3-Batter Minimum Rule

[RubeBaker]

How many of you have kept this rule in place for 2020? I personally am NOT a fan of it, but since it is now part of the MLB rules, I have kept it.

[Cryomaniac]

I'm not keen on it, but I mostly play fictional leagues anyway, so I have it turned off.

[CBeisbol]

I'm not playing any modern day leagues, so I don't use it

I think it's a bad rule

I should play with it a little to get a feel for it in practice

[ohiodevil]

I personally do not like the rule and feel the only reason they put it in place was to try and get younger fans interested in the "faster pace" baseball.

That said, I leave the default rules in place so I have learned to deal with it when managing a game.

[BBGiovanni]

Originally Posted by CBeisbol

I'm not playing any modern day leagues, so I don't use it

I think it's a bad rule

I should play with it a little to get a feel for it in practice

I think you'll be surprised how little a difference it makes, especially if you put a guy in with one or more outs on the board. I've still used a LOOGY for a lefty to make the 3rd out, then you just PH for him normally. Like most of these little goofball things they've done (like the no-pitch IBB), it's a whole lot of noise about something that is like 9,663rd on the list of things MLB should change or fix and doesn't really do much in practice. Most of the MBA-type GMs won't let their managers use relievers for one appearance any more anyway so Bochy-style ROOGY/LOOGY guys aren't much use any more and whenever MLB comes back it will probably be about like the mound visit limit.


Note that there is an option to select minimum number of batters, it's not JUST 3 man minimum or nothing. I turned it down to 2 in the next season I started to see how that goes but haven't played any games with it yet. Reading through this thread has made me curious about setting it to 5 or something just to see what happens (I turn pitcher stamina up so even the shortest relievers can pitch to that many in my games). But after the novelty wears off I'm sure it will just become one more box to uncheck when I start a new game.

[The Yurpman]

I kept it on to see how it would work, despite thinking it's a completely dumb rule. Not only will it not speed up the game, the rule will end up taking jobs away from guys who were specialists. You could argue that now, someone will take that job that can get three batters out instead of someone being really good at getting one specific batter out, but I'd like to see how that realistically plays out, first. I know in my modern day game I'm playing, I can't afford to keep a RP that can only get out LHB, for example, on my main roster. With this rule, I'd rather have a 45/45 pitcher that does an alright job than a 60/60 pitcher that I know can get a lefty out, but will then get shelled by a righty.

I'm hoping when MLB comes back in 2021 (this year is lost) they ditch this rule before even trying it.

[RBI Baseball]

Originally Posted by RubeBaker

How many of you have kept this rule in place for 2020? I personally am NOT a fan of it, but since it is now part of the MLB rules, I have kept it.

I'm with you. Don't like it, but I use it.

I don't think it was necessary to achieve Manfred's goals. LOOGYs were already fading out of the game, since the heavier reliance on bullpens makes it less practical to carry guys who can't give you innings.

[slugga27]

I don’t like it for real life, but I love it in OOTP. It helps with AI bullpen management.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[TomVeal]

It just occurred to me that another way to speed up the game would be to eliminate circling the bases after a home run. Just have the batter and any runners on base go straight to the dugout. (Requiring them to sprint would save even more time, but the saving might be lost when the opposing team challenged whether they had run fast enough, necessitating a video review.)

[CBeisbol]

Originally Posted by TomVeal

It just occurred to me that another way to speed up the game would be to eliminate circling the bases after a home run. Just have the batter and any runners on base go straight to the dugout. (Requiring them to sprint would save even more time, but the saving might be lost when the opposing team challenged whether they had run fast enough, necessitating a video review.)

Works well enough in some softball leagues I've been in - when we have to stick to a schedule. Never actually thought of the time saving benefit of it.

I thought I'd hate the the 0 pitch intentional walk. I don't

I think I'd hate the no round the bases home run. But if teams made a cool celebration I'd probably get used to it

Seeing some people burst into righteous anger flame when a player ran off the field on a ball off the wall would be cool

[Cryomaniac]

Originally Posted by CBeisbol

Works well enough in some softball leagues I've been in - when we have to stick to a schedule. Never actually thought of the time saving benefit of it.

