Pittsburgh Pirates News: Universal Designated Hitter is Coming

While CBA negotiations continue to be ongoing between Major League Baseball and their Player’s Association, one major rule change that will have a major impact on the Pittsburgh Pirates is set to go into effect when the work stoppage ends

With the start of spring training appearing less and less likely to happen on time with each passing day, fans of the Pittsburgh Pirates and the rest of Major League Baseball are stuck in a waiting pattern. While fans are yearning for the return of baseball, unfortunately, it does not appear that return will happen on time.

After all, pitchers and catchers would typically be starting to report to Arizona and Florida this week and next. Shortly thereafter, the rest of spring training invites would arrive and baseball season would be underway.

On Thursday Major League Baseball commission Rob Manfred did make some statements pertaining to the work stoppage. Even with spring training’s start in jeopardy, Manfred stated he still expects the regular season to begin on March 31st. He also expressed optimism that spring training will be able to begin sooner rather than later.

Manfred also had a major piece of news to release on Thursday. This piece of news was that the National League will adopt the designated hitter in 2022. Finally, the universal DH is coming to baseball and, this time, it is coming to stay.

MLB used the universal DH during the 60-game season in 2020. However, it then went away for the 2021 season. Moving forward, managers in the National League will once again have the designated hitter at heir disposal.

The universal DH comes as no surprise. While there was a lot of uncertainty about these CBA negotiations one thing was expected to happen was the universal DH. Some fans may not be a fan of this but this is a move that is for the betterment of baseball. The universal DH will lead to more offense which will make the sport more appealing to casual fans, which is something baseball dearly needs. Also, pitchers not having to hit is a great thing for all involved.

Now, the Pittsburgh Pirates will have to figure out which options they will have for their DH spot this upcoming season. That is something that we will get into in the coming days here at Rum Bunter.