This. And more of this. I love baseball and its traditions a lot, but as Joe says, a failure to change is not the same as staying the same. "If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice." New rules about defensive shifts, deadening the ball, lowering the mound, pace of play, etc. should all be under consideration. Look at how often other leagues make these changes! With the NFL, it's every season, it seems. Remember when the NBA had to implement illegal defense rules, and eliminate hand-checking? How about adding the 3 pointer? Adapt or die.
The fun inside the park home run video shows how easy it is for an almost routine play in the outfield to be played into a home run. I wonder what percentage of outfield errors are throwing errors? I would bet 80 - 90 because you have to be standing still and have the ball hit the inside of your glove and then pop out to get an outfield fielding error.
There are legitimate triples, (I saw Brett Phillips get one the other day) but in many of them the story is the outfielder fell down or missed the ball completely. When I hear that a slow guy got a triple, I look for the video to see who fell down. When I find it, someone always did.
When I was a kid, I saw Willie Wilson hit a triple Fenway. This was sometime in the early or mid-80s. He was running so incredibly fast and go to 3rd so quickly that when the play was over, my father and I both looked at each other and said, "Whoa".
Some dumb ideas for rule changes to increase incidence for triples...
- A hitter who gets on base via a triple and eventually scores counts for 2 runs instead of 1.
- A hitter who triples gets to call the pitches thrown to him for the rest of the game (call this the "Astros" rule)
- After 9 innings if the score is tied, the team who hit the most triples during the game is determined to be the winner.
- After a triple, the defensive players who were involved in the play (OF attempting to field, throw relay to try to nail the 'tripler' but failed, 3B-man fielding the throw) have to...
- ...start each of their ABs the rest of the game with an 0-1 count, and/or...
- ...make monetary donations to charity of 'tripler's' choice, and/or...
- ...play the rest of the inning/game with no pants.
here's the answer - deaden the ball. i'm not kidding.
of the 60s, bill james once wrote that it was a godawful boring brand of baseball, whole teams of .220-hitting shortstops who negotiated their contracts on whether they'd hit 10 or 12 home runs. that's today. baseball CAN still be great in pieces, but in toto? my god, i can't watch it. dudes who throw as hard as they can, guys that swing as hard as they can or wait for walks. mostly people just standing around waiting for the next 108-mph exit velocity, 448-foot home run. i can't watch it, and i love baseball.
deaden the ball, and once guys start blasting fly balls to the track instead of going yard, they'll be forced to hit line drives. once that's the case, you don't need to throw 95 mph to be effective. you can get guys out by changing speeds and keeping them off-balance. there will still be guys that throw 95 and guys that hit 450-footers, just like always...which is great! but i don't need to see it all the time.
I completely agree with this. Deaden the ball. It’s been done in the past when they thought offence was getting out of control but they’re so in love with the idea that everyone wants to see homers that they won’t.
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The way to preserve the game we love isn't to ask players or managers to engage in bad strategy. That comes from the Commissioner's office, and even though he has his hands full mismanaging the pandemic response, this is what he should do (you know, after fixing cheating and ensuring players and support staff and their families don't get covid).
1. Crack down hard on pitcher and batter delays. I don't love a pitch clock for the majors, but it's better than not. There should be no dead time during a PA. If pitchers can't throw 100mph without resting, then they don't throw 100.
2. Change the mound and strike zone to encourage balls in play.
3. Change park dimensions. Make them bigger and wider so fewer balls are hit out.
I think that's it, really. It's doable and entirely on the Commissioner to do it. What else is he there for if not to preserve the game for the fans?
The thing to mention is that there is a very specific responsibility here.
The players' responsibility is to win the game through their play.
The managers' responsibility is to work with the players in the best possible way to win the game.
The general managers' responsibility is to build the team and put the manager in place that will have the best chance to win the game.
It is the responsibility of the owners and the league organization to make sure that the ways teams are incentivized to win and the ways fans are incentivized to watch are as close to the same thing as possible. If fans like balls in play, then things should be adjusted to make putting more balls in play a better strategy. If fans like starting pitchers going deep into games, things should be adjusted to make that a better strategy. If fans like stolen bases...you get the idea.
How about an trying an incentive to keep the ball in play? If you hit the ball over the fence, you get the run(s) — but you also get charged with an out.
It will have to be something wacky like this. Many years ago, we played in a men's league slow pitch softball and you got one homerun per person. After that the next HR was an out. I am not saying that's what MLB should do, but it will take something radical to change the game.
Regarding outs on the basepaths: two days ago Oscar Mercado scored from second base on a ground ball to the shortstop, and it was one of the most thrilling plays I've seen in quite a while. It was aggressive baseball that put the pressure on the defense to make the play. And in fairness, it might not have been a smart play; he ran through a stop sign and was about two inches from being thrown out. But having that fresh in my mind makes me inclined to agree: baseball ought to nudge things in favor of creating action rather than sitting back and waiting for the long ball.
Never gonna happen. It's too effective. Teams' number crunchers will need to do the calculus that suggests that bunting occasionally would actually help them win games, and that in turn would help reduce these shifts. I saw the CIN-CLE game and the Indians somehow had, like, 11 guys standing right where the second baseman plays to defend against Joey Votto. The closest fielder was ~80 ft from third base. Votto could have bunted hard down the third base line for an easy single, maybe even gotten all the way to second before a fielder got there.
