The comment I keep hearing, though, is that "oh, sure, that's fine in the AL, but it'd never work in the NL." What's the rationale there? I think it might work *better* in the NL. Your (literal) starter isn't coming out for the second inning, so he doesn't need to bat no matter how deep into the order you go. It just gives NL managers that much more to work with substitution-wise.
At least one media person seems to agree with me: https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2018/5/22 … ash-opener
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