Should baseball change its rules to speed up play and improve offense?

Interesting read.

Manfred smartly open to change, and some of these ideas might work

I wish the game would slow down ever more. It should be a rule that ball is passed at least five times before a shot is taken. I also hate the forward pass in football. It's a gimmick.

Edit: Thought it said basketball. Did not click link. Moved right to sarcastic commentary (as required by the description of this site).

Yes. It is tough going to see Tigers games live. It also is tough to sit through and entire game that doesn't have big implications.

Absolutely not. Sports need to stop trying to change their rules to respond to minor problems every 15 minutes. Football does this and it's leads to ridiculous controversies relating to things like the league not supplying the balls, no one understanding what a catch is, and other silly convoluted rules.

Just leave it alone. The only thing I'd be okay with is knocking out a commercial or two from each half inning break. Since God knows that won't happen, just deal with it as is.

Things like a pitching clock and other time saving stuff, sure, but prohibiting defensive shifts? What the fuck does that do except increase scoring which makes the game LONGER?

I don't know about a 'clock' per se, but I'm all for eliminating the bullshit one-upsmanship, game within the game crap that goes on between the batter and the pitcher. Stepping off the rubber. Hitter gets annoyed pitcher is taking too long, steps out of the box, adjusts his batting gloves, takes long sigh. Steps back in. Pitcher plays with his rosin bag. Batter holds his hand up and calls time to step out again and take 3 practice swings. etc etc.

That shit can go right away.

Easy fix...bring back PEDs!

Travis of the Cosmos wrote:Absolutely not. Sports need to stop trying to change their rules to respond to minor problems every 15 minutes. Football does this and it's leads to ridiculous controversies relating to things like the league not supplying the balls, no one understanding what a catch is, and other silly convoluted rules.

Just leave it alone. The only thing I'd be okay with is knocking out a commercial or two from each half inning break. Since God knows that won't happen, just deal with it as is.

Your example of football going way too far in the other direction is a good one - the NFL has made a joke out of protecting quarterbacks to the point that you can't even compare players from this era to any other because they're not playing the same game.

That being said, there must be a middle ground, no? I doubt Abner Doubleday intended baseball teams to be stocked with 20 pitchers, many of whom are employed solely to pitch to one batter per game. I also don't see any negative impact to the game of all but eliminating the ridiculous amount of time wasted between pitches, when a new pitcher comes in, etc. The constant stepping on and off the mound, in and out of the batters box, catcher visits to the mound, trading in baseballs, etc. adds no value to the game.

If there was more scoring in baseball it would mean more running around the bases and the players may actually get in good physical condition. So to answer the question, no.

I don't think the sports needs as much change as the fucking commercials/media time-outs. Imagine a basketball game without media time outs....

tTito wrote:If there was more scoring in baseball it would mean more running around the bases and the players may actually get in good physical condition. So to answer the question, no.

This answer upsets me. I challenge you to a duel!

LoneWolfSparty wrote:

This answer upsets me. I challenge you to a duel!

Did you know that dueling is still a criminal offense in the State of Michigan? True story.

LOL I looked it up and it's also a crime to insult another person for refusing to engage in a duel. MCL 750.175 & 176.

tTito wrote:

Did you know that dueling is still a criminal offense in the State of Michigan? True story.

LOL I looked it up and it's also a crime to insult another person for refusing to engage in a duel. MCL 750.175 & 176.

You wimp! How dare you turn down my challenge! (oops)

LoneWolfSparty wrote:

You wimp! How dare you turn down my challenge! (oops)

200 paces with AR-15s?

WhiteBoyHatcher wrote:I don't know about a 'clock' per se, but I'm all for eliminating the bullshit one-upsmanship, game within the game crap that goes on between the batter and the pitcher. Stepping off the rubber. Hitter gets annoyed pitcher is taking too long, steps out of the box, adjusts his batting gloves, takes long sigh. Steps back in. Pitcher plays with his rosin bag. Batter holds his hand up and calls time to step out again and take 3 practice swings. etc etc.

That shit can go right away.

I don't mind the back-and-forth between hitter and pitcher. Sometimes you really do need to step off the rubber. And imagine facing a pitcher and he holds the ball for 10 seconds while shaking off 2 or 3 signs. Really gets in your head and stepping out of the box can help regain composure.

I do hate the guys who mess with their batting gloves every pitch though.

A pitch clock is the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

Like Ever.