This. And more of this. I love baseball and its traditions a lot, but as Joe says, a failure to change is not the same as staying the same. "If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice." New rules about defensive shifts, deadening the ball, lowering the mound, pace of play, etc. should all be under consideration. Look at how often other leagues make these changes! With the NFL, it's every season, it seems. Remember when the NBA had to implement illegal defense rules, and eliminate hand-checking? How about adding the 3 pointer? Adapt or die.
The fun inside the park home run video shows how easy it is for an almost routine play in the outfield to be played into a home run. I wonder what percentage of outfield errors are throwing errors? I would bet 80 - 90 because you have to be standing still and have the ball hit the inside of your glove and then pop out to get an outfield fielding error.
There are legitimate triples, (I saw Brett Phillips get one the other day) but in many of them the story is the outfielder fell down or missed the ball completely. When I hear that a slow guy got a triple, I look for the video to see who fell down. When I find it, someone always did.
When I was a kid, I saw Willie Wilson hit a triple Fenway. This was sometime in the early or mid-80s. He was running so incredibly fast and go to 3rd so quickly that when the play was over, my father and I both looked at each other and said, "Whoa".
Some dumb ideas for rule changes to increase incidence for triples...
- A hitter who gets on base via a triple and eventually scores counts for 2 runs instead of 1.
- A hitter who triples gets to call the pitches thrown to him for the rest of the game (call this the "Astros" rule)
- After 9 innings if the score is tied, the team who hit the most triples during the game is determined to be the winner.
- After a triple, the defensive players who were involved in the play (OF attempting to field, throw relay to try to nail the 'tripler' but failed, 3B-man fielding the throw) have to...
- ...start each of their ABs the rest of the game with an 0-1 count, and/or...
- ...make monetary donations to charity of 'tripler's' choice, and/or...
- ...play the rest of the inning/game with no pants.
here's the answer - deaden the ball. i'm not kidding.
of the 60s, bill james once wrote that it was a godawful boring brand of baseball, whole teams of .220-hitting shortstops who negotiated their contracts on whether they'd hit 10 or 12 home runs. that's today. baseball CAN still be great in pieces, but in toto? my god, i can't watch it. dudes who throw as hard as they can, guys that swing as hard as they can or wait for walks. mostly people just standing around waiting for the next 108-mph exit velocity, 448-foot home run. i can't watch it, and i love baseball.
deaden the ball, and once guys start blasting fly balls to the track instead of going yard, they'll be forced to hit line drives. once that's the case, you don't need to throw 95 mph to be effective. you can get guys out by changing speeds and keeping them off-balance. there will still be guys that throw 95 and guys that hit 450-footers, just like always...which is great! but i don't need to see it all the time.
I completely agree with this. Deaden the ball. It’s been done in the past when they thought offence was getting out of control but they’re so in love with the idea that everyone wants to see homers that they won’t.
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The way to preserve the game we love isn't to ask players or managers to engage in bad strategy. That comes from the Commissioner's office, and even though he has his hands full mismanaging the pandemic response, this is what he should do (you know, after fixing cheating and ensuring players and support staff and their families don't get covid).
1. Crack down hard on pitcher and batter delays. I don't love a pitch clock for the majors, but it's better than not. There should be no dead time during a PA. If pitchers can't throw 100mph without resting, then they don't throw 100.
2. Change the mound and strike zone to encourage balls in play.
3. Change park dimensions. Make them bigger and wider so fewer balls are hit out.
I think that's it, really. It's doable and entirely on the Commissioner to do it. What else is he there for if not to preserve the game for the fans?
The thing to mention is that there is a very specific responsibility here.
The players' responsibility is to win the game through their play.
The managers' responsibility is to work with the players in the best possible way to win the game.
The general managers' responsibility is to build the team and put the manager in place that will have the best chance to win the game.
It is the responsibility of the owners and the league organization to make sure that the ways teams are incentivized to win and the ways fans are incentivized to watch are as close to the same thing as possible. If fans like balls in play, then things should be adjusted to make putting more balls in play a better strategy. If fans like starting pitchers going deep into games, things should be adjusted to make that a better strategy. If fans like stolen bases...you get the idea.
How about an trying an incentive to keep the ball in play? If you hit the ball over the fence, you get the run(s) — but you also get charged with an out.
It will have to be something wacky like this. Many years ago, we played in a men's league slow pitch softball and you got one homerun per person. After that the next HR was an out. I am not saying that's what MLB should do, but it will take something radical to change the game.
Regarding outs on the basepaths: two days ago Oscar Mercado scored from second base on a ground ball to the shortstop, and it was one of the most thrilling plays I've seen in quite a while. It was aggressive baseball that put the pressure on the defense to make the play. And in fairness, it might not have been a smart play; he ran through a stop sign and was about two inches from being thrown out. But having that fresh in my mind makes me inclined to agree: baseball ought to nudge things in favor of creating action rather than sitting back and waiting for the long ball.
Getting rid of defensive shifts would help a lot
I don't think that should happen. I don't think there should be rules about strategy, players placed like dolls on the field.
Never gonna happen. It's too effective. Teams' number crunchers will need to do the calculus that suggests that bunting occasionally would actually help them win games, and that in turn would help reduce these shifts. I saw the CIN-CLE game and the Indians somehow had, like, 11 guys standing right where the second baseman plays to defend against Joey Votto. The closest fielder was ~80 ft from third base. Votto could have bunted hard down the third base line for an easy single, maybe even gotten all the way to second before a fielder got there.