MLB 2023 Season

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by thehef

Re those two rules: The wussification of the game continues. Not just in how the game & strategy have evolved, but also via codification. Thank goodness for OOTP.

Amen!

[cephasjames]

Originally Posted by mytreds

I am 37 and find baseball great to watch, especially the games from 10-20 years ago.

When you prefer a product from 10-20 years ago, then the current product is not as good. That's a problem.

Originally Posted by mytreds

Sounds like you need to follow another sport. People with your mindset need to stop trying to change a sport that was already good. Go to another sport or make your own.

Sports change and adapt all of the time. Their number one goal is to keep people's attention. As a whole, professional baseball is not gaining the attention of people who are farther away from death (i.e. "young people:"). As the older fans die off, there are fewer and fewer fans to take their place. That's a problem.

Originally Posted by mytreds

This is the national pastime for Pete’s sake.

No. No. By any measurable metric, no. It is still a pastime. But is no longer the pastime... and hasn't been for a while now.

Originally Posted by mytreds

You don’t need to change it! It’s like wanting to change the Eiffel Tower or the Pantheon.

Eiffel Tower is reportedly badly in need of repairs

The Eiffel Tower is riddled with rust and in need of full repairs, but instead it is being given a cosmetic 60 million euro paint job ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris

Apparently, even the classics need fixing every once in a while.

Baseball, as a whole, is not gaining as many (by a long shot) younger fans as its losing older fans. That's a problem.

[zappa1]

I smell more plastic burning.

[Boomcoach]

I rarely root for a company to go broke, but if Sinclair Sports goes under, taking Bally with it, there is a chance that I could actually get to see some Reds games for the first time in 2 years!

[cephasjames]

I would love it if blackouts were over.

[Syd Thrift]

As much as I think some of the changes are kind of dumb (the banning of the shift especially), I do think that baseball is actually trying to do things to make the game more interesting and I applaud them for that. I like the game but man I’d like it a lot more if there was less time spent between pitches and fewer pitches per at-bat. They’re at least making a real concerted effort to address the former, although in the past umpires have just ignored the pitch clock so I’m waiting with bated breath. Not sure how you hit the latter at this point TBH.

The ghost runner rule I admit initially struck me as too much tinkering but I will say that even in OOTP those extra inning games that just go on and on and on are baaaaad. I think I’d still prefer they just call it a tie after 12 innings but, well, purists would hate that too.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by mytreds

I am 37 and find baseball great to watch, especially the games from 10-20 years ago. Sounds like you need to follow another sport. People with your mindset need to stop trying to change a sport that was already good. Go to another sport or make your own. This is the national pastime for Pete’s sake. You don’t need to change it! It’s like wanting to change the Eiffel Tower or the Pantheon.

Good post. Millions of fans would agree with it. You know what the problem is, though? Not enough millions of fans. Not enough profit. Oh, they are all making a tidy profit, of course, but not enough. Never enough.

It is this insane drive for more and more money that is ruining baseball. All throughout our society, enough is never enough.

So here is advice from an old duffer. Perhaps it is surprising to hear it from me, but it's this: It's still a beautiful game, even after all this. Roll with all of this and continue to enjoy it because there is nothing any of us can do when Mammon must be served.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Syd Thrift

As much as I think some of the changes are kind of dumb (the banning of the shift especially), I do think that baseball is actually trying to do things to make the game more interesting and I applaud them for that. I like the game but man I’d like it a lot more if there was less time spent between pitches and fewer pitches per at-bat. They’re at least making a real concerted effort to address the former, although in the past umpires have just ignored the pitch clock so I’m waiting with bated breath. Not sure how you hit the latter at this point TBH.

The ghost runner rule I admit initially struck me as too much tinkering but I will say that even in OOTP those extra inning games that just go on and on and on are baaaaad. I think I’d still prefer they just call it a tie after 12 innings but, well, purists would hate that too.

Another good post. When I shake my nostalgic blues, I realize that this is mostly true. I will try to blink away those memories and look at baseball as it is today.

