The biggest failure of outgoing Commissioner
Bud Selig was his inability to unify the rules in the American and National Leagues. The Designated Hitter rule
needs to be applied across baseball for there to be fairness in the World Series. Take this year for example. You'd
think Boston would get an edge with home field advantage (delivered, by the way, by Bud's ridiculous All-Star Game rule). Wrong, Pine Tar Breath! While the Red Sox
do get an extra game at home—and thus get to keep
both David Ortiz and
Mike Napoli in the lineup in those contests—a larger view reveals the truth. With
Allen Craig coming back off injury, the Red Birds get a
huge advantage in the Fenway Park games—i.e., the ability to use their
best 2013 RBI man instead of some slug pitcher. The Red Sox, on the other hand, lose
either Ortiz or Napoli in three Busch Stadium games—and they are obviously far more dependent on the DH spot than St. Louis is on their pitchers' hitting skills. The bottom line is that the American League
always loses out on the exchange—thanks to Selig's inability to ruffle the feathers of the National League "traditionalists" who love seeing pitchers strike out pathetically three or four times a game. Thanks, Bud!
