MLB 2021

[ronmac]

Please make it stop:

Attachment 15066

Great way to get your home run hitters injured. Have they learned nothing from all the players who choose to sit out the HR derby during the All-Star break?

[polmico]

Pioneer League? Independent leagues can gimmick the shit out of the game. Does it really matter?

[Gruno]

OR.....just play the game until somebody wins, like they've been doing for over a century.

Baseball insists on trying to fix problems that don't exist.

I liked when Cubs games would go into extra innings and continue the next day.

[Poisoned Youth]

OR.....just play the game until somebody wins, like they've been doing for over a century.

Baseball insists on trying to fix problems that don't exist.

I don’t have a problem with ties in baseball. It seems a happy medium would be to allow teams to play normal extra innings through, maybe, the 12th. Then if no one wins after 12, call it.

[Scott Bails]

I liked when Cubs games would go into extra innings and continue the next day.

Absolutely.

I don’t have a problem with ties in baseball. It seems a happy medium would be to allow teams to play normal extra innings through, maybe, the 12th. Then if no one wins after 12, call it.

Absolutely not.

If the argument is that baseball is "too boring," then why would you remove one of the most exciting parts of the game?? Extra innings or overtime is always more exciting than the regular game. Every play/pass/shot/pitch becomes more important. Why would you minimize this? Why would you remove the significance by allowing a tie game?

[ronmac]

I never bought the "baseball is boring" argument. That seems to come from people who want something that baseball doesn't offer or are listening to terrible announcers. If you want constant action, watch other sports. That's not what baseball is. Strategy and suspense can be extremely exciting. Ask those fans who are cheering wildly on every pitch when a game is on the line how boring it is. I don't care if football is more popular. Personally, I find football boring.

[Scott Bails]

I never bought the "baseball is boring" argument. That seems to come from people who want something that baseball doesn't offer or are listening to terrible announcers. If you want constant action, watch other sports. That's not what baseball is. Strategy and suspense can be extremely exciting. Ask those fans who are cheering wildly on every pitch when a game is on the line how boring it is.

Totally agree. Stop trying to make baseball something that it isn't.

I've never seen a sport/league/business spend so much time telling people how awful their product is.

[Jerjo]

I was talking baseball with my brother yesterday. There are a few ways that Manfred could speed up the game without such idiocy like this extra innings rule. How about batters no longer stepping out of the box? Getting rid of playing two songs for the 7th inning stretch?

[Tangram]

Totally agree. Stop trying to make baseball something that it isn't.

I've never seen a sport/league/business spend so much time telling people how awful their product is.

Got that right. But fences in, bigger players, better bats and tighter baseballs. Have told everyone that HR or nothing is the way to play the game. So the batter can style and get on ESPN. Smaller strike zones to make it easier to hit a HR. Another full count. Gotta get out of the box to readjust the batting gloves that didn't move, again. Another game where half the outs on both sides are by strikeout. Another 3:15 game to play nine.

The digitheads and marketers can't figure out why some people are complaining about the game. The suits agree endlessly. So with all that combined brain power, they come back with putting a man on second in extra innings. Wanting to pat themselves on their back for their amazing ingenuity, they decide that doubleheaders are 7 innings each. The brains have a bottle of scotch to celebrate their amazing amount of intellect and decide to have another go at 'fixing' the game. What did they decide, you ask? How about that an officially sanctioned 7 inning game, isn't really a game if a pitcher throws a no-hitter. But the RBI and run scored from artificially sticking a runner on second is. Brilliant!!! Can't wait for the next stroke of genius.

How about moving the fences out so the wanna be home run hitters stop striking out swinging for the fences. No stepping out of the box after every pitch. Get rid of the gimmick changes they just made. Make the strike zone higher than the belt. This will make it force some batters to go for contact and that will lower pitch count. 100 pitches in 5 innings is out of hand. If that doesn't help make contact, move the mound back.

Old man rant off

[ledsox]

Counterpoint---
I like the extra inning rule. It's odd and a bit little league but that's ok. Get the game over with and NO ties.
162 three hour games is a lot of baseball already. Extra innings means overtime for staff, players and umps get tired and often fans have to leave an unfinished game when it stretches long.

