Fixing baseball Topic

The main problem with baseball is the speed of the game.  As it stands now, it's possible for nothing to happen for multiple minutes.  In today's "I WANT THAT NOW" society, you need to speed up the game if you want a younger crowd to be entertained the way we are.  Some ideas, including some that are being tried out in indy ball:

1) With nobody on base, the pitcher has 12 seconds to throw the ball home, otherwise a ball is called.
2) The hitter is not allowed to fully step out of the box in between pitches unless a swing carries him out of the box.  A strike is called if this happens.
3) No more than 3 mound visits that don't involve a pitcher being pulled per team, per game.  This includes the 3rd baseman running to the mound to give encouragement.  The batter is awarded with a walk on the 4th mound visit.
4) Get rid of the challenge.  If an ump blows a call, MLB guy in NY buzzes down to ump to hold the game briefly while he reviews, and then gives correct call.
5) Have umpires call the strike zone in the rulebook.
6) Draw a line, in chalk, X feet away from 1st base.  If a runner on 1st has at least a foot on/inside the line, and the pitcher attempts a pickoff, a balk is called.
7) If a pitcher wants to intentionally walk a player, he alerts the home plate umpire, and the batter goes to first without pitches being thrown.
8) Unify the DH rule, include it for both leagues.  Doesn't have much to do with the speed of the game, but new fans aren't going to want to watch pitchers hit.  The Mets don't even have them take BP anymore.  Also prevents injuries.

8/15/2014 9:55 AM
HA!  I'd like to give you **** but there's nothing really objectionable in there.  12 seconds seems kind of quick when written/read but, if you time it out, it's not.  #5 seems counterproductive to scoring, and damn near impossible to enforce(unless you're talking abou firing umps who miss calls), but it would speed up the game.   Pretty sure "purists" will object to #7 on the off-chance that a ball gets away from the P/C but I can't say I've ever seen it happen.

8/15/2014 10:11 AM
Maybe make it 12 seconds for the pitcher to begin his pitching motion. Or make it 15 seconds.

As for #5, I guess you can't force umps to do anything. It's more of a strong suggestion.

I've seen a ball go to the backstop on an intentional walk. It's different. I think I've seen a game end on something like that. But I think we can live without it.

And you don't have to give me **** on everything I post. You're allowed to agree with me sometimes.
8/15/2014 10:24 AM
I'll also add that a batter can still call time. If there's something in his eye, or his batting glove is legitimately loose, he can adjust it. He has the right to not be "quick-pitched" as well. If a batter calls time, have the "clock" on the pitcher be reset.
8/15/2014 10:26 AM
What?  And change the dynamic of our relationship?   One of us posts, the other disagrees.   That's how it works.

I do think players would figure a "work around" for almost everything.   Catcher holds the ball a second longer before starting the pitcher's clock.   Every swing ends with the batter out of the box.  Chalk line at first is erased much like the back of the batter's box is erased.
8/15/2014 10:29 AM
Fair enough.  Continue to disagree!

If it turns out it's 20 seconds instead of 15, ok.  I'm not for a clock, just the umpire's judgement.  If the batter walks out of the box on every swing, ok.  Maybe the grounds crew can re-do the line when they do the field drag.  There are workarounds, but overall, I think this could be helpful.  There's more of an emphasis on "let's go!" I feel sometimes the pace of play builds on itself, batter steps out, so the pitcher steps off, walks around, batter steps in, pitcher's not ready...zzzzz...rules like this can change the culture, can change the perception on what's acceptable.  It wasn't the way it is now in terms of pace in the 50s, 60s, 70s.
8/15/2014 10:47 AM
The game is very slow, no doubt about it.  That said, it's one of the things that I like about baseball in the sense that it's the only sport that has no time clock.  I think it's tough to put a 12 second limit on time between pitches, but they should give the umpires discretion on penalizing a pitcher a ball if he takes ridiculously long, or to give a hitter a strike if he gets out of the box over and over again.   The graph below shows the fastest between pitches since 2008, and even Buehrle would have trouble with a 12 second rule.
8/15/2014 10:54 AM (edited)
I'm afraid if you make these calls too subjective, you'll run into issues with umpires.  Have a set of rules in place.  If an ump wants to give slightly more leeway, or give a player the benefit of the doubt, that's ok.  But obvious infractions should be called.
8/15/2014 10:54 AM
Posted by winner77 on 8/15/2014 10:54:00 AM (view original):
The game is very slow, no doubt about it.  That said, it's one of the things that I like about baseball in the sense that it's the only sport that has no time clock.  I think it's tough to put a 12 second limit on time between pitches, but they should give the umpires discretion on penalizing a pitcher a ball if he takes ridiculously long, or to give a hitter a strike if he gets out of the box over and over again.   The graph below shows the fastest between pitches since 2008, and even Buehrle would have trouble with a 12 second rule.
Again, it's only when there's no runners on base.  And with a batter always in the box, the times would speed up.

If you want to make it 15, that's fine.
8/15/2014 10:55 AM
I think that another part of the equation is that pitchers and hitters both adjust their pace to throw off the rhythm of the other player.  If a pitcher is always at the same pace, the hitter can get more comfortable in the box.  Same goes for a hitter....sometimes they will call time with the pitcher on the mound about to pitch, and a lot of the time it's to disrupt the rhythm of a pitcher who is in a groove.
8/15/2014 10:59 AM
That's fine, and still allowed.  But stay in the box.  You're still allowed to call time.  Clock resets when umps calls "time in."
8/15/2014 11:03 AM
I think winner is playing into "old, white guy" thinking.

Sure, some of us don't mind the length of a game(although, to be honest, Yanks/Sux is a hard watch when they're not playing for 1st place.   I watched every game in their last series and even I skipped out for a couple of innings).    But the next generation moves much faster.  They want to watch a game, grab some dinner and catch a movie on Saturday.   There's no reason you shouldn't be able to do that after a 1 PM Saturday game.  Except it finishes at 4:43, it take 90 minutes to get to your next destination and it's a 45 minute wait for a table because it's almost 6:30.   Games were routinely 2 1/2 hours not so long ago.    What happened?
8/15/2014 11:35 AM
I like the above suggestions, I'd also like to see something about minimizing in-inning pitcher changes. Something like 1 pitcher change an inning. Gets rid of the RHP for 1st batter, LHP for 2nd batter, RHP for 3rd batter. It's takes like 5 minutes or so for a pitcher change.
8/15/2014 11:50 AM
I'm ok with the the way it is.  What happens when a pitcher comes in and sucks? You're forced to use him for the rest of the inning?  What if his pitch count gets too high?
8/15/2014 2:32 PM
I like speeding up the pitches. I also hate how long pitching changes take. How about they get in there, throw like 3 warmup pitches and go. They don't need so much time!

And with nobody on, with 12 seconds to work with, you can still affect rhythm. Throw a pitch 2 seconds after you get the ball. Then wait 10. Then throw it 6 seconds later. Less time to think, just make him swing the bat. The fact that the commentators can often talk for an entire minute between pitches is the worst part of modern baseball.

8/15/2014 2:45 PM
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