George Will on MLB today

[Maxbialystock]

I agree with all of the following from today's Washington Post, including the fact that he does not recommend robo umps----

 

Throughout the negotiations of a new collective bargaining agreement between the players and team owners, Major League Baseball resembled someone who, diagnosed with cancer, says: “I want to fight this — but, first, I want a knee replacement.” Misplaced priorities. Baseball’s problems are fascinating because they are the result of everyone acting reasonably on the basis of abundant, accurate information.

 

The players union did what unions are supposed to do: It fought over the distribution of the industry’s revenue. Young players, who are more numerous and productive than ever, lack bargaining leverage (e.g., free agency). So, the union succeeded in tilting the compensation system toward the young (e.g., higher minimum salaries). Now comes the cancer treatment.

 

Games become ever-longer but with fewer balls in play — more than a third of all at-bats result in strikeouts, walks or home runs, which are four seconds of a flying ball followed by the batter’s jog. Longer games with less action is an atrocious recipe for an entertainment business.

 

Players spend much more time with leather on their hands than with wood in their hands, but today’s players’ dazzling athleticism is too infrequently displayed because “analytics” — a.k.a. data; baseball participates in the national plague of linguistic inflation — make too many players’ “tendencies” predictable.

 

Baseball has been overwhelmed by pitchers’ velocity: They throw secondary pitches (not fastballs) 93 mph. Because they expend maximum effort on so many pitches, they take extra recovery time between pitches, and the game congeals. A pitch clock (say, 14 seconds with no runners on base, 19 with runners on) would force pitchers to work faster, relying more on less-strenuous pitches.

 

Some fans will remember when matchups of great starting pitchers — Sandy Koufax against Juan Marichal, Bob Gibson against Tom Seaver — were riveting spectacles. If a pitch clock causes pitchers to economize their energy, we can recapture the magic of two great ones going deep into games.

 

The clock would address baseball’s most infuriating dead time — hitters wandering away from home plate during an at-bat, as though puzzling about Fermat’s Last Theorem. If the batter is not in the batter’s box when the pitch is delivered, it would be called a strike. Pitchers might resent having to pick up the pace, but they will benefit from batters not having time to ponder the next pitch. And if two infielders have to be on either side of second base, all four with their spikes on the infield dirt as the pitch is delivered, there will be a premium placed on fielders with range, rather than on more one-dimensional players whose defensive shortcomings can be disguised by a 23-year-old math major who positions the defense where each batter’s proclivities require, given the pitcher’s “spin rate,” the batter’s “launch angle,” etc.

 

In 2021, there were 1,070 fewer stolen bases than 10 years earlier. Bigger bases (18 square inches rather than 15) would shorten the sprint between bases, increasing the likelihood of action. Think how often instant replays show an attempted stolen base coming up two inches short. If the MLB’s attendance is going to get back to its peak of 80 million fans in 2007, it must restore the energy of the game as it was when arguably the greatest game was played.

 

Game 7 of the 1960 World Series — Pirates 10, Yankees 9, won by Bill Mazeroski’s walk-off home run — was played in 2 hours and 36 minutes, during which there were no strikeouts. In last year’s Series, the shortest game — Astros 7, Braves 2 — was 3 hours and 11 minutes, and there were 23 strikeouts, 45 percent of all the outs.

 

Now MLB must tweak its rules or find a slew of Rod Carews. He wielded a bat with the delicacy of an orchestral conductor’s baton. The first time Tony La Russa managed against Carew, he moved his shortstop up the middle. So, Carew singled through the spot that La Russa’s shortstop had vacated. In Carew’s next at-bat, La Russa, chastened, left the shortstop where he normally played. So, Carew — don’t tug on Superman’s cape — singled through the spot where La Russa had placed the shortstop in Carew’s first at-bat . Carew’s third at-bat: a bunt so perfect he reached base without a throw.

 

Today’s analytics could not have helped opponents cope with Carew. He, however, was a genius. Better to change baseball’s rules than to count on reviving the game with an abundance of genius, which is always scarce.

