MLB rule changes can only be beneficial

[*ernie]

https://www.newsday.com/sports/columnists/david-lennon/mlb-rules-vad7ayy8


--
ernie k.
already...@hotmail.com

[Popping Mad]

On 9/10/22 21:00, *ernie wrote:
> https://www.newsday.com/sports/columnists/david-lennon/mlb-rules-vad7ayy8
>
>

Has anybody complained this season about not having pitchers hit? Nope


Yeah he is wrong. Most of these changes SUCK. They get up there now in
body armor and there is no intimdation factor any more which makes it a
completely different game. I am in favor of the pitch clock, though.
But the runner on Second Base, the DH, the large bags, the catchers
rule, replay... it is all crap.

[*ernie]

Agree with you on everything except I like the new no shift rule. At
some point the rule will be altered in some fashion, I'm sure, but the
intent is good. When it was rare it was one thing but it's being
overdone. I remember when Gil Hodges used 4 outfielders against Willie
McCovey and then Frank Robinson back in '69. It was unique.

[Popping Mad]

Actually, there is a lot that baseball is doing that is putting the
sport in a death spiral. It will look more and more like
jai alai and less and less like the national pastime.

It starts that kids don't play the sport. I have no idea why teams
don't work on promoting play. You have more major league teams than
ever. Get your players out there and work with kids in your area. Get
balls and gloves to school yards. Baseball is a very personal sport.
Everyone can play. The professionalization of players in formal leagues
and travel teams is killing the sport. Sandlot baseball needs to be
jump started. The best way is to integrate your players into the community.

Secondly, they are getting around the Draft with the international
signing rules. The result is more and more foriegn players, and fewer
local players. They need to fold the international signings into the
draft and invest into local scouting and teaching.

They need to accept umpiring as a human part of the game. The argument
has been, and it is wrong, it is more important to get calls right than
it is any other aspect of umpiring. But that is not true. Its just a
damn game and it is supposed to be fun, not perfect. Umpires control
the game and the human errors is part of the game. The important thing
is to get calls quickly and predicably, which matters more than how
correct they are. And it is not either/or. You can have both. But
replacing umpires with computers dehumanizes the game and makes it
fucking boring. Basbeall was ***designed*** for humanbeings to make
calls. Breaking calls down to a fraction of a second to be "correct" is
not even correct. If you can't tell an out call with the naked eye,
then it is a tie and judgement call by the umpire. Don't waste time
looking at slow motion replay that can stop a hummingbirds wings in mid
flight. Make the call and move ON. Many times in baseball the call on
the field affects the course of further play. So reversing plays under
those condiion is stupid and it looks like playground rules when this
happens.

They need to end the second base rule, and the catching rule AND the
inside pitch rule. Intimidation is a vital park of pitching. I do
think that head hunting needs to be controlled at the umpires
discression, but nobody should get tossed for hitting someone in the
tuchas.

No armour on the field, on defense or offense. Only a batting helmet
with a face flap if desired, and a cup. Nothing on the Knees or elbows
or hands. They look like midevil knights already at the plate and get
hit more often than ever because they aren't affraid of getting hit. It
is crazy.

Get rid of the the restriction on pitching changes. Instead limit the
team to 9 pitchers....period. On the expanded roster, add one more.

BTW the 1986 Mets had 8 pitchers in the playoffs.

then there is the playoffs that sucks. If they are going to keep this
playoff format, they should reduce the schedule to 140 games. If your
team can't get into the playoffs, you don't deserve the extra games.

Any team below 400 should be dropped from the schedule after 100 games.
Screw this minor leugue baseball in the major leagues.

Any player with an OBP below 300 for a month should be just be dropped
from eligability for the league.

[Popping Mad]

On 9/11/22 00:09, *ernie wrote:

and then there is the new schedule...

[*ernie]

That part I absolutely hate. They'll be no more NL and AL, no matter how
they label it.

[tmp]

Right, they really are screwing that up. I doubt this will go over good at all.

Teams will now play more inter-league games (46 instead of 20), primarily at the expense of less intra-division games against teams in their own division (52 instead of 76). That makes no sense for any competitive reason, especially given how the seeding is determined in the new playoff format. More games against non-division league opponents would have made much more sense than more inter-leauge games.