..spring training? Batting position is based on how many PA you want them to get, not how many runs you hope to score in meaningless games.
Well, they've limited double headers to 7 innings, so they've eliminated 4 innings of baseball there for every double header.. And with the "ghostrunners" starting on second base, they've eliminated probably over 500 innings of baseball there every year. As far as the pitch clock, go back and watch games from the 50's through the 80's. There is really not much difference in time between pitches or number of pick off attempts. The real added length comes from the increase of using 8-10 pitchers in many games. At 5-6 minutes for every pitching change, there is your extra 30 minutes in game length compared to the 1960's and 70's. Do you want to limit each team to 3 pitching changes per game, because that is a lot of watching paint dry? I could care less what the NBA & NFL do.
I think it also means hitter/player emotions will play a bigger role. Like if a pitcher can't find the zone and is getting tagged, he has little time to settle himself. Same with a hitter who can't step out of the box to refocus. All for the better if it adds more excitement/unpredictability to the outcome.
I don't think 7 inning double headers are a thing anymore. I've come around to the ghost runner rule mostly because MLB in my view has now devalued the regular season by having more teams eligible for the playoffs. The long 162 season is to sort out the randomness of baseball and get the top teams to the playoffs. We don't have that anymore.
The game of baseball is constantly changing. Just look at stadiums........ 650-700 feet to center in the 1910's....... then starting around 1910 the stadium movement was to have really short alleys and maybe 400 feet to centerfield.......... then we had AstroTurf and the advent of huge multi-purpose stadiums that were deep to all parts of the park...... then we had a return to quarky stadiums similar to those from the 1920's-1940's... and we have baseball in Colorado. The ball at the turn of the 20th century had VERY loose seams and weighed more that now, the cost of each ball figured for inflation was $50..... then we went to a very hard and lighter ball in the 30's-50's and actually required balls to be constantly changed out. The balls in the 1960's were made in a different plant, and a lot of saw dust and cork material was used and homers and hits dried up .......... the ball now changes somewhat almost every year. We have greatly fluctuated on the enforcement of pitchers cheating......... we let spitballs in the deadball era and in the late 60's pitchers regularly altered balls. Yogi used to use sharpen the buckle on his catching guards and cut a piece of the ball off for Whitey Ford and others..... The owners are CONSTANTLY manipulating the game of baseball and have been for 100 years.... and this is no different.
Can't watch the game today so I have no idea how he looks, but I find it remarkable that so far Hunter Brown has managed to put 5 people on based and get two outs having only thrown 13 pitches.
Yeah, there were coaches and fans and even some players that were against the shot clock and said it would ruin the game. I have read about it a few times in books on basketball over the years. We don't hear much about it now because all those people are now dead. There were players and fans and sports writers and managers that believed that the homerun ruined the purity of the game of baseball, and that the game would never be as good again.
Then the Red Sox turn around and put two guys on and get 3 outs in just 7 pitches. Weird, weird inning. (I know exactly what happened, I'm watching the MLB Gameday page...just thought it was weird).
My only question is how will the timing of pitchers and hitters affect the intensity of those butt-clenching, bottom of the inning, 2 on 2 out ABs that grind out and have you on the edge of your seat in the post-season? If I'm seeing it right that kind of stage will be pretty much eliminated in favor of hurry up and get in and get out. Maybe no one cares anymore but to me that's what makes the MLB post-season so special. Its unlike any other professional game at that point. Every friggin' pitch is insanely intense. I live for that kind of baseball and I hate to see that stage go away in favor of getting it over quicker.
Exactly! A lot of the romanticism and drama of baseball is related to the buildup of intensity of those critical moments.
Difference in all of the other sports is baseball is not run by a clock for innings or possession. In basketball if a team didn't have a shot clock they could score 2 points and then hold the ball for the rest of the quarter or force a foul. In baseball, no matter how much time elapses the other team will always get an even number of innings if tied or behind. Basketball implemented the shot clock to maximize points in a game. Baseball is primarily just making the games shorter. Either way, I don't mind the new rules. Quicker pace means more mistakes by the pitcher most likely or even more managerial mistakes.
