General Baseball Chit-Chat Thread

[Transmogrified Tiger]

 

this seems like damn near the best possible outcome

I’d still like to know why they think shortening games will bring in more viewers. It also shortens the commercial/ad time, so that’s a revenue loser. I don’t buy there’s x thousands or y millions of people out there that will watch or attend more baseball over games being 20-30 min shorter.

The commercial breaks are in the same spots they always are - between innings and pitching changes - so I don't think that part's an issue. Like you, I remain skeptical that casual fans are waiting to watch baseball in droves if the games are two and a half hours 162 times a year instead of three, but as long as the actual gameplay isn't being negatively affected I'm not against it.

 

The gameplay is the point, the length is a side effect of making a more entertaining product. Games have become ponderous, if you make them move at a more entertaining pace(and hopefully also make changes to increase action in the game), you have something more people are gonna watch. Will that make TV ratings spike starting in April? No, it's a change for the long term health of the game that should hopefully have some short term impact, but the short term isn't the motivation.

[Cubswin11]

 

this seems like damn near the best possible outcome

I’d still like to know why they think shortening games will bring in more viewers. It also shortens the commercial/ad time, so that’s a revenue loser. I don’t buy there’s x thousands or y millions of people out there that will watch or attend more baseball over games being 20-30 min shorter.

The commercial breaks are in the same spots they always are - between innings and pitching changes - so I don't think that part's an issue. Like you, I remain skeptical that casual fans are waiting to watch baseball in droves if the games are two and a half hours 162 times a year instead of three, but as long as the actual gameplay isn't being negatively affected I'm not against it.

Now that the DH is universal, an idea I like is cut down the batting orders to 8 guys. Then you can DH for a position player if he’s a shitty hitter but good fielder. Also it increases PA’s for the star players and should have more action then since you don’t have the shitty backup catchers or whatever of the world taking 3-5 PAs a game.

[Derwood]

Baseball has forever made the mistake of trying to appeal more to casual fans than making the product better for die-hards.

 

That said, cutting down time between pitches is a good thing. While some argue that football has more downtime than action (4-6 second play followed by 30 seconds of huddle), at least SOMETHING happens every play. To have 20+ seconds between pitches when there is no guarantee that the next pitch will be anything is very ponderous.

[We Got The Whole 9]

I kind of want us to buy Rendon.

 

Sent from my motorola one 5G UW using Tapatalk

[CubinNY]

I’d still like to know why they think shortening games will bring in more viewers. It also shortens the commercial/ad time, so that’s a revenue loser. I don’t buy there’s x thousands or y millions of people out there that will watch or attend more baseball over games being 20-30 min shorter.

The commercial breaks are in the same spots they always are - between innings and pitching changes - so I don't think that part's an issue. Like you, I remain skeptical that casual fans are waiting to watch baseball in droves if the games are two and a half hours 162 times a year instead of three, but as long as the actual gameplay isn't being negatively affected I'm not against it.

Now that the DH is universal, an idea I like is cut down the batting orders to 8 guys. Then you can DH for a position player if he’s a horsefeathers hitter but good fielder. Also it increases PA’s for the star players and should have more action then since you don’t have the horsefeathers backup catchers or whatever of the world taking 3-5 PAs a game.

That's one the worst ideas I've ever read.

[JudasIscariotTheBird]

The commercial breaks are in the same spots they always are - between innings and pitching changes - so I don't think that part's an issue. Like you, I remain skeptical that casual fans are waiting to watch baseball in droves if the games are two and a half hours 162 times a year instead of three, but as long as the actual gameplay isn't being negatively affected I'm not against it.

Now that the DH is universal, an idea I like is cut down the batting orders to 8 guys. Then you can DH for a position player if he’s a horsefeathers hitter but good fielder. Also it increases PA’s for the star players and should have more action then since you don’t have the horsefeathers backup catchers or whatever of the world taking 3-5 PAs a game.

That's one the worst ideas I've ever read.

[CubinNY]

Now that the DH is universal, an idea I like is cut down the batting orders to 8 guys. Then you can DH for a position player if he’s a horsefeathers hitter but good fielder. Also it increases PA’s for the star players and should have more action then since you don’t have the horsefeathers backup catchers or whatever of the world taking 3-5 PAs a game.

That's one the worst ideas I've ever read.

I know what would make baseball better. Let's have a team of hitters and team of fielders and a team of pitchers. It wouldn't actually be baseball, but it would be... something.

 

knockoff sofa wannabe.

[Rob]

That's one the worst ideas I've ever read.

I know what would make baseball better. Let's have a team of hitters and team of fielders and a team of pitchers. It wouldn't actually be baseball, but it would be... something.

 

knockoff sofa wannabe.

 

I mean, if you're gonna go that route, I think you just have two hitters (one righty, one lefty) and a handful of designated runners. It would certainly be cheaper for the owners than employing a whole team of hitters.

[Cubswin11]

The commercial breaks are in the same spots they always are - between innings and pitching changes - so I don't think that part's an issue. Like you, I remain skeptical that casual fans are waiting to watch baseball in droves if the games are two and a half hours 162 times a year instead of three, but as long as the actual gameplay isn't being negatively affected I'm not against it.

Now that the DH is universal, an idea I like is cut down the batting orders to 8 guys. Then you can DH for a position player if he’s a horsefeathers hitter but good fielder. Also it increases PA’s for the star players and should have more action then since you don’t have the horsefeathers backup catchers or whatever of the world taking 3-5 PAs a game.

