MLB looking at potentially changing some rules
perkdog
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Not sure about three hitter minimum for pitchers, that takes away a ton of strategy
They just can't leave things alone....can they!
I am all for less pitching changes. It totally disrupts the flow of the game. So much downtime. If the batter limit doesn't go through, I would say no warm up throws once a reliever enters the game. Warm up in the pen then come in and pitch. I can't think of another major team sport where a player substituting in stops the game in order to continue warming up. Unnecessary.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
It could add to the strategy, just in a different way. I think this actually makes a coach think about strategy more. You can’t just match up every single hitter In the 8th inning anymore and blow through 4 relievers to get 3 outs. I think I would actually prefer this new rule.
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I definitely see your point. I don’t know though with the bullpen roster I feel the strategy in utilizing the relief pitchers during playoffs is really good the way it is
20 second pitch clock is awesome and no more one batter pitchers is awesome too .
Ofcourse we won’t know if these rules will be good for MLB until Dallas chimes in 🤔
Personally against the 3 hitter minimum rule..takes away from strategy moves by the manager. But I would limit warmup tosses to 3; allows pitcher to get a feel for the mound.
One thing that bugs me are the throw overs when runners are on...then the batter steps out....then the pitcher steps off etc etc.
I think MLB will continue to seek to adjust some rules. They are in a competition with other Major sports/other entertainment for audience viewership. If changing some rules will result in more viewers or assisting to retain the ones they have, can see this as their approach. Viewers = ad revenue =$ for the Networks = $ to MLB in broadcast rights. That in turn equals more $ available for the players contract pot.
I think it's more about getting people to the parks. People don't go to games for a variety of reasons and MLB is trying to get them back. For revenue at 81 home games, concessions, parking, merchandise sales....that money is huge for them. The TV contracts and ad revenues will still be there
The list of changes I saw looked like this:
A three-batter minimum for pitchers
A universal designated hitter
A single trade deadline before the All-Star break
A 20-second pitch clock
The expansion of rosters to 26 men, with a 12-pitcher maximum
Draft advantages for winning teams and penalties for losing teams
A study to lower the mound
A rule that would allow two-sport amateurs to sign major league contracts
Have no opinion on the rule for 2-sport amateurs. As for the rest:
1) Three batter minimum? Love it. Cut down on mid-inning pitching changes. Those would be fine if each one didn't take 5-10 minutes but they do, so need to limit them.
2) Universal designated hitter? I want to get rid of it not expand it but...that's not happening. So, yeah, make it universal.
3) Trade deadline before AS break? Interesting. No real opinion on this one.
4) 20-second pitch clock? YES PLEASE. Enforce it tightly and hammer guys that are repeat offenders with suspensions. Dead serious on that. And suspend umpires that don't enforce it. And, yes, that includes game 7, 9th inning of the World Series, 3-2, 2 outs.
5) Expand rosters, max-12 pitchers? Love it. Again cuts down on pitching changes and may even reduce velocity ever so slightly as guys can't just go all-out all the time.
6) Draft advantages/penalties based on record? Yes. Not sure about advantages but definitely want to see severe penalties for teams that don't try to be competitive. Teams need to be able to tear down but they also shouldn't be able to spend a decade not trying, a la Milwaukee and San Diego for the longest time.
7) Lowering the mound? No. If you want to return some offense, simply get rid of the shift.
Interesting to see the average time per 9/I and number of pitching changes/game over the years: https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/misc.shtml
What caused the extra inning games to balloon up starting in the 60's? number of pitchers?
Need a pitch clock and penalties for batter stepping out too much.
Visits to the mound restricted to coach and catcher and limited for time.
Relievers should be ready to pitch immediately unless there's an injury to the pitcher.
These would do the trick.
The first two don't even need a change in the rules, just have the umpires take control of the games.
Three batter minimum is idiotic and would only "help" speed up a handful of games. As long as you get the pitcher in the game quickly, there's no need to make this change. What's next? Only one pinch hitter per inning? Three per game?
