mlb trying to raise the strike zone, make IBBs automatic

[Northern Star]

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/news/heres-how-mlb-is-hoping-to-liven-up-the-game-this-season-201839440.html

 

 

So making pitchers keep the ball up = more dingers and action, not necessarily speeding up the game.

[Northern Star]

and starting every extra inning with a man on 2B. Interesting..... will have to give this some thought but as a 20 inning game survivor, I don't think I'd be wholly against it.

 

https://sports.yahoo.com/news/mlb-plans-to-test-new-extra-innings-rules-in-rookie-ball-with-joe-torres-approval-224914115.html

[Bellhorn04]

and starting every extra inning with a man on 2B. Interesting..... will have to give this some thought but as a 20 inning game survivor, I don't think I'd be wholly against it.

 

https://sports.yahoo.com/news/mlb-plans-to-test-new-extra-innings-rules-in-rookie-ball-with-joe-torres-approval-224914115.html

 

Pretty radical idea for baseball.

[Kimmi]

and starting every extra inning with a man on 2B. Interesting..... will have to give this some thought but as a 20 inning game survivor, I don't think I'd be wholly against it.

 

https://sports.yahoo.com/news/mlb-plans-to-test-new-extra-innings-rules-in-rookie-ball-with-joe-torres-approval-224914115.html

 

IMO, it's the stupidest idea ever. Baseball is a beautiful game as it is. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[Northern Star]

IMO, it's the stupidest idea ever. Baseball is a beautiful game as it is. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

what's broken is people's attention spans. You're asking them to devote 3 and a half hours every night, and that's just for 9 innings. I don't want them to go too far from the essence of baseball, but they're aware it's losing popularity.

[Youk Of The Nation]

Starting an inning with a gimme runner is possibly the worst idea in the history of human civilization. And yes, I am including the invention of both the Snuggie and the selfie stick. A slapstick sitcom set inside Buchenwald would be a better idea and probably even piss off fewer people.

[dgalehouse]

These kind of gimmicks should be avoided like the plague. What is next ? A home run hitting contest after 12 innings ? Look to speed the game up in other ways , but stay away from this kind of thing.

[Spudboy]

I think it would be much better to have the two Managers play Russian Roulette to decide things. Fans would stay to watch that.

[moonslav59]

IMO, it's the stupidest idea ever. Baseball is a beautiful game as it is. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

It reminds me of the stupid college football OT rules.

[Bellhorn04]

what's broken is people's attention spans. You're asking them to devote 3 and a half hours every night, and that's just for 9 innings. I don't want them to go too far from the essence of baseball, but they're aware it's losing popularity.

 

You could be right. They're obviously very concerned they're losing their audience.

[moonslav59]

I'm okay with the auto IBB, but that's minor.

 

Just speed up the time between pitches and enforce it.

 

Maybe try to cut down on the time between RP'ers somehow.

 

I'd like to restrict how many RP'ers you can use, but that seems too extreme and changes the game too much. That's where much of the "wasted time" comes from.

[Bellhorn04]

Changes are coming. It's not us they're worried about losing, it's the younger generation raised on internet and smartphones.

[moonslav59]

Changes are coming. It's not us they're worried about losing, it's the younger generation raised on internet and smartphones.

 

I'm not sure any amount of rule changes will help enough to attract the tech-savvy new generation.

[Dojji]

You could be right. They're obviously very concerned they're losing their audience.

 

But they're NOT losing their audience. Baseball is making more money than it EVER has.

 

What we have here is executives guessing themselves into an early grave and making panic moves as a result. They're afraid that their fortunes are tied into an older generation and that as the years go on demographics will shift against them. They're ignoring the fact that baseball is the sport with THE greatest historical legacy of any major sport in North America, and only lost its primacy because of the strikes in the 90's followed by the idiocy of the league looking the other way vis-a-vis steroids in an effort to build the league's image back up afterward, which backfired explosively in the early 2000s.

