Quote:
Originally Posted by jlech1805
I always thought the best way to reduce the time of the game was to reduce number of commercial breaks.
This idea only works if the DH was universal.
Instead of changing sides after the 1st 3 outs just clear the bases.
I'd propose doing this with two sets of 3 then alternate like traditional baseball for last 3 innings.
It would reduce the # of commercial breaks from 17 to 9 or 16.67 Minutes
So this :
T1, B1, T2, B2, T3, B3, T4, B4, T5, B5, T6, B6, T7, B7, T8, B8, T9, B9
Becomes
T1 - T2 - T3, B1 - B2 - B3, T4 - T5 - T6, B4 - B5 - B6, T7, B7, T8, B8, T9, B9
|
By reducing the number of chances teams have to bring in relievers, they are literally reducing the number of spot breaks. Every single time a reliever comes in, he has to come in from the bullpen, take his ceremonial 8 warmup pitches, and in the meantime the manager is probably stalling a bit to make sure he's completely warmed up.
I honestly don't understand the "OMG they're ruining the GAAAME" stuff coming from this. It's obviously nostalgia, but it's nostalgia for a (to me) crappy thing that's been encroaching on the game since the early 90s, not, like, some time-honored tradition we're punting away. Like, yes, it used to be possible to bring in a guy for one batter in the 1920s. Nobody did that. Nobody used situational lefty relievers until, really, Tony LaRussa kicked it off with the A's in the late 80s.
Maybe this is a sign that I'm starting to get older, too, but I for one like little tweaks made to the game and I'd really love to see an overall kind of move back to something that feels a bit more like it was played in the 70s, 80, and early 90s. Granted, that's my childhood and we're always going to be nostalgic for our childhood, but games weren't as long and I feel like there was a more historical mix between offense and defense and between pitching and defense. Also, games were quite a bit shorter - in 1985 they were 2:45, compared to 3:10 last year.
Some of that, I have no idea how to fix - strikeout rates are insanely high now compared with even then and since they've been going up, up, up every year, practically, I don't know what measures the league can take to stop that - but some of it, like forcing teams not to use 6 damn relievers in a game unless they start really, really early or the pitching is really, really bad is a way to start.