The single biggest "problem" is that most pitchers have two pitches they throw 90% of the time, yet when looking in at the signs, you would think he threw 5, Then the batter decides to step out after the pitcher finally decides on what he wants to throw, and we start the entire process all over again.
The last game I went to there were several visits to the mound and the entire infield had to join the discussion. NO!
If a reliever has had enough time to "loosen up" he doesn't need any warm up pitches.
The Minnesota Twins have had a couple of starting pitchers who "worked fast". I think Brad Radke was one of them. Games seemed to last around 2 hours and if the other team had a guy who didn't fool around, you got some 1 1/2 hour games. VERY enjoyable to watch.
I started watching the game in the 1960's. Recently I found an old game (1967 Twins/Red Sox pennant race) on youtube and couldn't believe the difference. Game progressed at a great pace and not all the garbage messages/statistics all over the screen. REFRESHING! Although my Twins lose every time.
Expansion teams for the raw # of games? The extra inning % is all over the place and I don't see it correlating with much of anything.
Couldn't be more commercials could it? Stoppages of play=more commercials=more money for the league.
I don't think commercials are causing more extra inning games, just impacting the length of 9 innings.
The increase of pitching changes seems to correlate somewhat with game length. Call in a new pitcher, go to commercial break.
how about 3 time outs per game. If you use all three and think you still need another mid inning pitching change, players need to swap positions. ie, the pitcher and right fielder change spots. I bet most managers under that rule would fight through the inning with the pitcher on the mound and bring in a fresh arm for the next inning.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
If MLB tries to compete with video games, they will fail.
Baseball is supposed to be a relaxing summer game for the fans. It shouldn't matter if it takes two hours, three hours or whatever.
It's a timeless game. Anything done to bastardize that is ruining baseball as it was intended to be, and as it should stay.
This I get to a point, there is something relaxing about baseball in between innings ect.. but the flow of the game is absurd at times. I don’t watch enough regular season games to care one way or another but come playoff time these rules could significantly effect a game so hopefully they think long and hard before making these changes
162 games of tv and ticket money for every team in the league should matter more . Not every team makes the playoffs , not even close . Everyone else should not have to suffer for 162 games to make a few playoff games slightly better
Yet another good, actually great point
There shouldn't be any suffering involved.
Everyone these days has a mobile phone, laptop, etc. If ya get bored watching the game, just use that for entertainment.
For example you can listen to George Michael songs in between pitcher changes. Perhaps Barry Manilow?
your solution is to encourage people to look at their mobile more?
We are all surrounded by a vast sea of idiots staring at cellphones all day long as it is.
Go to a baseball game and you will see people sitting there behind home plate watching the tv broadcast of the game on an iphone
I never bring a computer device to the ballpark. I'm there to relax and zone out from life's realities, and enjoy a good ball game.
I say accept baseball the way it is and the way it should be...a timeless game with no clock.
One minute between half innings rather than 2.
They can were gatorade caps and McDonalds logos on their jerseys to make up the lost revenie.
Baseball should be relaxing, absolutely. But it also shouldn't be plodding. And it shouldn't (as it does so often) turn into a contest to see who is more afraid of the next pitch actually happening.
So many of the things these rules would address regarding pace of play simply didn't exist 60 years ago. Guys taking forever to get in the box? Never happened in the 50s. Guys stepping out over and over? Didn't happen. Pitchers shaking off 12 signs even though they throw only 2 pitches? Didn't happen. And so on.
I get the resistance to any changes. But the reality is that, other than the 3-batter minimum, none of these actually change the game in a way that's new. They just are a codified way of telling guys to quit farting around and get on with the business of actually playing.
Speeding games up so that they majority of them end before 10pm is a goal to be commended not criticized.
I would like to see MLB address these two problems first and then see what happens. I also like the idea of keeping mound visits to pitcher, catcher and coach and keep them brief.
The games might not get a lot shorter, but I would bet they will SEEM that way.
