DH in SOM? No brainer.

I've always been a National League fan and historically supported the "pitcher has to hit" approach. In most of baseball history, it's a reasonable norm that I favor. However, not in today's baseball for a lot of reasons (separate story), but that's not my point here. In SOM, it seems there's no reason for pitchers to hit. It offers another platoon possibility, the pitchers are no fun to let hit, it allows ace pitchers to go longer, helps the bullpen pitchers avoid getting lifted for a lackluster, usually .50 or so pinchhitter. And who cares about pinchhitters? If they're that good, make them DH platoons in a DH league. So, just my two cents.

Amen...

If I want to see high school quality hitters I go to a high school game. It's just my opinion, but why wouldn't you want to see the very best, face the best?

Just because it's an old rule, doesn't make it a good rule. Change is good.

Peace

I made a couple of teams up with pitchers who can hit. Here's 2 examples. https://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1638702 and https://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1643275 . One team's starters hit .215 for the season the other one they are hitting .285 . You can get an advantage by doing so. And the first team was at Petco Park.

Tombar3, I've done that too for bomber parks like this Polo Grounds '41 team -- 7 pitcher home runs thru 156 games, one 7N and three 8N starting pitchers: https://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1639758

I think the effect of good pitcher hitting is maximized in bomber parks IF those pitchers also don't give up home runs or have big ballpark effects for home runs -- and can pitch decently -- so they can stay in the game longer and get some more at bats. They're not many pitchers like this at the mid-tier level and below level. I don't think spending big money on the expensive starting pitcher who can hit 8N (i.e. Walter Johnson) is worth it in bomber parks, when you want to spend that money on hitting.

But honestly ... I don't think you can ever leverage enough in pitcher hitting to make much of a difference. Ergo, let's go with the DH!

And back to my original point, we have only 8 leagues waiting to be filled in ATG 9 All Seasons, and 6 of them are No DH

I went through my team's season in games where Rowe and Byrd started and there were 5 close games won because of the pitcher's hitting and without those 5 wins we would have missed the playoff by 2 games.

I don't disagree this happened with you -- I'd need to see the game forensics. It just depends how one measures this thing over time, longer data.

Here is my team's schedule https://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/schedule/1638702 . Some of the games where I saw were close and where the pitcher's hitting was a factor in the win:

Game 20 Byrd W 4 to 2, 3 hits, 1 run, 1 rbi
Game 22 Rowe W 2 to 1, home run
Game 30 Byrd W 5 to 4, 14 innings, 1 for 2, 1 rbi
Game 67 Rowe W 2 to 1, 1 for 3, 1 run
Game 120 Rowe W 11 to 6, 12 innings, 2 for 2, 1 run, 2 rbis

Team Pitcher's hitting Runs, RBIs, ABs, Hits, AVG
Homestead Grays 186, 38, 31, 411, 80, 0.194647202
Opponents team average 22.3, 17, 368, 49.6, 0.1348881
Difference 15.7, 14, , , 0.060

My pitcher's hit 60 points higher than my league opponents did in average during the regular season. If the entire lineup hit 60 points higher at each place in the batting order, think what a difference that would make.

Hack, I get it.
It reduces the bullpen pain points. Inexplicable pinch hitting and defensive replacements.
And since SOM is not real baseball anyway, we aren't losing some game purity here. It is just game mechanics.

And that's why I like a DH at about 100M and above. 80M I am agnostic about it. Less than 80M and I prefer pitchers hitting.

It isn't a purer way or anything, but I sometimes appreciate teams where it can still make a difference that you scratch for runs, that the gbA vs gbC and fbA vs fbB matter on a card. Lineups are more meaningful and informed by the card nuances.
So for me, I like the non DH at certain caps not for purity's sake, but so that I can use cards and tactics that are not usually used.

My first team won the first 2 games in the finals, after winning the semi-finals. The second team has the best record in the Barnstormer league currently and my pitchers are hitting .280 with a .438 slugging for the 9th man in the order. My pitchrs on my first team also committed only one error all season. My pitchers are good fielders, too.

I agree with OP that this being a fantasy game in which managers have basically no control over late-game strategy, there is no good reason to not use the DH.

One question I have is whether HAL even considers whether a pitcher is a better hitter than a potential pinch-hitter. I see some pretty questionable decisions on that front when I'd much prefer to leave my good-hitting SP in than have to dip into my always-thin bullpens.

Also, why are pitchers locked into the 9th spot in the lineup? And why can't they be used to DH? Would love to see improved functionality in those areas.