Getting rid of the two-line pass was the best changes ever. It really opened up the game.
ya boi nomar got nothing on pablo sandoval
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Famously long games. You can partially blame the moneyball era when OBP ruled and every batter tried to work a walk. Some guys wouldn't even swing the bat until they got 2 strikes.
Here's 15 seconds of Shohei Ohtani shaking off signs then getting ready to pitch
That looked like 3 or 4 signs maybe? Guess I'm overestimating how much time they need to go through signs.
The other day Minnesota brought up a minor leaguer to start their game against New York. He was very quick with his pitches, I feel like this is a trend you'll see with a lot of minors called up this season.
They can go through them really quick when they want to. Even guys with tons of pitches could shake off most of them and keep inside the clock
I'd love for a safety base at first, especially if you designed it in a way where the half that is in foul territory is basically just a colored part of the ground (aka completely level with the ground) in foul territory. As then it's easy to treat it as just the normal base when the initial play isn't happening.
I hate the shift and will be glad to see it gone. Unless left handed batters were allowed to run to third instead of first for a base hit, which obviously wouldn't work lol, it's a fair compromise to have set areas that fielders need to be in.
Ya know what, I wouldn't mind if runners were allowed to go the opposite way if no one is on base yet. And then when a player reaches the have to switch to 'normal' base running. So if it is a single you have to move to 1B and a triple has to move to 3B.
Lowest BA since 1968. We gotta get these players back on base imo.
? it has a huge impact. there are so many grounders up the middle or in between 1 & 2 that are currently outs that won't be if it changes.
I think they are specifically talking about going 4 deep in the outfield. Because it's incredibly obvious the shift has impacted the game in a major way.
Total runs per game have been fine, but the league wide batting average in 2022 is the lowest it's been since 1967 (second lowest since 1909). The game is simply more fun with more people on base and the ability for a more diverse skillset of hitters to succeed. Baseball has become way too focused on launch angle and exit speed, rewarding power hitters precisely because there's no conceivable defense against home runs.
Comparisons with other sports are a waste of time because the degree of control a QB/OL/RB/WR/TE group or a basketball player has over the design, intent and result of a play in order to counter defensive strategy is just magnitudes greater than the control a baseball hitter has over the outcome of an at bat. The shift doesn't make it so a hitter/manager has to think of a gameplan to beat defensive strategy, it just makes it so certain profiles of hitters are inherently more valuable than others. Funnily enough, the guys who have suffered the most with the shift are line drive hitters, and line drives are basically the result of an optimal approach at the plate. What are you going to do, purposely choose not to hit a well struck liner over the second baseman as a lefty because there's someone backing him up in short right field who's going to field the ball cleanly? What does the game gain by that?
I don't think the defensive aspects of baseball and basketball are similar enough to make that comparison. Basketball has it's own rules like traveling and goaltending that have no comparable analogy in baseball. I see banning the shift as a more "spirit of the game" rule, like offsides in soccer, where it's meant to improve the flow of the game.
