Time to Jettison Some Of Baseball’s New Rules
Now that the 2024 season is over (Congratulations to the Dodgers of Los Angeles. They were the best team and proved it against New York’s Yankees), here are a few thoughts…
Over the past several seasons, Major League Baseball -to quite a bit of fanfare- ushered in several changes to the game. Mostly they are designed to increase the pace of play and reduce the length of games. One change in particular – the pitch clock – had the most significant impact, shaving off about 25 minutes per game. So, mission accomplished there.
But, not of all the changes were positive and many of them are no longer needed. Here are a few of the rules ballyhooed by baseball’s establishment that need to do a back flip back into the pool of bad ideas.
Maximum of two pickoff throws to first base per runner
They refer to it by a ridiculous word, “disengagement.”, This rule clearly favors the runner. Here’s why: If a pitcher fails to pick off the runner after two attempts, the pitcher is hesitant to try a third time. If he does, he risks a balk unless the pickoff is successful. The rule is so patently unfair that Ryan Yarbrough of the Dodgers was the last pitcher to pick off a runner on a third attempt. That was in 2023). Advantage to the runner, who can now use the pitch clock to his advantage because he can ____________. This was evident throughout the post-season and there have been no discernible results when it comes to actual time-saved.
Free Runner At Second Base To Start Extra Innings
This gimmick first showed up during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. In regular innings, you have to work to get a guy to second base. So now teams get a freebie in the 10th during extended play which occurs about nine percent of the time. Long extra-inning games (12 innings or more) are extremely rare. Between 2012-2017, there were 1,200 extra-inning games. According to Beyond the Box Score, 524 ended in 10 innings, 981 ended by the 12th inning, 169 ended in the 13th or 14th inning, and just 48 went 15-or-more.
Al Yellon of BleedCubbieBlue.com went even further: he did a deep-dive on the Chicago Cubs, and found that just 1.5 percent (or 25 games) of Cubs’ extra-inning games between 2009-2018 went 13 innings or longer. Yellon’s research found that of those 25 games, 15 went 13 innings, with the other 10 going longer. That means that just 0.6 percent of games went 14 innings or longer.
Extra innings is a bonus, a gift from the baseball gods. It offers more strategery and excitement and is one way baseball separates itself from other sports. Is there any empirical evidence that major injuries occur more frequently in extra innings than they do during the first nine innings? No. If it’s good enough to omit the ghost runner when they play big-boy baseball in the post-season, then MLB should be consistent and dump it altogether.
The Fakeout
This one appeared back in 2018, as the first of the so-called speed-up changes. How much time has been saved? As it turns out, not much: about 40 seconds per game, according to David Fink of Beyond the Box Score, who ran the numbers a few years ago. Other estimates put the number at about one minute. The reason: an intentional pass occurs only once every six games by some estimates. So. baseball dumped a unique part of the game whereby a pitcher must actually deliver the pitches, for an automated result that has done little, if any, to speed up the game.
Strange things can happen during a traditional intentional walk. Like the time in June of 2006 that Miguel Cabrera, then with the Miami Marlins, reached out and smacked an errant offering from Baltimore pitcher Todd Williams into center field, Not only was it embarrassing for Williams, but it lost Baltimore that game because Hanley Ramirez scored the winning run (in the 10th inning no less!).
In Game 3 of the 1972 World Series,the Oakland Athletics’ Rollie Fingers had two strikes on the Cincinatti Reds’ Johnny Bench After Fingers missed badly with a slider, A’s manager Dick Williams went to the mound for a chat with Fingers and catcher Gene Tenace. Williams gestured to first base and then returned to the dugout. Tenace went back behind the plate, stuck an arm out to the right and then squatted in time to catch what Fingers would later call, “…probably the best slider I’d ever thrown in my life.” Bench was caught looking. The A’s lost the game, but won the series in seven.
