[Cobra Mgr]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

First of all, there's nothing wrong with more GKR time. The poor schmoes in the Tigers thread (Benatti will so much better, trust me) might have had their announcers on mute, but not I.

Secondly, taking away pickoffs affects game strategy right there. And I have no idea how many penalty balls were called last season, but I would guess it's greater than zero.

Thirdly, having players pressed for time (not by umpires doing their jobs and enforcing rules that were already on the books before the Mets were born, but by artificial countdowns and so forth) probably leads to hasty decisions. No more shaking off the signs to pitch strategically, just throw the fastball. No more deciding whether to place a bunt or try a hit and run, just close your eyes and swing real hard.

It promotes Dumb Baseball, which there was already an epidemic of.

And fourthly, it empowers Rob Numbfred (™Westheim) to continue to try and make tweaks, not to actually improve the quality of play, but to cater to the ADHD tastes of The Selfie Generation. That's what killed extra innings, if you've forgotten. Manfred chases the least-common-denominator New Coke fans enough already.

(New Coke was 1984. It was before even Crystal Pepsi. Damn, I am old. Even if I am trying to write fanmail to somebody who is 40 years older.)

The irony of course is that the vast majority of the people that Manfred is trying to pander to are busy watching TikTok so their Chinese masters can tell them whom to hate, but politics is a rabbit hole, so I'll stop there.

I know I'm losing. But I'm under no obligation to like it.

Oh no. I would never try to convince anyone to like it. I'm just trying to help you see the perspective of those who do. You're free to like/dislike whatever you want. I only take objection when people confuse their like & dislike for right & wrong.