New Rules for 2020
What does everyone think of the new rules in place this year? Specifically: 3 batter minimum for a pitcher, extra innings starting with a runner on 2nd.
I am fine with 3 batter minimum rule. I think it is a good idea. The DH rule should be in effect. That was what separated the 2 leagues. I do not like the extra inning, guy on 2nd base rule. I think it stupid. The hitter should get on 2nd base by actually hitting the ball and a getting on 2nd. If they think that will make the game end faster, I do not think so. I am also not a fan of the double header 7 decision. Where both games are only 7 innings. While I am at not a fan of interleague play during the regular season. Interleague should only be for pre season, all star and world series. I think it takes away from the World Series. Since the teams already played each other in the regular season. That comment was pre covid. I am ok with the interleague this year because it is a shorten season and with Covid you should not have the teams traveling all over. Try to keep the traveling down to a minimum. So playing your division and the counterpart division in the other league is fine for this year. Adding more teams to the playoffs, I don't agree with it. I am old school. Top 3 division winners and one wild card team. That is it. This is not hockey, basketball and football where almost ever team gets into the playoffs. I say stop trying to change the game and play it the way it was originally meant to be played...
I'm always up to see how new rules develop and this is a good year to experiment. Some of these rules were used in the Atlantic League last year. I agree mostly with NJ_Devil. I always liked the DL rule and think the NL should adopt it. I'm sorry that the role of the set up man is gone with the three batter minimum. Let's see how the man on second plays out. It would have been real interesting if they adopted the electronic ball/strike calls. And after watching yesterday's Yankee/Red Sox game, get rid of the digitized fans. They are stupid.
I largely agree with your comments. In the extra-inning games that I've seen so far, the added base runner hasn't shortened the game any. It does require a bit more strategy, which is what I think makes it more interesting. It does feel like a cheat to me especially when they have to go out of their way to account for the potential run scored without impacting pitching / batting stats. Baseball always seems to be monkeying with rules every year though. It's getting to be almost as bad as the NFL. I understand that they want to pick up the pace of the game and make it more exciting, but it's never going to be the NBA or NHL. It's a game of patience and strategy.
I'm really hopeful that the 7 inning double header rule is just for this year and just because of the compact season. I'm not a fan of it either.
It would have been real interesting if they adopted the electronic ball/strike calls. And after watching yesterday's Yankee/Red Sox game, get rid of the digitized fans. They are stupid.
I agree! I really do not like the wild variation in pitch calls. It's part of the game, I know, but you have to wonder how much any bias an umpire has towards a particular pitcher tilts a game. And yes, the digitized fans in yesterday's game was stupid...especially when any replay shows the exact same area completely empty. We all know that there is no game attendance, why pretend otherwise? I'm still up in the air about the fan noise audio. It would seem odd not having some noise, but I think it's more for the players than for viewers.
I like the fan noise. It's like a laugh track on a sitcom. It adds perspective. One of the home runs showed the fans in the upper deck reaching for the ball when the replay showed the ball went into the lower deck. In the other hits, no one scrabbled at all. WTF? I don't like th 7 inning double header but understand why they did it this year because they are anticipating a lot more of them.