…I get the impression that this rumored proposal to start extra innings with a man on second base is going to meet with some strong emotions.
Extra inning baseball is a national treasure. Anyone who attacks it should be crucified & left hanging by the highway as a warning.
— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) February 9, 2017
Well, I’m in favor of a Constitutional amendment to ban Astroturf and the use of the DH, so this doesn’t seem extreme to me.
They should take a look at how the NFL has changed their overtime rules, and how it’s made it unquestionably worse (more tie games in the 5 seasons 2012-2016 than there were in the 22 seasons 1990-2011).
.
For the NFL, the rule changes have been a solution in search of a problem (and now because the Falcons didn’t get a possession in overtime in the Super Bowl, there’s been whining for more rule changes).
.
Sorry, this is a bit of a trigger issue for me. X-(
Their purported problem, that of OT coin-toss usually determining the winner, hasn’t been changed at all.
.
Not that I have a problem with that.
*sips coffee from office in New England*
If you look at the historical record, most overtime games don’t end on the first drive in overtime, and didn’t even before the rule change.
.
The NFL considers more ties to be a feature, not a bug. They reduce the need for tiebreakers to determine playoff members and seeding.
I can’t even.
.
.
Look,I get why owners might favor such a change, but it is simply unacceptable to the fans of the game.
(Of course, so was having the cockroach Bud Selig as commissioner. Or making it hard to actually watch or listen to games for a short term revenue increase. Or the incredible shrinking strike zone. Or….)
One of my fondest baseball memories was taking my Dad to the game in 1996 where the Texas Rangers clinched their first ever playoff appearance. The game went to 14 or 15 innings, and the manager was managing it like game 7 of the world series. It didn’t matter that in the end, they clinched by playing so long that Seattle had lost their west coast game first.
I’ve also been to a 5 overtime hockey game (which we lost) and 3 and 4 overtime hockey games (which we won). I would hate for future generations to lose the ability to have experiences like that.
From what I understand, this is what women’s softball does after two extra innings (so starting with the 10th, IIRC): whoever made the third out the previous inning starts on second base.
.
Is there a serious problem with the number of extra-inning games played? Women’s softball does it because the games are so low-scoring that it was necessary to take this measure there.