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In a move that not only would infuriate traditionalists but maybe even drive them away, Major League Baseball is planning to test a rule change in the lowest levels of its minor leagues this year that would place a runner on second base at the start of extra innings.
Yahoo Sports reports that the extra-inning rules change being mulled is only a part of several rules that MLB is considering to speed up the game.
A derivation of the rule has been used at other levels of baseball and softball in recent years, but has never crept into a professional baseball game.
MLB will test the rule in the Gulf Coast League and the Arizona League this summer as it sorts out various scenarios to make the game faster.
MLB Chief Baseball Officer Joe Torre said the rule change could provide some benefits.
“It’s not fun to watch when you go through your whole pitching staff and wind up bringing a utility infielder in to pitch,” Torre told Yahoo. “As much as it’s nice to talk about being at an 18-inning game, it takes time.”
Hockey and football have changed their rules over the years to make for quicker endings by tweaking their overtime rules. But adding a bogus runner at the start of each half inning would seemingly cut to the core of baseball’s endearing and enduring methodology of a sport that has been timeless throughout its history.
MLB.com reported that the average MLB game was more than three hours last season after dropping to 2 hours, 56 minutes in 2015.
Before stepping on the rules that have always existed, MLB might want to do something about requiring four pitches for an intentional walk, the commercial time between innings and walk-up music for hitters before adding the extra runner.
At least that way, it wouldn’t alter the very essence of the game.
And if they would need any proof, look at two of the most exciting games in recent baseball history. Game 6 of the 2011 World Series featured not one, but two extra-inning rallies that St. Louis cooked up organically to beat Texas.
And how much would such a rule have diminished the excitement found in Game 7 of last year’s World Series between the Cubs and Indians where the Cubs rallied to score in the top of the 10th and then had the pitching necessary to close out the victory?
Tgriffin@express-news.net
Twitter: @TimGriffinBig12.
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