With the universal DH expected to be implemented in 2022, Game 5 of the World Series marks possibly the final game with pitchers hitting. Zack Greinke rose to the occasion.
With Major League Baseball widely expected to implement the universal DH in 2022, Sunday's Game 5 of the World Series marks potentially the last game in which pitchers are required to hit. If this is indeed the end of the road, the journey reached a most fitting conclusion.
After Houston's Framber Valdez was knocked out in the third inning, Astros manager Dusty Baker was forced to go to his bench earlier than he likely anticipated. Rather than burn a position player for the pitcher's spot in the order in fourth inning, Baker instead went with perhaps the best available bat at his disposal: Zack Greinke.
In true Greinke fashion, the 38-year-old lined a single to right field.
A likely Hall of Fame pitcher, Greinke has been no slouch at the plate throughout his career. That pinch-hit single was his second hit of the World Series, more than teammate Yordan Alvarez had to that point. Greinke is the first American League pitcher to record a pinch-hit hit in a World Series game.
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Greinke has won two Silver Slugger awards in his career, and holds a lifetime .225/.262/.336 slash line with nine home runs. In the playoffs, he's now 7-for-26 (.269) with only three strikeouts.
The universal DH will surely help the game, if for no other reason than to have all 30 teams perform under the same rules. Greinke is undisputedly one of the best hitting pitchers in the league, and the fact that his career OPS is south of .600 paints a pretty clear picture on how low the bar is to clear.
Alas, not everybody can be Shohei Ohtani. While we'll gladly welcome seeing actual hitters at the plate instead of hapless pitchers who have little chance at success, we can still miss the occasional glimpses of adequacy that guys like Greinke deliver every now and again.
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