Tweet of the Day, This Is A Pretty Stupid Idea, MLB edition.

It’s not as awful as it sounds; they’re talking about doing it for spring training and exhibition games like the All-Star Game, which means that it’s not for regular play.  But, judging from my Twitter feed, baseball fans everywhere are hunkering down and muttering “…Yet.” But let’s be honest; this is just part of the basic problem that most sports have these days.  To wit: they weren’t particularly designed to be watched on television. Extra innings probably wasn’t as much an issue for radio sports programming as it can be for network TV*.

Still, I’m not loving this idea. I assume that I’d get used to it, eventually, but still. I just instinctively shy from trying to speed up the game. It seems… inappropriate.

Moe Lane

*We will now pause as various sports nerds — note that I do not consider the term ‘nerd’ to be an insult, being a big ol’ one myself — explain to us why every word in that sentence was wrong, including the prepositions.

12 thoughts on “Tweet of the Day, This Is A Pretty Stupid Idea, MLB edition.”

  1. Baseball needs to add a designated sniper.
    .
    No, not with bullets, maybe paintballs or a laser..
    .
    Each team gets 1 shot every 3 innings, and it can be used to force a replacement of any player on the opposing team .. and if they use it to pick off a runner, the runner is simply gone, no replacement.
    .
    Mew

    1. Transformative, yet entertaining – and my non sport loving wife loves the idea. We prefer three shots per game though, not limited by inning – out increases the whole never know when it’s coming factor, and waiting out that third shot would be torturous for managers with a great reliever or star rotting on the bench, plus it adds endless grist to hot stove conversations and next day radio – more managerial decisions to question means more interest.

  2. I’m too busy seething to say “Yet.”
    .
    The reality is that professional baseball needs to stop chasing maximum revenue and focus on the long term health of the sport.
    They can make more money with night games. But The World Series starting at 10 EST means that most kids don’t get to see it. And without the kids, there’s no future for the sport.
    If MLB is willing to trade some revenue loss to let baseball be baseball, they win in the end.
    .
    Heck, it wouldn’t even require lost revenue, just a shift away from the TV obsession. The area I currently live in has FIVE AM sports stations, and four MLB teams within a three hour drive. You’d think I’d be able to find a game being broadcast nearly every afternoon and evening during the summer. But you’d be mistaken. I can get the Cubs, most of the time, and the local minor league team reliably.
    .
    When I was young, boxing was one of the biggest sports going. (Yes, I remember Ali. Shaddap.)
    Then the promoters went pay-per-view for the short-term benefit, and largely destroyed the sport.

  3. Baseball is a game for smart people. Apparently, the League has decided to cater to the dumb, seeing as how there are far more of them.

    1. I’m sorry .. what?
      .
      “Baseball is for smart people” sounds like something baseball fans tell themselves to feel better about ratings that’ve been declining since WWII….
      .
      No heat .. I know people, both smart and dumb, who love baseball .. but saying it’s “for smart people” sounds like fluffery.
      .
      Mew

      1. I have to agree with the gist of acat’s argument. (Even though his specific claim is gratuitously wrong.)
        .
        Baseball doesn’t require intelligence. It requires patience. Which, if anything, often has an inverse relationship with intelligence.
        .
        To illustrate: my eldest is profoundly retarded. And you won’t find a bigger baseball fan. She groks the basic rules of the game (even if counting to four is sometimes problematic). She can’t quote the infield fly rule, and doesn’t have an opinion on the DH or artificial turf, but let her watch a game (or better yet, take her to one), and she’s in heaven.

  4. “We will now pause as various sports nerds — note that I do not consider the term ‘nerd’ to be an insult, being a big ol’ one myself — explain to us why every word in that sentence was wrong, including the prepositions.”

    We can start with “Extra innings probably weren’t” etc etc. 🙂

  5. From what I understand, women’s softball does this starting with the third extra inning. Whoever made the third out in the previous inning starts on second base. Softball is lower-scoring than baseball so this is a concession to shorten extra-inning games.

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