It's not the strategic changes that bother me. It's the K's & Hr's.
Pitchers aren't striking out more hitters, more hitters are striking out because the only thing they can hit is HR's.
I like baseball when there's runners on base. That's when things get exciting for me. That's when lots of things can happen. That's when you use strategy.
I'm not a Cardinals fan, but I loved Whitey Herzog's managing style in the 80's. Manufacture a run - get the lead guy on, steal a base, get a hit. Make things happen, get the fans involved in every pitch, every little inch the runner takes in his lead-off from 1st. Is he going or not? Is it a hit and run?
That's strategy to me.
Watch baseball now and there's far too much Is it a HR? or another long fly out? Or another strike out?
One of MLB's ideas at first was to ban the shift rather than force batters to learn how to hit the opposite way. Why use strategy & talent to beat the shift when you can just make a rule? Really MLB? That's your idea of selling the game and drawing in more fans?
Go ahead and make all the changes you like, openers, followers, ban the shift - but for this fan from the 50's and 60's I'll tell you I don't watch very much baseball anymore, mainly because of the lack of strategy and "excitement".
Sorry, but I still remember when Hr's were exciting to watch.