Absolutely.
couldnt have said it better myself. spot on.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
I don't know if fans and players realize how close to the edge of the cliff baseball is, they have to do something soon
Bring in a new version of Morgana!
didnt she get George Brett a few times?
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
I think so.
Now THAT'S something Mike can be jealous about!!!!!! ;-)
I still don't understand why the max diameter of a bat was changed in 2010(?) to 2.61...when the old 2.75 was good enough for over 100 years (started in 1895)!
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The rule to penalize losing teams in the draft is absurd. I guess they want to go back to the bad old days when the Yankees won every year. Some teams just don’t have market to win all the time. They can’t buy the players the way that the Yankees and Red Sox. The Tampa team has been the best model for getting the most out of very little.
BTW, when I clicked on the USA Today article, I got nothing. Everything I know about this came from the previous posts.
Big market teams will always have the upper hand, that’s the way it is in all sports really
Agree, I think the 20 second rule makes sense. Some pitchers are too slow - Josh Beckett & Clay Buckholtz are a couple that were real slow. It’s tough to watch regular season games on TV, too slow
I don’t watch regular Season Baseball, haven’t for a few years now. Red Sox playoffs I’m all in though
To the players like Lorenzo Cain that refasten their batting gloves after every pitch:
Your batting gloves are firmly attached to your hands, if you feel the need to play with the velcro do it in the dugout!!
Nobody was worse than Nomar 🙄
Oh man, I miss Lorenzo Cain in KC. Still my favorite active major league player. Some of the most entertaining videos are Sal Perez harassing Lo Cain in the clubhouse. Great stuff and showed why the Royals were so special for that three year or so window.
As for rule changes, something needs to give on these relief pitchers making the last three-four innings a snoozefest. I say at least make a pitcher pitch to two batters.
"Look up, old boy, and see what you get." -William Bonney.
breakdown- Agree with you about Lo Cain. Still one of my favorites, just not a fan of the batting glove thing.LOL.
Whit Merrifield is probably my favorite Royal now. Tough competitor who had to spend a lot of time in the
minors and is excelling in the bigs now.
I have an idea, get rid of the DH and then stop with all this other stuff that fundamentally changes the game. relief pitchers are what the game changed to NATURALLY with no help from the rules. things like the DH and these other recent and proposed changes alter the game ARTIFICIALLY and take away strategy.
the one that I really hate is the fact that catchers can no longer block the plate, a change which has affected what I would think is the most exciting thing in baseball --- a sharp single with a runner on second base heading for the plate, the throw and the slide. it's different now.
the DH sort of removed strategy, no more bunting, sacrificing or hitting behind the runner and the pitchers in the AL just stay on the bench. I call BS.
but boy-oh-boy gimme some more HR's, those are exciting
another thing, everyone likes to pick on the pitchers, as though they are the problem. MLB created what we have by shrinking the strike zone and taking away the inside of the plate from the pitcher, letting batters hang in close to hit outside pitches. all you whiners got what you wanted, more HR's and big, exciting, high scoring games that you admittedly still hate, most everyone says they don't watch complete games and can't struggle through them.
well, be careful what you ask for, you just might get it.
someone with more skill than me should calculate the size, in square inches, of the modern strike zone compared to 20-30-40-50 years ago. it is considerably smaller and some batters still can't hit.
As far as the DH I like the way it is but I’m surprised that the NL hasn’t fought to change it, a 200 million dollar pitcher getting up to bat can’t be easy on a manager
the NL will probably change within the next five years and that should be the death of MLB for legions of died-in-the-wool Baseball fans across the Country. ask yourself a question and then do a little searching --- as MLB has changed rules during the past 30-40 years which were in place for a Century, what has happened to the fan base??
instead of catering to younger fans in an effort to build the fan-base maybe MLB should have taken a different course because that one hasn't worked.
Father Time is going to rub out the older fans anyway. Without getting new fans the sport is finished.
I think MLB will always have fans, same as all the others, as long as our nations youth is involved in these sports the fan base will remain in my opinion.
I agree with this, bring back the high strike.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.