The pitching ‘opener’ and the universal designated hitter

Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty ImagesDuring the 2021 postseason, we have seen multiple teams use an “opener” rather than a traditional starting pitcher, saving those starters for long “relief” stints after an opener pitches one or two innings.

This isn’t necessarily a bad strategy, although the Dodgers got a bit too cute with it during Game 2 of the NLCS with Julio Urias and it might have cost them the game.

This Los Angeles Times article by Bill Shaikin delves into the opener idea, calling it “Wall Street baseball” — a term I can’t really disagree with. I’ll leave it to you to decide whether this is a good trend or not. This quote from Max Scherzer, though, is telling:

“From a fan’s…