[mvp 78]

Who cares what the most boring man in baseball has to say?

[jad]

Who cares what the most boring man in baseball has to say?

 

Oh there are a lot more boring commentators than George Will. Just read this very forum!

[a700hitter]

I thought that windbag George Will has died. I wonder if he played wearing a bow tie.

[S5Dewey]

Football is supplanting baseball as America's favorite sport. It's because football moves faster and is more exciting because it's more offense-oriented. If we're going to agree that baseball itself is in crisis because of the length of games - and I believe that most of us do - we should also be looking for solutions that will shorten the game up and at the same time make it more exciting.

 

Will makes some suggestions what will help to solve the issues baseball is facing. Instead the comments on Will's piece thus far have tried to disparage Will for being "boring" (a matter of opinion) and his bow tie rather than deal with his piece.

[mvp 78]

Football is supplanting baseball as America's favorite sport. It's because football moves faster and is more exciting because it's more offense-oriented. If we're going to agree that baseball itself is in crisis because of the length of games - and I believe that most of us do - we should also be looking for solutions that will shorten the game up and at the same time make it more exciting.

 

Will makes some suggestions what will help to solve the issues baseball is facing. Instead the comments on Will's piece thus far have tried to disparage Will for being "boring" (a matter of opinion) and his bow tie rather than deal with his piece.

 

That ship sailed. Baseball is probably 3rd right now behind Football AND Basketball.

[Bellhorn04]

That ship sailed. Baseball is probably 3rd right now behind Football AND Basketball.

 

Dear lord, what is your new avatar?

[S5Dewey]

That ship sailed. Baseball is probably 3rd right now behind Football AND Basketball.

 

It's interesting that the God most of baseball and most of us here worship - sabermetrics - has dragged the sport down to probably being the third most popular sport.

[mvp 78]

It's interesting that the God most of baseball and most of us here worship - sabermetrics - has dragged the sport down to probably being the third most popular sport.

 

I think it was trending in that direction before the sabermetrics boom. I also don't think sabermetrics really plays a part in overall enjoyment of the game.

[Bellhorn04]

It's interesting that the God most of baseball and most of us here worship - sabermetrics - has dragged the sport down to probably being the third most popular sport.

 

Still swimming in money though!

[Bellhorn04]

I think it was trending in that direction before the sabermetrics boom. I also don't think sabermetrics really plays a part in overall enjoyment of the game.

 

I think there have been some adverse effects on the pleasure of the game. Cruising starting pitchers getting yanked after 50-60 pitches for a parade of relievers. Far fewer baseballs being put in play.

[notin]

I think it was trending in that direction before the sabermetrics boom. I also don't think sabermetrics really plays a part in overall enjoyment of the game.

 

Bigger factors have the massive changes in NBA television deals and the rise of fantasy football…

[mvp 78]

I think there have been some adverse effects on the pleasure of the game. Cruising starting pitchers getting yanked after 50-60 pitches for a parade of relievers. Far fewer baseballs being put in play.

 

Yanking starting pitchers is a trend from the past 4-5 years at most? Baseball was trending in the wrong direction long before that happened.

[notin]

Yanking starting pitchers is a trend from the past 4-5 years at most? Baseball was trending in the wrong direction long before that happened.

 

Trending in the wrong direction? Or trending in the wrong direction relative to the NBA and the NFL?

 

MLB was a record-setting $10billion industry in 2019. That does indicate it has some popularity…

[Bellhorn04]

Yanking starting pitchers is a trend from the past 4-5 years at most? Baseball was trending in the wrong direction long before that happened.

 

So your position is that the game was already going south and metrics just helped it on its way?

[mvp 78]

Trending in the wrong direction? Or trending in the wrong direction relative to the NBA and the NFL?

 

MLB was a record-setting $10billion industry in 2019. That does indicate it has some popularity…

 

Average age of MLB fan is 57. Boomers are pumping money into the game. When they are gone, the game will be a shell of what it once was.

