The St. Louis Cardinals Gave Adam Wainwright An At Bat In The Final Series Of His Career

I was originally split in regard to how I felt about this. Even though the National League did not allow for a DH for most of my life, I always thought that was a terrible rule. I don’t like watching pitchers hit ever. I don’t care if there’s sometimes an anomaly like Zack Greinke or Madison Bumgarner, who can be a legitimate power threat every so often. Bartolo Colón hitting a home run against the Padres. That’s it. That’s the only time I’ve ever enjoyed watching a pitcher hit. The fact that we didn’t have a DH in the National League for so long is still embarrassing.

With all of that said, Adam Wainwright has made his final start as a Major League pitcher. He reached win number 200 a few weeks back. He did it in a kind of miraculous fashion. Wainwright has been awful this season, but he twirled a gem against the Brewers. Because won't get a standing ovation on the mound in the year's final series, I have no issue with St. Louis giving him an at-bat.

This is not the first time that a pitcher has requested to be moved around the diamond a little bit. Jorge Posada famously played second base in one of his final games and even recorded an out. Circumstances allowed for that to happen. The Yankees won that game 22–9 when Joe Girardi put Posada in at second. 

I don't know if we've ever seen a year like this in Major League Baseball, where you have so many legends leaving us at the same time. Miguel Cabrera has obviously been the most well-documented and successful of the bunch. But you have Zack Greinke, Joey Votto, Adam Wainwright, and even great managers like Terry Francona getting to ride off into the sunset. For anyone wondering, Adam Wainwright grounded out to second in this at bat. I really don't think anyone at Busch Stadium cared.