General Baseball Chit-Chat Thread

[WrigleyField 22]

For whatever it's worth my wife who really doesn't like baseball much sent me an Instagram reel with the new pitch clock in force and called it genius.

 

I don't think she's even quite the target market, but I don't think it's a stretch to say some viewers may like the new product and tune in more.

 

Will other viewers leave the product?

 

This is why it's good. There's really no downside once folks get used to it and stop their pearl clutching

Yea a lot of the initial freak out is the end of game scenario we just saw. A good chunk of people will never not freak out about that sort of scenario. So really just a question on players getting used to change and presumably violations getting close to nil and almost never in high leverage situations.

[Rob]

For whatever it's worth my wife who really doesn't like baseball much sent me an Instagram reel with the new pitch clock in force and called it genius.

 

I don't think she's even quite the target market, but I don't think it's a stretch to say some viewers may like the new product and tune in more.

 

Will other viewers leave the product?

 

This is why it's good. There's really no downside once folks get used to it and stop their pearl clutching

 

My favorite thing about baseball the last 20 years has been the slower pace of the game compared to other sports. I loved that the action stopped and I could sit there for a bit evaluating and speculating on what everybody on the field would be doing. Every pitch changed the optimal strategy somewhat, and I loved trying to anticipate that.

 

There is no longer time to leisurely assess all these various shifts in strategy.

 

I recognize that how I enjoy the game is in the minority. But let's not pretend it's just conservative pearl-clutching. There is an actual downside that sucks some of the fun out of the game for certain viewers. (though, to be fair, the Ricketts family was already doing a good job of destroying my fun the last few years.)

[squally1313]

For whatever it's worth my wife who really doesn't like baseball much sent me an Instagram reel with the new pitch clock in force and called it genius.

 

I don't think she's even quite the target market, but I don't think it's a stretch to say some viewers may like the new product and tune in more.

 

Will other viewers leave the product?

 

This is why it's good. There's really no downside once folks get used to it and stop their pearl clutching

 

My favorite thing about baseball the last 20 years has been the slower pace of the game compared to other sports. I loved that the action stopped and I could sit there for a bit evaluating and speculating on what everybody on the field would be doing. Every pitch changed the optimal strategy somewhat, and I loved trying to anticipate that.

 

There is no longer time to leisurely assess all these various shifts in strategy.

 

I recognize that how I enjoy the game is in the minority. But let's not pretend it's just conservative pearl-clutching. There is an actual downside that sucks some of the fun out of the game for certain viewers. (though, to be fair, the Ricketts family was already doing a good job of destroying my fun the last few years.)

 

This kinda sounds like you're describing chess (which also uses clocks). At the end of the day, it's an athletic sport...maximize the percentage of time during the game where the athletic stuff happens. Be incredibly strict and firm on this stuff for the next month and hopefully you don't even remember it exists once we get into the regular season.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I also reject the premise that 15-20 seconds isn’t enough time to think along with the at bat, pitch sequencing, etc

[Tim]

The average time between pitches last year was around 18 seconds. All the rule really does is eliminate the outliers.

[WrigleyField 22]

The average time between pitches last year was around 18 seconds. All the rule really does is eliminate the outliers.

Interesting.

 

Wonder what the median was vs average.

 

Early returns are of games being about 30 minutes shorter right? So they should be shaving about 6 seconds off each pitch (30 min x 60 seconds = 1,800 seconds). 1,800 / 30 pitches = 6 seconds less between each pitch?

[Tim]

For anyone that hates the pitch clock:

 

[Rob]

This kinda sounds like you're describing chess (which also uses clocks). At the end of the day, it's an athletic sport...maximize the percentage of time during the game where the athletic stuff happens. Be incredibly strict and firm on this stuff for the next month and hopefully you don't even remember it exists once we get into the regular season.

 

The chess analogy is fair. I like watching/playing chess. But I gravitate towards the slower time controls. Classical is my favorite to watch. And I even play correspondence when I can.

 

To TT's point, I don't debate that there isn't enough time to do that between pitches. But it isn't always enough time to do it leisurely. Maybe when my kids get older and I have fewer distractions... But for now, it still feels too short to me.

 

As I said, I recognize that I'm a minority on this. But since the previous post was just talking about pearl clutching, I thought it was worth pointing out that some people have legitimate views to the contrary on this whole pitch clock thing.

[Have a seat, Neifi]

I personally can’t wait for the pitch clock. Football has a play clock. Basketball has a shot clock, a clock to get the ball past half court, a free throw clock, and a clock to inbound the ball. Most of these were adopted and have been updated and re-updated over time precisely in response to gameplay trends.

 

Baseball is getting dusted in the TV watchability department. It’s not perfect, but it’s a start.

[JudasIscariotTheBird]

This kinda sounds like you're describing chess (which also uses clocks). At the end of the day, it's an athletic sport...maximize the percentage of time during the game where the athletic stuff happens. Be incredibly strict and firm on this stuff for the next month and hopefully you don't even remember it exists once we get into the regular season.