I thought I'd hate the the 0 pitch intentional walk. I don't

I think I'd hate the no round the bases home run. But if teams made a cool celebration I'd probably get used to it

Seeing some people burst into righteous anger flame when a player ran off the field on a ball off the wall would be cool

This reminded me of Jose Bautista's bat flip after that home run that time.

[Westheim]

I use the stupid rule in my 2020 Mets game. I would never use it in a fictional league. I pretend my fictional league office has a shred of brainz left.

Originally Posted by TomVeal

It just occurred to me that another way to speed up the game would be to eliminate circling the bases after a home run.

Who stole your sense for fun ...?

[TomVeal]

Yep, we've got to eliminate this "fun" if baseball is ever going to attract woke millennials. My next idea is to ban crowd noise (easily accomplished by playing games only in empty stadiums).

Looking further at time wasters, why should fielders have to make routine defensive plays? Just have the umpire call the batter out, give the pitcher a new ball, and get on with the game.

Ultimately, live players should be replaced by CGI animations, which won't need to check the base runners before pitching, step in and out of the batter's box, change gloves after reaching first base, chase uncatchable foul balls, run on and off the field, etc.

[CBeisbol]

Originally Posted by TomVeal

woke millennials.

Oh

[brian_msbc]

Originally Posted by TomVeal

Yep, we've got to eliminate this "fun" if baseball is ever going to attract woke millennials. My next idea is to ban crowd noise (easily accomplished by playing games only in empty stadiums).

Looking further at time wasters, why should fielders have to make routine defensive plays? Just have the umpire call the batter out, give the pitcher a new ball, and get on with the game.

Ultimately, live players should be replaced by CGI animations, which won't need to check the base runners before pitching, step in and out of the batter's box, change gloves after reaching first base, chase uncatchable foul balls, run on and off the field, etc.

It’s also kinda of a waste of time waiting on pitches that the umpire already knows is going to be a ball. Why wait for it to hit the Catchers glove? Go ahead and fire the next pitch!

[BBGiovanni]

Originally Posted by slugga27

I don’t like it for real life, but I love it in OOTP. It helps with AI bullpen management.

Now that you mention it, that is a useful side effect, and I've even seen teams try to have their closer pitch two innings (which is a plus for me, I turn pitcher stamina up). And fewer 3-game series where they use the same middle relievers in every game.


As for speeding up the game, of course it does nothing, especially compared to reducing commercials or, more importantly, the amount of time batters spend diddling outside the box and pitchers spend wandering around the mound.


Want to see a crisp, well-paced ballgame? Go to any game above high school level not run by MLB. Minor league teams fit games in between innings, countless promotions during the game, and it all goes way faster than major league games. College games with the new bats are the same. If Commissioner Klink or any owners actually watched baseball games it would be so much less mysterious for them.

[fuzzy_patters]

My experience with it has been that the biggest impact it has is making it so that relievers with large L/R splits aren’t as valuable. For example, if your opponent has L/L/R/L coming up, I used to bring in a situational lefty for the first two guys and then a righty for the third guy. He might end up facing that fourth lefty with two outs, but a lot of times the righty would have more even splits than the LOOGY, so I was okay with it. Now I have to decide if I trust the lefty against the third guy. After getting beat several times the first year when the lefty would go off the rails in these situations after getting the lefties out, I stopped carrying relievers with big splits.

[Giants44]

extremely simple for me - historical NO. modern YES - for the most part I like to play the game with rule set of the time it represents.

best thing about OOTP always is you can customize it to whatever you want

[Dorfmann]

Nope. I started my MLB save in OotP 18 and am currently in the year 2026. In my universe, such a rule change never happened.

[CBeisbol]

Originally Posted by Giants44

best thing about OOTP always is you can customize it to whatever you want

Not always
I like a form of baseball with no lineups, up to 7DHs and unlimited substitutions
OOTP can't give me that