That's one the worst ideas I've ever read.

If the goal of all these changes is to increase action and push star players, why is not giving the stars more PAs and also improve offense a bad idea?

[CubinNY]

Now that the DH is universal, an idea I like is cut down the batting orders to 8 guys. Then you can DH for a position player if he’s a horsefeathers hitter but good fielder. Also it increases PA’s for the star players and should have more action then since you don’t have the horsefeathers backup catchers or whatever of the world taking 3-5 PAs a game.

That's one the worst ideas I've ever read.

If the goal of all these changes is to increase action and push star players, why is not giving the stars more PAs and also improve offense a bad idea?

There are better ways to do things. Move the mound back, make a limit on the number of pitchers on a 25/26 man roster. Don't make it a different sport.

[imb]

That's one the worst ideas I've ever read.

If the goal of all these changes is to increase action and push star players, why is not giving the stars more PAs and also improve offense a bad idea?

There are better ways to do things. Move the mound back, make a limit on the number of pitchers on a 25/26 man roster. Don't make it a different sport.

 

moving the mound back seems like a much bigger change than just eliminating one hitter from the lineup to me. I dont think there will ever be dramatic changes to the mound, pitchers are already dying at stunning rates, changing up what they do seems like a disaster

[Rex Buckingham]

If the goal of all these changes is to increase action and push star players, why is not giving the stars more PAs and also improve offense a bad idea?

There are better ways to do things. Move the mound back, make a limit on the number of pitchers on a 25/26 man roster. Don't make it a different sport.

 

moving the mound back seems like a much bigger change than just eliminating one hitter from the lineup to me. I dont think there will ever be dramatic changes to the mound, pitchers are already dying at stunning rates, changing up what they do seems like a disaster

 

Would lowering the mound make any significant difference either to pitcher health or to help hitters?

[Rex Buckingham]

If the goal of all these changes is to increase action and push star players, why is not giving the stars more PAs and also improve offense a bad idea?

There are better ways to do things. Move the mound back, make a limit on the number of pitchers on a 25/26 man roster. Don't make it a different sport.

 

moving the mound back seems like a much bigger change than just eliminating one hitter from the lineup to me. I dont think there will ever be dramatic changes to the mound, pitchers are already dying at stunning rates, changing up what they do seems like a disaster

 

Would lowering the mound make any significant difference either to pitcher health or to help hitters?

[Cubswin11]

That's one the worst ideas I've ever read.

If the goal of all these changes is to increase action and push star players, why is not giving the stars more PAs and also improve offense a bad idea?

There are better ways to do things. Move the mound back, make a limit on the number of pitchers on a 25/26 man roster. Don't make it a different sport.

Lol, moving the mound back is making the game a much more different sport than simply eliminating one spot in the lineup. Plus, again, they seem to want more action/push stars, etc. getting the stars more PAs and optimizing lineups does that by eliminating a spot in the order/using DH for position player. Moving the mound back does what exactly?

 

They also already have the limits on pitchers on the roster (plus 3 batter rule) and idk how much more you can limit. Pitchers get tired/hurt all the time, you need some cushion there for teams to make sure guys aren’t being ran in to the ground.

[cl smooth]

[17 Seconds]

ohtani has a career .883 ops and a 3.19 era. i never thought it was possible

[soccer10k]

ohtani has a career .883 ops and a 3.19 era. i never thought it was possible

 

Yeah, it's insane that anyone is able to do this. If he was like a .750 OPS hitter and a 4 ERA starting pitcher, it would still be crazy. But he's 15th in the majors in OPS and, if he had 5 more innings, would be 15th in the majors in ERA also.

[Bertz]

[Tryptamine]

Admittedly, I've spent very little time following baseball this season so I hadn't realized that the Dodgers are on pace to win 114 games. The Padres, who are 13 games over .500, are 19.5 games back in the division.

[champaignchris]

Admittedly, I've spent very little time following baseball this season so I hadn't realized that the Dodgers are on pace to win 114 games. The Padres, who are 13 games over .500, are 19.5 games back in the division.

 

Be curious to see what kind of pace they can keep up with Gonsolin, Kershaw and Buehler all on the shelf and insane, probably unsustainable performances from 30-something journeymen like Heaney and Tyler Anderson. Of course, they just got Dustin May back, but I don’t know who their 5th starter is right now and I have no clue what their starting rotation will look like come playoff time.

 

I still think I’d take a Mets team that can roll out a healthy DeGrom and Scherzer for 4 starts in a 7 game series even if the Mets are “only” on pace for 102 wins.

[Bertz]

It's very weird because just looking at the Dodger roster it seems the most vulnerable it's been in years (which by their standards means a ho hum 95 win team), but they are absolutely crushing everyone and there aren't really any underlying numbers that say it's not deserved.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

It's very weird because just looking at the Dodger roster it seems the most vulnerable it's been in years (which by their standards means a ho hum 95 win team), but they are absolutely crushing everyone and there aren't really any underlying numbers that say it's not deserved.

 

17 WAR from Mookie/Freddie/Trea with 20% of the season still to play goes a long way. Their pitching staff is also beating their FIP about as much as the 2016 Cubs did.

[cl smooth]

[We Got The Whole 9]

 

I think this should have been ruled a catch

[Derwood]

I've been creating a series of Sporcle quizzes about year-to-year awards and achievements in MLB, and it has shown me that there is not a more worthless award than Manager of the Year. The people who win it invariably go on to be total horse crap soon after winning.