 

The chess analogy is fair. I like watching/playing chess. But I gravitate towards the slower time controls. Classical is my favorite to watch. And I even play correspondence when I can.

 

To TT's point, I don't debate that there isn't enough time to do that between pitches. But it isn't always enough time to do it leisurely. Maybe when my kids get older and I have fewer distractions... But for now, it still feels too short to me.

 

As I said, I recognize that I'm a minority on this. But since the previous post was just talking about pearl clutching, I thought it was worth pointing out that some people have legitimate views to the contrary on this whole pitch clock thing.

It's cool to dig classical chess the most, but it's prety telling that the best chess player of all time is sick of it, and semi-ditching it to focus on blitz/rapid/streaming/drinking.

[Rob]

I still maintain that if you felt this way about boosting the pace of the game, there were other [better] ways to do this without the cold structure of the pitch clock.

 

For instance, you could televise the murder of Pedro Baez as an example to the other pitchers.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

The optimal strategy in baseball is almost always throw the ball in a way that makes it hard to hit, and for the batter to try to hit as hard as possible and hope that it's not right at someone. People always wax philosophical about the strategic depth but really the sport is pretty much empty of actually relevant strategic decisions on a game to game basis. It's one of the least strategically deep sports I can think of.

[CubinNY]

The optimal strategy in baseball is almost always throw the ball in a way that makes it hard to hit, and for the batter to try to hit as hard as possible and hope that it's not right at someone. People always wax philosophical about the strategic depth but really the sport is pretty much empty of actually relevant strategic decisions on a game to game basis. It's one of the least strategically deep sports I can think of.

That never stopped managers from overdoing it. For my money, Earl Weaver was likely the best manager in modern times. He understood baseball intuitively better than any manager before or since in the modern era. Maybe Francona is a close second.

[WrigleyField 22]

The optimal strategy in baseball is almost always throw the ball in a way that makes it hard to hit, and for the batter to try to hit as hard as possible and hope that it's not right at someone. People always wax philosophical about the strategic depth but really the sport is pretty much empty of actually relevant strategic decisions on a game to game basis. It's one of the least strategically deep sports I can think of.

The relative lack of high level strategy makes us focus on the minutiae.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

The optimal strategy in baseball is almost always throw the ball in a way that makes it hard to hit, and for the batter to try to hit as hard as possible and hope that it's not right at someone. People always wax philosophical about the strategic depth but really the sport is pretty much empty of actually relevant strategic decisions on a game to game basis. It's one of the least strategically deep sports I can think of.

That never stopped managers from overdoing it. For my money, Earl Weaver was likely the best manager in modern times. He understood baseball intuitively better than any manager before or since in the modern era. Maybe Francona is a close second.

 

One of my favorite baseball quotes is Weaver and I can't find the exact wording, but it's something like "They put a wall out there and if you hit the ball over it you get to run around the bases for free, so might as well try to do that."

 

But even the overmanagers don't really matter that much. Bunting is suboptimal strategy because you lose like one-tenth of a run expectancy every time you do it, so if you do it every game for an entire season you lose 16 runs, and statistically the odds are 1-2 of those runs will probably cause you to lose a game you would have won, and over your lifetime there's probably going to be one or two times your favorite team's season turns on those games.

[We Got The Whole 9]

May 25 will be 2 Dope Boyz In A Cadillac night in Atlanta

 

 

 

 

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[soccer10k]

So with the new pickoff rules, say a pitcher throws over twice. Then he throws over a third time and the runner takes off for second. He gets into a run down but makes it back to first. Does he still get 2nd base because the pitcher disengaged with the rubber a third time without recording an out?

[sweetpeteman]

From Baseball America: Do Shorter Games Lead To Lower Concessions Sales?

 

 

Spoiler alert: Betteridge's Law applies.

[Bertz]

 

Barnhart (#5 in baseball the last three years) and Gomes (#8) both show out really well here. Though Contreras is #17 and well in the black so not exactly an area on defense where he was lacking.

[Irrelevant Dude]

From Baseball America: Do Shorter Games Lead To Lower Concessions Sales?

I don't know what the results will be for MLB, but I don't think it is possible to draw conclusions based on minor league games. They are two completely different experiences.

 

The primary argument seems to be that people were leaving the games at the same time anyway, so concessions weren't impacted. Are people who have paid significantly more money for tickets as willing to leave a meaningful MLB game as early as someone who paid very little to attend a relatively meaningless MiLB game? I certainly don't think so.

[CyHawk_Cub]

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[JudasIscariotTheBird]

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...that's fucked up

[cl smooth]

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some of the twitter responses go deeper in questioning how many other players whose teams had astroturf this could've affected. folks mentioned gary carter, dan queisenberry, dick howser, etc. what a wild story.

[We Got The Whole 9]

TMobile will be offering free MLB.tv again this year.

 

Signup will be from 3/28-4/3

 

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[Bertz]