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Originally Posted by Syd Thrift
(along with the mandatory 8 pitches, the TV timeout, and the inevitable time-wasting by the manager as they work to bring in a new guy who isn't quite ready or whatever.
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I've been saying for years (maybe not hear) that anyone coming from the bullpen should be 100% ready to go when called from the pen (unless the current pitcher is injured and needs to be replaced unexpectedly) because they've been told to get warmed up. Therefore there is no need for them to warm up on the mound. Which also means there is no need for a commercial break. If a commercila "must" be shown then do picture in picture as the reliever walks to the mound.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Syd Thrift
But no, it's different and therefore it's bad.
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100% hyperbolic and unhelpful.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Syd Thrift
the vast majority of the game consists of watching the pitcher and batter stand around and call time-outs on each other while we wait for the game to progress.
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I believe that this is what slows games down more than anything and the 3 batter rule doesn't really address any of this. Almost all of the "time wasters" you describe happen between pitches. A 3 batter minimum rule doesn't speed any of those things up. It just eliminates a small fraction of wasted time (as described earlier in this post). What really needs to happen is for the time in between pitches to be sped up. That generally falls on the batters throughout the game and on pitchers later in the game as leverage situations become higher.
The biggest negative of the 3 batter rule is when it is clear after one batter that the pitcher really sucks but he still has to pitch to two more batters.
Speed up the time it takes to change pitchers and the time in between at-bats and the 3 batter rule is unneccesary.