{"id":347,"date":"2023-05-05T03:01:25","date_gmt":"2023-05-05T03:01:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/paisanosviewoftheworld.com\/?p=347"},"modified":"2023-05-05T10:29:54","modified_gmt":"2023-05-05T10:29:54","slug":"baseball-lets-fix-the-grand-old-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paisanosviewoftheworld.com\/?p=347","title":{"rendered":"Baseball, Let’s fix the grand old game!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I was reminded last week by a dear friend to try and not act like the guy who always yells, \u201cHey you kids get off my lawn\u201d when I do my post, but I like that guy, so here goes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I bashed the NFL last week and today I will take a swing at Major League Baseball. My dad was a baseball purest, he played and coached at several different levels, and I always enjoyed watching and listening to his little lessons of the game tutorials. The last few years of my dad\u2019s life, he couldn\u2019t watch an MLB game, it just wasn\u2019t baseball as he knew it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was part of a Major League Baseball survey during spring training, and I had to ask the folks conducting the survey, what\u2019s with all these changes, pitch clock, no shift, limited pick off attempts just to name a few. I was told that people weren\u2019t watching or attending the game, so we implemented this to win them back. I said, \u201cYou\u2019re changing rules for people who don\u2019t like the game\u201d, seems a little silly to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s review a few of these changes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ghost Runner, now this was implemented in 2020 but it is a stupid change. In all regular-season extra-inning games, a runner will be placed on second base to begin the 10th inning, and in every subsequent extra inning after that, until a winner is determined. What? MLB teams don\u2019t have to hit a guy to second, let\u2019s just put him out there, this is something you see in little league, not at the professional level. This one is bush league!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pitch clock, there\u2019s nothing inherently problematic about this proposal in and of itself, as excising dead time is at least a noble goal. What isn\u2019t particularly noble, though, is the ability for games to get derailed because of a pitch clock violation. Having a game be known as the \u201cPitch Clock Game\u201d because a key plate appearance swung on taking 21 seconds instead of 20, per an umpire\u2019s discretion, is something I hope never happens. I\u2019m all for speeding up the game but this problem stems from this ridiculous new breed of player who must adjust everything from his batting gloves, helmet, and his crotch between every pitch in an at bat. Really, the umpires should just stop granting these guys time and tell them to get the hell in the box and hit! Same thing with the pitchers! I can\u2019t wait for the first big game that is decided by a pitch clock infraction, I can hear it now, score tied, bases loaded, two outs, 3-2 count, the runners will be moving, oh wait, the batter wasn\u2019t in the box, game over. That will be right up there with the Kurt Gibson and Bobby Thomson home run calls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 I won\u2019t go into all the details, but part of the pitch clock changes also involves \u201cdisengagements,\u201d which refers to pitchers stepping off. It is unclear whether bona fide pickoffs count as disengagements. If they do, then pitchers only get two pickoffs, and the third is a balk unless it succeeds at throwing the runner out. If they don\u2019t, then it\u2019s far less consequential, but an MLB with only two pickoffs per plate appearance is basically going to be handing out free doubles to a bunch of batters. It\u2019s also going to result in more<\/em> pickoffs as nearly every runner pushes the pitcher to their limits, trying to get that sweet, free balk over to second. I honestly don\u2019t understand this change, but I know one thing you will not see the type of action like the one in the game below. I had to throw my Red Soxs comeback over the Yankees in for good measure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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