Major League Baseball seems to constantly look for ways to generate more interest in the game of baseball. To do so, around this time every year, we hear about some impossibly strange, interesting, and some downright idiotic ways to better the game. The most common area baseball tries to improve is – game pace.
Now, I want you to have an open mind here, you, like myself, will watch the game regardless if it is one hour or 15 hours. This isn’t the case with many others. How long a game lasts, in particular the pace, turns many away from the game, especially the youth. The youth is the future of the game. If baseball cannot bring kids into the game of baseball the sport will be in big trouble in 15, 20, 30 years from now.
Jim Bowden of ESPN mentioned that these ideas were on the table and a lot of baseball executives were “onboard” with these changes, mostly.
- September roster expansion
- A pitch clock and hitters staying in the box
- Pitching change limitations
- Trips to the mound
- Intentional walks
- Cut down between-inning dead time, but find new ways to advertise
- Improve instant replay
- DH or no DH
- Expansion
- Seven-inning games
As you can see, most of these specifically attack pace of play. Certainly some ideas (looking at you seven-inning games) will never happen, but when thinking up ideas you through a lot of noodles at he wall before one sticks.
One idea that Bowden didn’t mention, but has picked up steam of late – starting extra-innings with a runner on second.
Back on February 8th, Yahoo reported that baseball would begin to test starting a runner at second base in rookie ball and other lower levels of the minor leagues. This was met with a great deal of scrutiny throughout the baseball universe. But Joe Torre asked that fans and baseball be patient with this idea.
“Let’s see what it looks like,” said Joe Torre, MLB’s Chief Baseball Officer. “It’s not fun to watch when you go through your whole pitching staff and wind up bringing a utility infielder in to pitch. As much as it’s nice to talk about being at an 18-inning game, it takes time.
“It’s baseball. I’m just trying to get back to that, where this is the game that people come to watch. It doesn’t mean you’re going to score. You’re just trying to play baseball.”
There is truth to this, but the change is too drastic, and is easy to coach to. Often times this would result in easy runs and not a single hit. This potential change completely changes the way a team will play a game, and the worst rules are the ones that result in changing the way the game is played.
This is why the recent news we are hearing about this rule is music to everyone’s ears.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has always been reserved about this rule, and he doesn’t believe it will reach the bigs.
Rob Manfred doesn't think extra innings rule of runner starting on second base will reach MLB level https://t.co/s2wGHqG5Wq pic.twitter.com/Y6XwQwtvYm
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) February 17, 2017
And then Tony Clark, head of the MLBPA, chimed in.
Would players ever agree to starting extra innings with a runner on second base? Tony Clark's answer was very simple. "No." <laughs> "No."
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) February 19, 2017
So sleep well and know baseball isn’t in the business of ruining the game anytime soon.
