Report: MLB will adopt universal designated hitter for 2020 season

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If Cubs manager David Ross hasn’t yet decided on who his designated hitter will be this season, it’s time to start narrowing down his choices.

The designated hitter is  coming to the National League, USA Today's Bob Nightengale reported Tuesday.

But because MLB commissioner Rob Manfred implemented a shortened season after owners and players failed to come to an economic agreement, it is not guaranteed for the 2021 season. The 60-game offer that the players voted down Monday included the universal DH for two seasons, through the end of the current collective bargaining agreement.

“In view of this rejection,” Major League Baseball said in a statement Monday, “the MLB Clubs have unanimously vote to proceed with the 2020 season under the terms of the March 26th Agreement. The provisions listed above will not be operative.”

Those provisions included the universal DH for two seasons.

MLB’s adoption of the universal DH seemed inevitable before the coronavirus pandemic dramatically altered MLB’s schedule. But with a region-based scheduled automatically increasing the percentage of interleague games, it became a matter of practicality.

“I think that it will be a good testing ground for the next two years to see where we're at,” Cubs player rep Ian Happ said on 670 The Score last week. “And we'll have enough games and data under our belt at that point going into the (next) CBA (negotiations) to really understand what the impact has been on the game, how we want to move forward with it.”

Now, that “testing ground” has been shortened to 60 games, plus playoffs. Not quite the ideal sample size.

The full-time universal DH is likely still on its way. But for traditionalists, hope remains that they haven’t seen the last of double-switches and batting pitchers.

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