 

Just give us baseball, cut the BS, and people will not only watch, but disillusioned fans (and their kids) will come back. All they need to do is cut the bullcrap they themselves keep trying to insert into the game. They seem constitutionally incapable of reaching that solution though..

 

Fortunately we have enough older execs that have seen generation shifts before that I have my doubts any truly radical changes will be made. A few more strikes called at the letters however is probably a good thing, since that's, you know, the actual strike zone, and I have no idea why umpires were allowed to reduce the strike zone to belt-to-knees as it is.

[Bellhorn04]

But they're NOT losing their audience. Baseball is making more money than it EVER has.

 

What we have here is executives guessing themselves into an early grave and making panic moves as a result. They're afraid that their fortunes are tied into an older generation and that as the years go on demographics will shift against them. They're ignoring the fact that baseball is the sport with THE greatest historical legacy of any major sport in North America, and only lost its primacy because of the strikes in the 90's followed by the idiocy of the league looking the other way vis-a-vis steroids in an effort to build the league's image back up afterward, which backfired explosively in the early 2000s.

 

Just give us baseball, cut the BS, and people will not only watch, but disillusioned fans (and their kids) will come back. All they need to do is cut the bullcrap they themselves keep trying to insert into the game. They seem constitutionally incapable of reaching that solution though..

 

Fortunately we have enough older execs that have seen generation shifts before that I have my doubts any truly radical changes will be made. A few more strikes called at the letters however is probably a good thing, since that's, you know, the actual strike zone, and I have no idea why umpires were allowed to reduce the strike zone to belt-to-knees as it is.

 

Well said Dojji.

[Northern Star]

But they're NOT losing their audience. Baseball is making more money than it EVER has.

 

What we have here is executives guessing themselves into an early grave and making panic moves as a result. They're afraid that their fortunes are tied into an older generation and that as the years go on demographics will shift against them. They're ignoring the fact that baseball is the sport with THE greatest historical legacy of any major sport in North America, and only lost its primacy because of the strikes in the 90's followed by the idiocy of the league looking the other way vis-a-vis steroids in an effort to build the league's image back up afterward, which backfired explosively in the early 2000s.

 

Just give us baseball, cut the BS, and people will not only watch, but disillusioned fans (and their kids) will come back. All they need to do is cut the bullcrap they themselves keep trying to insert into the game. They seem constitutionally incapable of reaching that solution though..

 

Fortunately we have enough older execs that have seen generation shifts before that I have my doubts any truly radical changes will be made. A few more strikes called at the letters however is probably a good thing, since that's, you know, the actual strike zone, and I have no idea why umpires were allowed to reduce the strike zone to belt-to-knees as it is.

 

Agreed, but you are going to get ten more tons of bullcrap brought to you by [sponsor name] before it gets any better. I was thinking today, not only will we get ads on jerseys, eventually they'll copy Japan and put the sponsor names in the team name.

[Northern Star]

Baseball is making more money than it EVER has.

 

 

In corporate America, more never equals enough.

[Kimmi]

While on the topic of rule changes, I am also opposed to managers just pointing to 1B when they want to intentionally walk a batter rather than making the pitcher throw 4 balls.

 

I was also against getting rid of the 'fake to 3rd, throw to 1st' thing.

 

Leave the game alone!

 

To heck with those people who don't have enough patience or enough of an attention span to enjoy a baseball game with all of its beauty and nuances.

[Northern Star]

While on the topic of rule changes, I am also opposed to managers just pointing to 1B when they want to intentionally walk a batter rather than making the pitcher throw 4 balls.

 

I was also against getting rid of the 'fake to 3rd, throw to 1st' thing.

 

Leave the game alone!

 

To heck with those people who don't have enough patience or enough of an attention span to enjoy a baseball game with all of its beauty and nuances.

 

Agree about IBB....although the odds of a WP advancing the runner are fairly low.

