Kill the guy on second… The “Manfred Man,” The “Zombie Runner,” etc… Figure out something better for extra innings. It’s almost embarrassing, especially when explaining it to kids and newcomers…
The rule should have been that the batting team in extras gets their first batter in the inning a free IW, and the manager can decline it if they would rather have the guy take his at-bat. Yes, it may lead to more double-plays, but maybe the solution is to build a roster that doesn’t hit into so many double-plays.
I’m good with that, as an Orioles fan with Mateo and Mullins on the team… I guess I’m the old bastard on this one, really. I was okay with long games. Last O’s game I attended went 13 innings and I got to see damn near the whole team play. I absolutely loved it and wished it went to 33 innings… I get it, but I love watching live baseball. I hate the ghost runner so much. It reminds me of playing in the yard with just my sister when we were kids… Doesn’t belong in MLB, though. At least in my opinion. I like the choice of an optional intentional, though… That’s not a bad idea, really…
The thing that bugs me the most about the Manfred Runner is that it fucks with the batting order. For 150 years, we’ve had the notion that three guys are guaranteed to get to bat in every inning. Then Manfred plops an extra guy on 2nd, out of thin air, and if he makes an out then only 2 guys come to bat.
Any solution that would ensure that three guys make plate appearances is better than this.
Worst commissioner of all time. The changes he wrought to the game should be rolled back immediately. Fuck the DH
Robert Manfred is the only commissioner worse than Bud Selig. Baseball has perfected the art of trading ten dollars tomorrow for one dollar today under his stewardship.
Positives:
- Shorten game times and eliminated dead time
- Expanded wild card games
- Humidors everywhere? The sanctity of the statistics must be preserved
- Freely available data and stats! You can do super cool queries on some data and even find archival clips on the MLB Film Room site
Negatives:
- Astros sign stealing scandal, both the investigation (news orgs had to bring it to light) and the punishment were really poorly handled
- Fucking with the baseballs both juicing (possibly tainting a single season HR record?) and deadening them. You gotta be consistent in-season for the sanctity of the statistics
- Humidors everywhere? Isn’t it kind of fun that the ball plays differently in different stadiums because ya know, some places are dry and others are wet. Kind of like how each stadium is a little different
- Extra innings ghost runner. This has been said enough times but I’ll just add my voice in here too: it’s awful and must go
- Inter-league play
- Blackout restrictions
Neutrals
- Humidors everywhere
- Bigger bases
- Universal DH
All in all…I’m torn. I appreciate some rule changes that shorten game time without affecting the all holy numbers. But I don’t really like the standardization he’s brought to the game. Some of my favorite things about baseball are the unique characteristics of each team, city, and stadium. Baseball is a local game, not a national one like the other major sports. I’m intensely invested in my team’s division and, to a lesser extent, those in my league.
End blackout restrictions.
