the first new MLB rules since '96

if they want to avoid 1B collisions though just do the double base thing from softball

Also the drinking between innings from softball. Will help you go limp in case of a collision.

we can reinstitute beer kegs at third base to encourage balls in play

keeping infielders in place seems fine to me

I'm resistant to the idea of pickoff limitations, timers (antithetical to baseball), and any pace-of-play stuff. It's baseball! Proceed at your own pace!

agreed

i kinda thought the shift would lead to more varied, less pull-happy swings, but it never really happened

a surefire way to increase action on the basepaths is of course to deaden the ball to some unspecified degree but hahahahahaha

i think over time ... like 5-10 years ... players would adjust how they hit for the shift, forcing a counter by defenses and thus rebalancing things a bit. but i'm down with MLB being like, it's better for balls to fall in the field of play for hits and we're not going to wait on natural regression to fix this

but it would be better for the game to have hits land in all parts of the field and not just crushed for power (or be swung on and missed - which is the other thing that happens when you “cheat” on a pitch to try and wrap your bat around it) - the broadcast booth always waxes on interminably about contact hitting and inside-out swings and “going with” the pitch but i think they’re not wrong and it’s weird that wouldn’t translate into actual support in the rules for that style of play

tracer they're deadening the ball this year!

eh??!

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-planning-small-changes-to-deaden-the-baseball-for-2021-season-per-report/amp/

i think over time ... like 5-10 years ... players would adjust how they hit for the shift, forcing a counter by defenses and thus rebalancing things a bit.

teams have been shifting for a decade now and i think what we're seeing *is* the adjustment. if they need a man on base, people like freddie freeman or j.d. martinez will drop a bunt down to third every once in a while, but they and their teams have concluded that when every pitcher has a 98mph fastball, it's too hard to string together three singles to score a run. better to try to hit the ball in the air and hope it goes out.

(also the way players are rewarded incentivizes dingers as opposed to inside-out swings.)

maybe a deadened ball will lead to more warning-track outs and a change in philosophy. but i think the issue is less the shift than the fact that pitchers are throwing so much harder than they were even 10-15 years ago, and even lowering the mound won't help with that. when tony gwynn was asked whether he preferred to face fastballs or off-speed stuff, he chose the latter, because it gave him more time to see the pitch.

we might soon be reaching the limits of how hard people can physically throw baseballs, but i think ultimately they're gonna have to move the rubber back, and i'm not sure anyone has the appetite for that

this feels like the key

stringing together multiple hits in an inning is so difficult

there's still no telling how much the ball is actually being "deadened", and meredith wills (who's been researching this for years now) suggested the changes might actually make the balls livelier

i don't have a BP subscription but this article apparently suggests the same thing

Since we are brainstorming here, and I do like the idea of moving back the rubber, what about reducing the size of the strike zone?

that shouldn't even be controversial, it's been getting bigger and bigger over the past decade

i guess they're paving the way with the (slightly) larger bases, but moving the rubber back would be an incredible clusterfuck. rip george will yet again

no doubt manfred sees it as an opportunity to split the union; he's probably right

https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2021/3/15/22331075/pitching-mound-move-distance

The Atlantic League, a minor league hotbed for innovation in baseball, will announce plans Wednesday to move the pitcher’s mound back 12 inches from home plate this season, according to two people with knowledge of the arrangement. The move represents one of the most stark rule changes proposed by baseball leadership in a generation and comes amid sweeping changes on the minor league level designed to reduce home runs and strikeouts and increase the action from batter to batter.

The eight-team Atlantic League, which has franchises along the East Coast, will enact the change during the second half of its 120-game regular season, one person familiar with the matter said. It will be the first change of mound regulations in professional baseball since 1969, when MLB lowered the mound after a season in which seven starting pitchers posted sub-2.00 ERAs.

Not sure how this would reduce home runs

I wonder what the average game time is when total runs are >20.