Do you remember the nine games Tony Pena played for the Houston Astros? Don’t feel bad, no one else does either…except for San Francisco Giant catcher Brian Johnson. Johnson struck out 26 times in 179 at-bats that year after being traded by the Detroit Tigers. One of those strikeouts: Pena called for an intentional walk after a Williamsesque meeting with pitcher John Hudek. With two outs and the Marlins leading, Hudek then fired strike three. Johnson and Pena must have had a beef at some point earlier, because Pena gave him the stink eye as he strutted to the mound to congratulate his pitcher.
This is fun baseball stuff. Or it was, anyway.
Use of Sliding Mitts (AKA “Oven Mitts”) By Baserunners
Oh, this one is a beaut. Ostensibly allowed to protect a runner’s hands and wrists, these mitts pose a .verifiable advantage to the base runner compared to a traditional batting glove They add at least one-to-three inches to a player’s reach – and that is a kind estimate. There is no rule in baseball defining the length of these mitts. Too bad Billy Martin isn’t managing in today’s game.If there were, I am sure he would keep a tape measure on his hip!
Bigger Bases
In 2023, MLB bases increased in size to 18 inches square from 15. Coupled with the use of oven mitts, the distance base runners have to go to steal a base has decreased by seven-to-nine inches. . It’s little wonder that stolen bases increased in 2024 to levels not seen in more than 100 years. According to MLB, players stole 3,617 bases this season, the most since 1915. . Imagine how many steals Rickey Henderson, Vince Coleman or Maury Wills would have had with nine-fewer inches to travel?
The Shift
Not satisfied with the explosion in home runs to assuage the fans, Commissioner Rob Manfred and his cadre of so-called experts pushed to alter the defensive shift. Many baseball experts blamed the shift for the lack of .300 hitters, so they restricted it significantly this year. Problem is, it backfired. Not since 1968 have we seen so few .300 hitters. Only seven players eclipsed the mark in 2024.
Future Bad Ideas
MLB can stop adopting cheesy experiments being incubated out of the Atlantic League. The latest antic the league adopted this year allowed a batter to “steal” first base on any pitch that was not caught by the catcher (basically, the dropped 3rd strike rule on steroids). How ridiculous is that?
Let’s Solve Some of Baseball’s Other Ills
Move the fences back (Oh, I can hear the screams from the bleachers already on this one). But, bear with me for a moment.
Most ballparks are around 330 feet down the lines, 375-380 in the alleys and 400-405 to center field. With a few exceptions, it’s been that way for decades. Problem is, today’s baseball athlete on average is bigger, stronger, and faster than his predecessors. Hitters are much quicker, able to turn on a 98 mph fastball or catch up to a clever breaking pitch. So, Baseball should adjust accordingly: go to 345 feet down the lines, 390 in the alleys, and a minimum of 420 to 435 to straight away center field. (This can be done in every ballpark except Fenway Park and Wrigley Field).
I know I’ll get a lot of jazz on this one. But consider:
One hundred fifty-six players struck out 100 times or more in 2024, the most in a generation. Moving the fences back will reduce strikeouts. Here’s why: it will force batters to stop swinging for the fences and instead fine-tune their hitting skills, such as learning how to hit behind the runner. The hit-and-run will return. You’ll see more bunting. The drag-bunt from left-handed batters will come back. Pitchers will rely more on control rather than heaving the ball 100 mph every time. You might even see the suicide squeeze –a veritable baseball rarity. You’ll see more triples – the most exciting plays in baseball. Watching a home run is instant gratification, but a triple requires engagement by at least three players, sometimes four! Think about it…
Gone will be the 60-home run season. And while you might lament the reduction in home runs, can you honestly say you miss a 20-win, 300-inning season by a pitcher? Can you even name the guy who led MLB in wins this year? Didn’t think so. But what you will see is baseball the way the game was meant to be played.
Some changes have made the game worse. It’s time for Major League Baseball to truly get into the 21st Century, with a bow to its storied past, and make changes that make sense.
Mike Marando is a former area sports writer and current Chairperson of the Rancho Cordova Sports Hall of Fame
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Never was a fan of the phantom runner to start xtra innings. The idea about moving the fences back is very interesting, though I’ve read that the original dimension of Yankee Stadium was like 461 to center field. Good article!