[Boomcoach]

I like the fact that several of the rules changes, eliminating the shift, limiting pickoff throws, larger bases, seem to have a chance to bring more motion into a game that has become increasingly static.

More singles and more steals would be a welcome re-introduction. Now to see if it works out that way or not.

[thehef]

Both the pitch clock and extra-innings runner goes directly towards the younger fans (whom MLB is struggling to attract) who want things now, and fast. Not a criticism; it is what it is. Though I may not like the extra-innings rule (I'm fine with the pitch clock) - and that I think Manfred is gutless idiot - I can't fault MLB for recognizing this and trying to do something about it.

[rudel.dietrich]

Originally Posted by mytreds

I am 37 and find baseball great to watch, especially the games from 10-20 years ago. Sounds like you need to follow another sport. People with your mindset need to stop trying to change a sport that was already good. Go to another sport or make your own. This is the national pastime for Pete’s sake. You don’t need to change it! It’s like wanting to change the Eiffel Tower or the Pantheon.

I have lots of sports I like. I work in sports. I used to be a massive baseball fan when I was younger.

Now I find them boring but the biggest issue is the length of the game.
The average game is 3 hours and 3 minutes.

And the average team once the season gets rolling plays 6 times a week.
So your looking at an 18 hour per week time investment to follow just one team.

With the way my life is now, I simply cannot make that investment anymore.

[monkeyman576]

I don't like the changes they are making but they want to compete with football and basketball for some reason.

[pilight]

It's very strange to see people talking about competing with football in this context. The average NFL game is still longer than the average MLB game and has as much or more down time. College football games are much longer than that.

[Cobra Mgr]

Manfred says plan in works if DSG goes bankrupt.

[Cobra Mgr]

Dang, I forgot there was a Stephen Strasburg. Still injured.

[Boomcoach]

While speeding up the pace of play is a good thing, I am more bothered by the lack of action, and if the rules changes generate more balls in play, more baserunners and more baserunning, I will be a happy camper.

[cephasjames]

Originally Posted by pilight

It's very strange to see people talking about competing with football in this context. The average NFL game is still longer than the average MLB game and has as much or more down time. College football games are much longer than that.

Football's "down time" has considerably more "action" than baseball's "down time." Baseball's down time consists of players literally standing around waiting for the next moment of action - the next pitch to be thrown. Football's down time consists of players running on and off the field, players going into and breaking up from the huddle, and players lining up on the line of scrimmage. I mean, players in motion before the snap are doing so during down time. "Down time" in football only stops once the ball is snapped. There's a huge difference in the amount of action that happens during the down times in football and baseball.

[thehef]

Originally Posted by cephasjames

Football's "down time" has considerably more "action" than baseball's "down time." Baseball's down time consists of players literally standing around waiting for the next moment of action - the next pitch to be thrown. Football's down time consists of players running on and off the field, players going into and breaking up from the huddle, and players lining up on the line of scrimmage. I mean, players in motion before the snap are doing so during down time. "Down time" in football only stops once the ball is snapped. There's a huge difference in the amount of action that happens during the down times in football and baseball.

Yep. That, and the fact that football's down-time is typically filled with a (usually) interesting replay of the last play. Can't say that about the down-time between every pitch in baseball.

[monkeyman576]

Originally Posted by thehef

Yep. That, and the fact that football's down-time is typically filled with a (usually) interesting replay of the last play. Can't say that about the down-time between every pitch in baseball.

I usually watch baseball while I'm multitasking and doing other things to be honest.

[Déjà Bru]

People are nuts. By that, I (try to) mean some people are quite nuts; many people are somewhat nuts; but most people are fine. Right?

People don't know what to do with their money, so they send it to Carlos Rodon by Venmo, begging him to come to the Yankees in free agency? The guy who came away with $162 million over six years?

To his credit, he sent the Venmo money to a kid who needs it.

What Carlos Rodon did with money Yankees fans sent him during free agency