Feels like this should be an injury risk for pitchers somehow? 20 years of muscle memory (and actual muscle) being disrupted almost overnight?

i said it in the general thread, but i’m a big fan of 7 inning games. managers have to be more aggressive - more bunts, get things happening. you don’t just sit back waiting for the homers.

You ever see a post and think man I wish morbs was here to respond to that

haha oh man he’d throw a beer at my head and i’d love it. sorry morbs - the game’s changed! 9 innings were good in the 50s. 7’s good now. unless somebody has a better way to both create more action on the basepaths and bring game times under three hours.

- more aggressive managing
- more pressure to score
- more complete games from starting pitchers
- games last 2.5 hrs

how to speed up games - batters roll a 12-sided die to determine the count they start with.

right on top of home plate

If you’re going that route I’d rather see it more extreme. Get games down to 1:15.

Foul balls caught in the stands - out
Two strikes - out, but five balls to a walk
Runners can advance on any fair batted ball without tagging up

Easy to get outs but when the ball is in play it’s faster and more exciting.

Too bad speedball has a negative connotation.

i’ve said this before but my dad always said home runs should be foul balls. you’ve hit it outside the field of play.

Reward steals with an extra base. Take second, get third.

But only in odd numbered innings.

i’m serious about 7 inning games. They’re good.

I'm serious about all of the above (in a new sport alongside traditional baseball), I think they'd make it exciting as hell, like rugby sevens vs. regular rugby.

yes i’m talking about the sport of baseball in case that wasn’t clear.

with 7 inning games you could also dispense with the runner on second in extras, which actually does fuck with the internals of the game in the way you’re describing.

I think you're underestimating how much eliminating 22% of outs fucks with the internals of the game.

i don’t think i am. but i guess we’ll never know!

i’ve listed some big changes to the internals upthread. i consider them improvements.

Idk if I like the idea of eliminating 2 innings in an era full of relievers who can throw 105 mph strikes, feel like a big market team could dump truckloads of money at those guys and win 110 games

I do like the 3 inning/9 outs idea though. Everyone gets a turn!!

pfft come on that’s just rounders

But what if everyone got exactly three turns?

Baseboxing - throw hands if tagging isn't feasible

Peter Abraham reports:

There are a group of veteran pitchers who call their own games and MLB is expected to approve a PitchCom-type device that would allow the pitcher to signal to the catcher what he plans to throw or change pitches without shaking heads. It will be experimented with in spring training

Feels like at that point sign stealing by electronic means ought to be allowed, and then it can be a battle of the hackers

Give the fans what they want

... if you want to torment Joey Gallo, you can still torment Joey Gallo. You just risk a lot more than a single if he goes to LF. pic.twitter.com/EMBvuXQjzd

— Mike Petriello (@mike_petriello) September 10, 2022

i agree w this guy’s argument that this isn’t actually a huge rule change but what i don’t understand is how this creates more risk/reward in shifting. why would teams now start shifting their outfields in this extreme way? something i’m not getting?

Breaking: MLB’s Joint Competition Committee has voted unanimously to make the extra inning rule permanent for all regular season games moving forward. (2023 and beyond). A runner will be placed at second base at the start of every extra inning. Story coming at espn

— Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) February 13, 2023

i like it. no more cool stories about how the game went to the 22nd inning and it was horrible for everyone involved, but otherwise, in addition to cutting down on game time, it adds some tension to every extra inning

still not sure how it speeds up games, given that both teams get the same "advantage" but i'm sure that was all litigated last year

The competition committee also voted unanimously to allow position players to pitch only in extra innings, in the ninth inning when leading team is up by 10 or more runs or anytime when the trailing team is down by 8 or more.

— Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) February 13, 2023

runs per nine innings of regular baseball is (for both teams) 8-something; with the runner starting on second it’s 20-something

I don't like it--for me, it just bends the basic game out of shape too much. And even though this is demonstrably not true, it always feels like the road team has an advantage (i.e., my guess is the home team is playing from behind more often than not).