The runner on 2nd brings back some strategy too- bunts, int walks. Maybe there is even less swinging for the fences in extras now.
I never thought extra innings were necessarily more exciting than the first 9 but I do now.
I don't sweat the individual stats much (pitcher W-L). It's a team game- everything in context. The extra runner counts as unearned if he comes in.

And 3 on 3 overtime hockey is fantastic. I thought everyone agreed on that.

[ronmac]

Nobody in the history of the world will be able to convince me that a relief pitcher who does his job by getting the only batters he faces out, and still taking an extra inning loss is a good idea.

If they want to shorten games, stop the extra-long commercial breaks on national broadcasts. I do think a batter should have to keep one foot in the box, except after swinging. Isn't that already a rule. Enforce the 30-second pitch rule, or whatever it is. That's still a rule, right?

A three-hour, nine-inning game with the minimum amount of batters (54) comes to less than 3-1/2 minutes per at bat. Add more batters and the length goes down. Account for the time between innings and it goes down even more. So, what's the goal here, a two-minute AB? How do we accomplish that, cut a strike-out down to two strikes and a walk down to three balls?

You can only cut so much out.

I'm actually one who likes more baseball. I like extra innings and more double-headers. That's more baseball to me.

[Scott Bails]

Counterpoint---
Get the game over with
.

Just say that you don't like baseball, then.

I'm actually one who likes more baseball. I like extra innings and more double-headers. That's more baseball to me.

Right???

[Scott Bails]

It's time to talk about the real problem in baseball: umpires

The batter was called out on this play:

https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video...Qym.mp4?tag=12

[NogbadTheBad]

It's time to talk about the real problem in baseball: umpires

The batter was called out on this play:

https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video...Qym.mp4?tag=12

They're awful.

[ronmac]

It's time to talk about the real problem in baseball: umpires

The batter was called out on this play:

https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video...Qym.mp4?tag=12

Runner should have been out. Case closed. Were they calling interference? I must have missed something.

[Scott Bails]

Runner should have been out. Case closed. Were they calling interference? I must have missed something.

Yes - they called interference. My mistake. The batter was not called out, because of "interference."

[Tangram]

I'm actually one who likes more baseball. I like extra innings and more double-headers. That's more baseball to me.

I'm have no problem with extra innings. My beef is there is too much time when nothing is happening. No pressure on D because there is limited stealing and hitting behind the runner. Sit and wait for the HR, which against a top line pitcher doesn't happen too often. And off the end of the bat opposite field HR's are not a good look. I don't blame the teams for doing this, I blame the owners who have made most of the fields ridiculously small.

[Tangram]

While I'm ranting today , I 'm not in favor of all the replays either. The game is played by humans should be umped by humans. At this point MIT could build an unhittable pitcher, but I don't want to see that either.

[NogbadTheBad]

I'd agree if the umps weren't such egotistical entitled incompetent asshats.

[Poisoned Youth]

You sound like a bunch of old farts with red hats.

[ronmac]

I'd agree if the umps weren't such egotistical entitled incompetent asshats.

Indeed. I think the biggest problem right now is a lack of accountability with umpiring.

You sound like a bunch of old farts with red hats.

USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!

Make Baseball Great Again.

[NogbadTheBad]

You sound like a bunch of old farts with red hats.

How did you know I'm a Red Sox fan?

[Jerjo]

I can see keeping the human element and let the umps call balls and strikes. Then I recall the last game I saw called by Ángel Hernández and it all changes.

[Scott Bails]

Indeed. I think the biggest problem right now is a lack of accountability with umpiring.

So, last night, Bryce Harper gets hit in the face with a 97 mph fastball. He's apparently fine, thank God. However, the very next pitch, the Cardinals' Genesis Cabrera hits Didi Gregorius in the ribs, not far from his kidney. Nothing happens. Cabrera is allowed to keep pitching. Umpire gives a warning to both benches.

Are you fucking kidding me???

[ronmac]

So, last night, Bryce Harper gets hit in the face with a 97 mph fastball. He's apparently fine, thank God. However, the very next pitch, the Cardinals' Genesis Cabrera hits Didi Gregorius in the ribs, not far from his kidney. Nothing happens. Cabrera is allowed to keep pitching. Umpire gives a warning to both benches.

Are you fucking kidding me???

Yeah, the warning of both benches clearly penalizes the other team for doing nothing. Now, even if their pitcher makes a mistake and throws wildly toward a batter, he'll get the boot.