[User Name]

Yet I've seen multiple instances of hitters diving at close intentional balls and getting base hits. Miguel Cabrera driving in a game-winner on an intentional ball comes to mind.

[Spudboy]

While on the topic of rule changes, I am also opposed to managers just pointing to 1B when they want to intentionally walk a batter rather than making the pitcher throw 4 balls.

 

I was also against getting rid of the 'fake to 3rd, throw to 1st' thing.

 

Leave the game alone!

 

To heck with those people who don't have enough patience or enough of an attention span to enjoy a baseball game with all of its beauty and nuances.

 

This makes you sound like what you call a Traditionalist.

[Spudboy]

Yet I've seen multiple instances of hitters diving at close intentional balls and getting base hits. Miguel Cabrera driving in a game-winner on an intentional ball comes to mind.

 

Add to that the fact that pitchers f*** up intentional ball a lot. Kind of like the yips in a way. WP or PB. It happens.

 

There is just enough opportunity for a mistake to make this play eventful or dramatic.

 

This will not speed the game up. We see how many IBB in an average game? It's negligible.

[Kimmi]

Agree about IBB....although the odds of a WP advancing the runner are fairly low.

 

It's not just that, but also the points that UN? and Spud made. The great majority of the time, the IBB will be completed without issue. But there is enough that can happen that it's worth leaving it alone.

[Kimmi]

This makes you sound like what you call a Traditionalist.

 

LOL I have said many times that I am a traditionalist in many ways. You guys just don't believe me. When it comes to the rules governing the way the game is played on the field, I am far more traditional or old school than not.

[Station 13]

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/news/heres-how-mlb-is-hoping-to-liven-up-the-game-this-season-201839440.html

 

 

So making pitchers keep the ball up = more dingers and action, not necessarily speeding up the game.

 

Not surprise. MLB already doctored the ball last season to make it go out the park, they're doing lots of shady s***.

[Bellhorn04]

Not surprise. MLB already doctored the ball last season to make it go out the park, they're doing lots of shady s***.

 

LOL I think you're probably right.

[notin]

what's broken is people's attention spans. You're asking them to devote 3 and a half hours every night, and that's just for 9 innings. I don't want them to go too far from the essence of baseball, but they're aware it's losing popularity.

 

1. Enforce existing rules for pace of play that limit the time between pitches.

 

2. Enforce roster size of 25 all season long. Teams that want to see some younger players will need to accomodate them on their roster using conventional means. There is no need to allow for a 16 man bullpen for one month.

 

Do those two things and baseball can stop this foolish pace of play problem...

[Northern Star]

1. Enforce existing rules for pace of play that limit the time between pitches.

 

2. Enforce roster size of 25 all season long. Teams that want to see some younger players will need to accomodate them on their roster using conventional means. There is no need to allow for a 16 man bullpen for one month.

 

Do those two things and baseball can stop this foolish pace of play problem...

 

Yes! I'm all for 25 for the whole season. September callups are ridiculous.

[illinoisredsox]

Yes! I'm all for 25 for the whole season. September callups are ridiculous.

 

I don't have a problem with September callups, but you should be limited to a 25 man roster for a given game. It wouldn't be that hard to implement; you make a couple guys inactive for that game and sub in your call-ups in their place. Last night's and the next day's starting pitchers are obvious choices to be inactive (maybe the entire rotation outside of today's starter). Or you have a guy with a nagging injury who needs a day or 2 off just to heal a little. Hockey does it all season, baseball could certainly do it for a month.

[Northern Star]

I don't have a problem with September callups, but you should be limited to a 25 man roster for a given game. It wouldn't be that hard to implement; you make a couple guys inactive for that game and sub in your call-ups in their place. Last night's and the next day's starting pitchers are obvious choices to be inactive (maybe the entire rotation outside of today's starter). Or you have a guy with a nagging injury who needs a day or 2 off just to heal a little. Hockey does it all season, baseball could certainly do it for a month.

 

That's a good idea.