

Although the designated hitter was brought about to make a more exciting game, it certainly has not succeeded judging from the standpoint of runs scored. Does the DH rule perhaps help to sell tickets Average league attendance figures do not show much disparity. The SSG does slightly edge the BBG, with 377,618 more fans buying tickets each season. This small difference is by no means big enough to conclude that the game of baseball with the DH is more exciting.   

Without a noticeable difference in attendance or statistics, the general managers in the league themselves were asked about this topic. Their responses were varied. All but one of those interviewed from the BBG said that they liked the differences between the two leagues.  One GM, for example, liked the extra strategy that having the pitcher bat for himself creates.  On the other side, the SSG had a differing opinion. One GM did not respond, but of the five others who did, four said that they would like to see the DH in the BBG. Several managers said that they hate to see pitchers risk injury by running the basepaths and think that it would be a better game with the DH. 

Something to note with regard to all of the statistics in this article is that they were all taken from the PEBA buyout in 2010 and onward. Several teams changed ballparks at that point and, with such a short history to work with, those ballpark factors could have skewed any observations. Indeed, the short amount of time that this league has been in existence does pose a problem for statistical analysis. It could be that, over time, the BBG proves to be the league where slightly less runs are scored each year. But, for now, there is no evidence to support the contention that the designated hitter helps teams score more runs or makes the game more exciting.  Thus far the lone unrefuted selling point of the DH rule is that it does seem to help protect pitchers from injury. But everyone else on the team has to bat for themselves; why should the pitcher be any different?