Major League Baseball

MLB commissioner: Modifying DH rule for World Series 'would be significant' change

Published Nov. 15, 2016 2:37 p.m. ET

Andrew Lynch

There's no sport like professional baseball when it comes to idiosyncratic rules. It's part of what makes the game so compelling -- or so MLB commissioner Rob Manfred believes, anyway. And with that in mind, he plans to keep one of baseball's defining rules in place for the foreseeable future.

Prior to Friday night's Game 3 of the World Series between the Cleveland Indians and Chicago Cubs -- an incredible nail-biter of a game that Cleveland won 1-0 in large part thanks to manager Terry Francona -- Manfred told reporters that he does not envision changing the DH rule in the World Series any time soon.

Via ESPN.com:

"I think the problem is picking what that one set of rules is," Manfred told ESPN.com, following Friday night's presentation of the Roberto Clemente Award.

"The National League plays without a DH all year. Their team is built to play without a DH. It's the opposite in the American League. And I think the competitive ramifications of picking a single set of rules would be significant.

"Both teams have to adjust. Each of them has to adjust at some point in the series. And given that we play the game two different ways during the year, that makes some sense to me."

Manfred went on to reveal why he thinks the current rule is best for baseball. Apparently, to the commissioner, there's no such thing as bad publicity.

"Honestly, I remain of the view that the principal value of the difference in rules is the conversation that it generates," Manfred said. "Even in a week where we have two unbelievable story lines [involving each team], most of the last 24 hours have been consumed by conversations about the designated hitter. And when people are talking about the game, I think that's a good thing for the game." [...]

"But I also believe that unless you're going to play by a single set of rules all year long, there's no way you can take the World Series and say we're going to use the American League rules or we're going to use the National League rules, because somebody is disadvantaged," he said. "Both teams -- the National League team when they're in the American League park and the American League team when they're here in the National League park -- have to make an adjustment."

That's certainly one perspective. One might question whether talk about the DH distracts from those aforementioned story lines surrounding the Cubs and Indians, but that likely misses the point. Take the Kyle Schwarber narrative, for instance. When he stepped into the batter's box to hit in the first two games of this series, we all celebrated his rapid return from injury. At the same time, the fact that he's not cleared to play in the outfield adds a level of intrigue to an already outstanding World Series.

For his part, Cleveland's Francona disagrees with the commissioner (Via Boston.com):

“I don’t think it makes it a bad game,” he said before Game 3. “I just don’t necessarily agree with this. I just think you set your team up the way you set it up and then you get to the most important games and you’re doing something different.”

The World Series remains in Chicago for Games 4 and 5, meaning the Indians will have to figure out how to get wins on the road once again -- with their pitchers hitting. On the flip side, it's time to see what the Cubs are made of.