Quote:
Originally posted by Halx
The very presence of the DH turns the typical American League game into a hitting game. Since most of the lineup is capable of smacking the ball hard, very little attention is played to the little things like stealing bases, bunting and pinch hitting.
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This seems like a bit of an overstatement. Adding the DH only changes the lineup by one player, so even in the NL, most of the line-up could still be able to smack the ball. Even in the AL, someone will still be batting 9th. Very few teams have a line-up full of great hitters, and the pitcher is rarely the only culprit. Further, I think that there has been a generally de-emphasis of both stealing bases and bunting as most teams and players just try to hit the long ball.