MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred finally said something that will make true baseball fans happy on Tuesday when he announced the seven inning doubleheaders and the addition of a runner on second base in extra innings may not be part of the sport come 2022.
Whether or not he means it or it is simply a negotiating issue for when the CBA ends after this season is up for debate, because the commissioner hasn’t seemed like a guy working for the purists of the sport up to now.
As evidence, we present you the All Star Game uniforms worn during the Midsummer Classic.
The shortened games were loved by those who want to change the grand ‘ol game because it doesn’t hold their interest. Can you imagine the uproar in the NFL announced their Thursday night game would only be three quarters because of the short time in between games?
Or the NBA announced when both team were playing the second game of a back-to-back set, the second game would only be 40 minutes?
We don’t hear many true fans of baseball who think these changes were good for the sport.
Besides, have you ever been to an NFL game live? There’s a lot of downtime in football too. Think about after a touchdown, there’s a commercial, the kickoff, and likely another commercial. If you are at the game, that’s a lot of time where nothing is happening on the field.
We have said it before, if baseball wants to address the pace of play, it’s a rather simple fix. Stop allowing hitters to get out of the batter’s box after every pitch, particularly if they take the pitch. There shouldn’t be anything to adjust if you are just standing there.
Another target to “fix” the game is eliminating shifts. Why should you limit the way another team defends a batter? It’s one thing if a pitch is inside for the batter to try and pull, but how many times do you see a hitter try to pull an outside pitch when the opposite field (at least on the infield) is pulled over to the point the third baseman is playing shortstop?
Besides, it’s not like no one can hit the ball where defenders are not. Players like Michael Brantley, Xander Bogaerts, Trey Turner, and Cedric Mullins are all hitting over .310. It can be done.
While the commish is making changes (or correcting bad decisions) for 2022, let’s request the end of pitchers hitting in the National League. A universal DH for all of organized baseball!
If baseball wants to help its image, perhaps they should stop talking about all of the problems in the sport. You don’t hear Roger Goodell talking about the horrible officiating in the sport, right? Or Adam Silver talking about how 75% of his franchises are largely irrelevant.
Having the game evolve into a glorified home run derby isn’t good for the game, but when MLB Network shows highlight after highlight of homers, what do young people think?
It’s the same as the NBA when the four letter network started showing just dunks and three pointers as part of their package. Guess what kids start working on at the playground?
The game and the network seems to be fixated on Shohei Ohtani and Fernando Tatis Jr. in promoting the game’s young talent. We would broaden that to even more of the great young players in the sport, like Vlade Guerrero Jr., Rafael Devers, Ronald Acuna Jr., etc.
As for the swinging for the fences (and missing), sports are filled with copycats. Currently, the Astros lead everyone is runs scored, and they are doing it by striking out the least times of any team.
Other teams will look at that and think…maybe we can do that.
The best thing Manfred and his office can do this winter? Avoid a labor stoppage with the players. Not having baseball in the spring will drive the casual fans away.
That’s the worst kind of public relations.