Baseball will never be the same when it comes back. The National League will never look again like it did in 2019. The minor leagues will never look again like they have since we’ve gotten to really know them in 1989. Postseason play might never be quite as exclusive as its has been, and free baseball will never quite seem like the value it did for generations leading up to this pivotal summer of 2020.
These are indisputable facts right now, as Major League Baseball will resume — if it indeed can as it plans to in late July — under the framework of rules the league and players ultimately will have to decide on over the long term. The designated hitter will be used in both leagues. There will be no minor league seasons. Runners will open extra innings on second base. And at some point, both sides are going to discuss expanding the playoff field from five teams per league to — who knows, maybe everybody makes it?
We all know how these rule changes go. Some work. Some don’t. Some are expected to be great — expanded instant replay, for example — and turn out to be more frustration than they’re worth. Others come in with major questions — like adding a second wild-card team in each league in 2012 — and work brilliantly.
So, which ones will succeed, and which will be little more than bloopers? Here are the odds.
Universal DH
On May 21, 2005, Dae Sung Koo strode to the plate in what had to be the biggest hitter vs. pitcher mismatch in baseball history. The Mets reliever had one previous at-bat in his big league career and stood so far from home plate, you can still see video of it floating around the internet. This time, he was facing the intimidating Randy Johnson, who made his share of real-life big-league lefties quake in fear throughout his career.
It’s difficult to forget what happened next. Koo’s Mets were taking on Johnson’s Yankees on a Saturday afternoon, and as Johnson lifted his lanky right leg to start his wind-up on a 1-1 pitch, FOX Sports’ Hall of Fame broadcaster, Tim McCarver called this “the biggest give-up at-bat” of the 2005 season. And as those words escaped McCarver’s ample windpipe, Koo swung and crushed a fastball to center. Bernie Williams, playing laughably but predictably shallow, had to hustle to the ball to hold Koo to a double. Shea Stadium rocked, and it went into hysteria just a few pitches later when Koo, wearing his warmup jacket, scored from second base on a bunt.
There was just no way to ever predict that would happen, one of those moments you remember forever because it was so unlikely.
That said, there are too few moments we’ve been given of that quality from one pitcher hitting against another. Phillies starter Joe Blanton hitting a home run during the 2008 World Series is a good one. Rick Wise hitting two bombs on a day he pitched a no-hitter in 1971. Certainly there are some others, but you just as surely couldn’t talk about those moments for hours.
Honestly, I’d have been OK with any change here as long as it made both leagues uniform under the rules. But to keep the pitchers hitting because it has always been done, even though they’ve largely been automatic outs? Makes little sense.
Odds of sticking: 1-to-2
Extra-inning runner
I wanted, so badly, to hate this rule when they began trying it in Triple-A a few years ago.
Problem is, it added something.
Sure, the days of the 19-inning marathon are probably over. But extra-inning games, for my money, tend to get sloppy. You have every player swinging for the fences. You have the last man out of the bullpen trying to get you five more outs than his talent level indicates he can. There’s really no managing either, because you’re likely short in the pen and on the bench by that point.
The way the game is played goes in cycles, and right now, we’re in one where velocity, the long ball and strikeouts are all that matter. Except in extra innings of Triple-A games, where this rule made small ball a necessity again. You always had speed on second. There was always a need to push runners over. The teams that did well in extras were the ones that handled the bat well.
If only for an inning, I think old-school baseball fans will really like to watch that again.
Odds of sticking: 3-to-1
Expanded playoffs
Players made sure this didn’t take effect in the shortened 2020 season, but owners are going to push for it during collective bargaining negotiations in 2021, so we’ll include it here.
Essentially, owners want to add another pair of wild-card teams in each league, bringing the total number of teams making the postseason to 14. That’s 10 more than there were 26 years ago.
Fact of the matter is, MLB’s playoff system might be the best in pro sports right now. There’s little chance a mediocre team could win the World Series, because there’s little chance a mediocre team could even make the playoff field.
If these rules were in place in 2019, the Boston Red Sox, who played .519 ball for the season and had basically given up hope in early September, would have made the AL field. Which would have meant that every team that finished better than .500 in the AL would have made the playoffs.
This system is great right now. Teams that win a division are rewarded. The two best teams that don’t win a division have a one-game play-in. Nobody wants to play a play-in game, of course, because anything can happen in one game. So, that encourages teams to compete for division titles and not settle for wild cards like they did when there was only one berth. Makes perfect sense.
Expanding playoffs is just a money grab, an attempt to keep a few more fan bases interested. And while that makes fiscal sense, there’s only so much you can water down your playoffs. Owners will appreciate the extra dollars. Maybe fans will, too, until the third-place team in the AL East wins a World Series.
Odds of sticking: 10-to-1.
"Short" - Google News
July 05, 2020 at 11:00AM
https://ift.tt/2ZGC5dE
Collins: Short MLB season brings changes. Which ones will stick? - Wilkes-Barre Citizens Voice
"Short" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2QJPxcA
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Collins: Short MLB season brings changes. Which ones will stick? - Wilkes-Barre Citizens Voice"
Post a Comment