Post
by MJG75 » Tue Mar 22, 2022 8:42 am
Not a fan, Jack. I'm as old school as they come and NL baseball to this point has been, gratefully as it's the only baseball league that truly matters, real baseball while the AL since the 70s has played this weirdo version of the game. But now here we are.
At least I can halfway understand that particular change even if I'm dead set against it. Hey great that Mel Blount has a rule named after him, but I prefer we would have skipped that rule change altogether. At least I did understand it. Want more offense? Puts more butts in seats? Yeah I get it. Don't have to like it, which I don't in either case, but I get it.
These other ticky tack rules to speed up the game? Not gonna happen and they simply seem ridiculous. Limit mound visits, pitch clocks, etc. Bullshit. If you want to speed up the game and have most be 2-2.5 hours the way they used to be? The two things I see: batters posing a lot more than they used to. Not gonna stop that. The other: pitch counts, and a different bullpen philosophy. You eliminate the unholy obedience to this dumbass idea (cos it frankly to the eye test just doesn't work), of strict pitch counts, you will create a ripple effect that will have the effect of speeding up the game. If you aren't locked into a philosophy that calls for your starter to regularly not make it past the 6th inning, and rarely the 7th, you mandate pitcher changes, which by nature consume time. Add in the change to bullpen that these guys are somehow "specialists" who cant possibly pitch 2, even 3 innings! Shudder the thought. It's all bullshit. Get rid of the pitch counts; stop coddling pitchers. That will speed up the tempo and we will have mostly traditional baseball back (get rid of all the other stuff that flies in the face of tradition as well). I'm an idealist, but not a fool. I know the DH is here to stay, just as no contact past 5 yards ain't going anywhere. But the rest? Pitch 'em to the curb.
