Renewed Appreciation of Baseball

[jon]

I used to be a fan of baseball growing up. Somewhere around 15-20 years ago I thought it was going down the wrong path with too many homers, no one knowing how to bunt and swinging for the fences every at bat. Well after not liking baseball for 15 years something funny happened. I starting going to college baseball games recently and it’s such a great experience to not only see kids who are there for their love of the game, but getting close up seats makes all the difference.

[VideoGameCritic]

Jon,
Thanks for sharing those sentiments - timely too! I have also had a pervading feeling that the MLB has been going down the wrong path for some time. Don't get me started on the whole "luxury tax" business which keeps the same teams in contention year upon year and lets teams like the Yankees stock their roster with all-stars.

I think what you're seeing in the college game probably mirrors what we love about classic games: purity. Baseball the way it was originally meant to be.
VGC

[jon]

I’m at a game and let me say that almost everyone in the stands is like 50 pounds overweight that’s not a typo. I can’t tell what’s worse, todays culture where it’s ok to be freaking huge, or the fact that MLB players have such terrible fundamentals. They literally can’t even bunt. I read that in 2018 was the first year in MLB with more strikeouts than hits

[VideoGameCritic]

I was recently reading an article about how baseball games are too long and it listed a number of really awful suggestions, like changing the number of inning to 7, or limiting pitcher changes.

As a lifelong baseball fan, I think I have two very simple suggestions that will speed things up considerably.

1. Once the batter steps into the batter's box, he must remain in there. No stepping out every pitch to adjust his gloves (which of course prompts the pitcher to step off the mound).

2. Once a reliever is called in, no warm up from the mound. He's also been tossing in the bullpen for three innings for Pete's sake. These warm up pitches are only good for squeezing in another commercial.

What do you think? I'd say it would shave 20 minutes off each game, and make the later part of the game a lot more bearable.

[jon]

I can't remember exactly but I'm pretty sure a couple days ago at the game when there was an intentional walk the pitcher didn't pitch 4 pitches outside (usually to the catcher standing up). Instead the pitcher tells the ump he's walking him. Supposedly that was instituted to save time, but I don't know, I kind of like just pitching way off the plate 4 times, it just seems like the way baseball was meant to be played.
I agree that it would be nice for relievers not to warm up in the field of play. When that happened at the game, it was so annoying, because there were several relievers. What's also really bad is the manager coming to the mound and talking to the pitcher for 5 minutes, or until the ump eventually tells him to quit wasting time. Presumably the manager does that to get the reliever some more work in the bullpen. But it doesn't make sense because the reliever's getting warm up pitches anyways. I think there's a rule now or it's awaiting approval in which a reliever must pitch to 3 batters. I say the manager can't be at the mound for more than 15 seconds.

[evergreen13]

I have to say, I had this same renewed appreciation of baseball last year. There's something special about the sport where it's not as loud and in your face as sports like football or basketball. It's such a long haul of a season that it really is relaxing to watch and listen to a game. The thing is, you get out of baseball what you put into it. If you want to follow every single pitch, you can totally get sucked into the pitcher/batter duels so easily. If you want to just watch the highlights and follow the scores, that is also a blast. Sure, games are a bit long (something has to be done with the amount of pitcher changes in the last half of the games), but it's rarely a sport where I do sit down and watch all nine innings. It's easy to come into a game late or leave a game early and just catch up on the scores later.

I think part of why I've gotten back into baseball lately is that it takes me back to a simpler time. It's not about the crazy 24 hour news cycle that's in our face all the time. Even video games have all this drama wrapped up in it these days if you want to follow it. Sure, baseball has it's own drama, but for some odd reason it almost feels separate from everything else.

I live in Vermont where we don't have a college baseball team, but we do have a minor league team that is fun to catch on occasion. You can get tix for like $8, and some days they have specials like 25 cent hot dogs. Over the last few summers I definitely have tried to catch at least 2 or 3 games.

[Voor]

I think it’s kind of a misconception that the games are “too long”. The reason is say that is because during the playoffs and World Series, people will stay up way late to watch an extra innings game, and it is indeed exciting.

My point is that the games feel way too long for games that don’t feel like they matter. A 4.5 hour game in game 5 of the World Series is very different than a 4.5 hour game #94 of the regular season. One is thrilling, the other seems like a waste Of time.

I say make the regular season much shorter—90 games. But I’d also reduce the NBA to about 65, and the NFL to 14.

I like the 3 batter minimum. So long, LOOG (left handed one out guy)! Should introduce more strategy, but some pitchers may be out of a job.

I heard some teams are testing a texting system between the pitcher and catcher as a way to stop sign stealing. That’s interesting.

[Herschie]

I remember back in the 90s, the Cubs had a commercial with Mark Grace about how the games were too long. Grace goes "If you worked at Wrigley Field, would you be in a hurry to leave?".

Of course, Grace wasn't in the World Series, in fact, seldom ever in the playoffs with the Cubs. Although when they did make it, he did well; he hit, I think like .617 in the 1989 NLCS.

AP8910050114.jpg (47.17 KiB) Viewed 3069 times

But only '89 and '98 were his playoff years in Chicago. I was happy for him when he won a ring in 2001 with Arizona.

Anyway, the game does go way too long in the playoffs, not because of pitching changes or mound visits, but because they added an extra minute of commercials between each half inning. Like, come on! I had to be at work at 7 in the morning back in 2016, I don't want to stay up until 11:30 each night because the game went 4 and a half hours! Maybe they ought to reduce the commercials in the playoffs to keep the games at 2 and a half, 3 hours.

So I don't like any of that crap that they're trying to do, limit mound visits, that horsecrap 3 batter rule. I can see that completely ruining the game. Reduce commercials, that I could get behind!

[jon]

But the game basically has been ruined. I’ve been at college games with no commercials and the ridiculous amount of pitching changes, I’m talking like 8 a game, ruins the atmosphere. A huge problem is managers go to the mound stalling time every game just waiting until the ump comes to break it up.
Pitchers are wimps and ever since they started lifting weights and using who knows what supplements, they wimps now and can’t pitch for more than a few innings.
I refuse to believe this is the way baseball was meant to be played. Then you have the unbelievable lack of fundamentals. 2018 was the first year in MLB history with more strikeouts than wake. The game is unwatchable. All the strategy was taken out of it. The reliance on home runs is a joke.

[jon]

Yikes, I don’t know where that came from. The college game has not been ruined I must have been having a bad day (getting creamed by arcade games most likely). Even with the pitching changes it’s still fantastic. The best game I was at lately or the most fun I had was a 1-0 game where our college won. The only run was scored on a wild pitch. And it just felt so natural. For whatever reason there aren’t many Homer’s at the park I go to which is awesome.