Welcome to Snyder's Soapbox! Here, I pontificate about matters related to Major League Baseball on a weekly basis. Some of the topics will be pressing matters, some might seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things, and most will be somewhere in between. The good thing about this website is that it's free, and you are allowed to click away. If you stay, you'll get smarter, though. That's a money-back guarantee. Let's get to it.

There's been an uprising of whining about Shohei Ohtani and roster rules in recent weeks and it's so beyond ridiculous. By way of reminder, Ohtani is both a pitcher and a hitter. The Dodgers carry him on the roster as a hitter, which means they also get to carry the maximum of 13 pitchers. Because Ohtani is talented enough to do both, the Dodgers are allowed to, essentially, have an extra pitcher.

Cubs manager Craig Counsell breathed life into the discussion.

"I've never understood it," Counsell said before a series against the Dodgers over the weekend. "It's an offensive rule, essentially. It's a rule to help offense, more than anything, if you ask me. And then there's one team that's allowed to carry basically one of both, and he gets special consideration, which is probably the most bizarre rule. For one team."

Obviously, considering this is the two-time defending champion Dodgers with a monster payroll, there was no shortage of fans rallying to Counsell's side and against Ohtani and the Dodgers.

The thing is, it seems like a special rule because Ohtani is special. MLB didn't create a special exemption just for Ohtani and the Dodgers. This happened back in 2019 when he was with the Angels. Every team had a chance to sign Ohtani when he hit free agency (now is when you get to incorrectly claim a large number of teams can't "afford" him!).

The most important point here is that every single team is playing by the same rules. Every complaint acts like the Dodgers are using some loophole and getting special treatment, but that is simply not true. It is uniform.

The reason the rule seems special is because there is only one player talented enough to pull off double duty. Counsell and the Cubs are free to use Moisés Ballesteros in their rotation. You might laugh, but that's what the Dodgers are doing. Why don't the Yankees put Giancarlo Stanton in their rotation? When George Springer gets back from the IL, could the Blue Jays make him their fifth starter?

And yet, that's what Ohtani does. He's one of the best hitters in baseball and also one of the best pitchers. There's a reason the Dodgers gave him a $700 million contract: he's essentially two separate players in one and both of them are great.

The rule isn't unfair. Ohtani is just a special talent. Is the suggestion here that the Dodgers should get one fewer roster spot because Ohtani is basically two players? Because if you count him as a pitcher, they'd have an extra position player with him. What gets people worked up is having an extra pitcher in this day and age because that feels far more advantageous than having an extra position player, but the point is the same all around. Ohtani is one man, and he's both a hitter and a pitcher. They have to slot him somewhere on the roster and he can't count as two players. He hits a lot more often than he pitches, too. He appeared as a DH 158 times last season and as a pitcher 14 times. So far this year, it's 27 times at DH and four as a pitcher.

Given everything we've discussed, I can only arrive at one conclusion and it's that any pushback here is little more than sour grapes. I'm sorry your team doesn't have a two-way superstar.

And if you say, "but no other player is good enough to do both," my response is: I rest my case. Again, every team plays by the same rule. It just feels special because the player is special.