[mvp 78]

So your position is that the game was already going south and metrics just helped it on its way?

 

Per Will, if strikeouts just vanished and the game became contact based with less emphasis on HR's, it would become king again. I don't think it would have an impact at all.

 

I don't think casual fans care about the shift. I don't think casual fans think poorly about the increase in k's and HR's.

[S5Dewey]

I think there have been some adverse effects on the pleasure of the game. Cruising starting pitchers getting yanked after 50-60 pitches for a parade of relievers. Far fewer baseballs being put in play.

 

MVP made mention of basketball as well as football possibly being more popular than baseball now. Both of those sports have made rule changes to speed up the game. Can you imagine basketball without the 3-point shot or the shot clock? Football has made rule changes to protect the QB making anything more than a brush against him results in a penalty. In the meantime the result of sabermetrics has been to slow the game down.

 

Maybe it's time we took a look at some rule changes to speed up the game of baseball. Will makes some solid suggestions that IMO are worth considering.

[mvp 78]

The only way to make MLB popular again is to make it a game that boring people like George Will would despise.

[mvp 78]

MVP made mention of basketball as well as football possibly being more popular than baseball now. Both of those sports have made rule changes to speed up the game. Can you imagine basketball without the 3-point shot or the shot clock? Football has made rule changes to protect the QB making anything more than a brush against him results in a penalty. In the meantime the result of sabermetrics has been to slow the game down.

 

Maybe it's time we took a look at some rule changes to speed up the game of baseball. Will makes some solid suggestions that IMO are worth considering.

 

Basketball is a slower game now than it was in the 80's.

[S5Dewey]

Per Will, if strikeouts just vanished and the game became contact based with less emphasis on HR's, it would become king again. I don't think it would have an impact at all.

 

I don't think casual fans care about the shift. I don't think casual fans think poorly about the increase in k's and HR's.

 

I don't think casual fans THINK they care about the shift or the increase in K's or HR's. They just care about how the lack of offense and how the game has slowed down. The casual fans don't realize that the shift or the lack of a pitch clock are slowing the game down. All the casual fans see is the result.

[Bellhorn04]

Per Will, if strikeouts just vanished and the game became contact based with less emphasis on HR's, it would become king again. I don't think it would have an impact at all.

 

I don't think casual fans care about the shift. I don't think casual fans think poorly about the increase in k's and HR's.

 

What do you think the casual fan cares about?

[Bellhorn04]

Well, they are banning the shift next year, right?

[S5Dewey]

Basketball is a slower game now than it was in the 80's.

 

Are you saying that the shot clock and the 3-point line have slowed the game down?? And made it less exciting?

[S5Dewey]

Well, they are banning the shift next year, right?

 

Are they? Isn't this the thing that they have to reach agreement on before November 1 or the sky is going to fall? Please catch me up on that.

[Bellhorn04]

The gripe being heard about basketball now is that it's become too much about the 3 point shot.

[Bellhorn04]

Are they? Isn't this the thing that they have to reach agreement on before November 1 or the sky is going to fall? Please catch me up on that.

 

It sounds like you might be more caught up than me.

[S5Dewey]

It sounds like you might be more caught up than me.

 

Grr.. There was an issue during negotiations about something - and IIRC it was the shift - that they couldn't come to an agreement on so they decided that if it wasn't mutually decided by November they would have to renegotiate it then AND the CBA would become null and void in 2023 (2024?).

But then more negotiations followed and I lost track of what happened to that issue.

 

Help? Anybody?

[S5Dewey]

The gripe being heard about basketball now is that it's become too much about the 3 point shot.

 

I agree with that at the NBA level but not below. But that doesn't negate the excitement level that the 3-pointer brought about.

[S5Dewey]

The only way to make MLB popular again is to make it a game that boring people like George Will would despise.

 

I find Will to be interesting. After all, he's they guy who said, "No matter how little you trust your government you are too trusting".