Pace of play a real drag
CHICAGO — This postseason has had its share of memorable moments, in particular Clayton Kershaw coming out of the bullpen to close out the NLDS for the Dodgers, yet perhaps more than anything the play this month has highlighted two glaring issues that need to be addressed: time of games and instant replay.
If you’ve been watching throughout October, or just the last few games between the Dodgers and Cubs, both problems can be nothing short of maddening.
It took an ungodly four hours and 16 minutes to play nine innings between the Dodgers and Cubs on Thursday night, in part because there were a thousand pitching changes, or something like that, and in part because at least a few of those pitchers, especially Pedro Baez, seemed to be waiting for a sign from the heavens, never mind the catcher, to actually throw the ball.
And then there was the replay reversal that wasn’t in Game 4, when everyone in the world could see that Adrian Gonzalez’s hand touched the plate before he was tagged — except, apparently, for the umpires at the replay center in Chelsea.
OK, so which is the more urgent matter? You can make a case that they’re related, because the replay mechanism itself needs to be shortened, starting with the time a manager has to make a decision on challenging.
But for the good of the sport whose commissioner acknowledges a need to find a way to appeal more to young fans, I’d say time of game is more crucial.
So enough with the hemming and hawing, it really is time that MLB installs the 20-second pitch clock it is experimenting with in the minors.
What’s the problem? Every pitching coach alive preaches that working fast makes for better pitching, in part because it keeps the defense more engaged, and when pitchers work quickly, the game just has a better feel to it for everybody watching.
Actually, there already is a rule in baseball that says pitchers should deliver a pitcher within 12 seconds after getting the ball in their hands. It’s just never been enforced.
The feeling I get from talking to MLB people is they think the 20-second clock will be adopted eventually, but change tends to take longer than it should in baseball.
Surely this postseason should help push the process along, however. Of the 27 playoff games this month, 11 have taken more than three hours and 30 minutes — not including extra innings. Only six have been played under three hours.
And that would be fine if the long games were action-packed, high-scoring affairs, but usually the length has been due more to pitching changes, pitchers nibbling their way to a zillion 3-2 counts, and the time they take between deliveries.
So the pitch clock wouldn’t solve everything. The sabermetrics influence on the game has managers going to their bullpens earlier than ever, and utilizing more relievers in an effort to match up with lefthanders and righthanders.
“Right now matchups are en vogue, no question,’’ Joe Maddon said when asked about the subject of pitching changes before Game 4. “They’ve been getting more and more that way over the last couple of years.”
It can make games difficult to watch in the late innings. In Game 5 of the NLDS, Dusty Baker pulled Max Scherzer in the seventh inning of a 1-1 game after 99 pitches, and then proceeded to use five different relievers, who combined to give up three runs, in the same inning.
I wouldn’t want to see a rule requiring a reliever to have to pitch to a minimum of two or three batters, as has been suggested by some, at least not yet. But there’s no reason why relievers can’t be limited to just a couple of warmup pitches — they should be ready coming out of the bullpen.
Really, a pitch clock should do the trick. Just keep the game moving, that’s the biggest problem at times.
As for replay, there has been a feeling all year among players, managers, and executives that something is different this year; mainly that the umpires in Chelsea have been more reluctant to overturn calls even when there is strong evidence the call was wrong.
The Gonzalez play was a prime example, but that wasn’t even the most egregious of the postseason. In Game 3 of the Giants-Cubs series, replays couldn’t have been more clear in showing that Anthony Rizzo’s foot was off first base as he reached to catch a throw from Javy Baez, yet the out call wasn’t overturned.
The idea that umpires are protecting their own doesn’t really make sense, since the replays are shown on video boards in stadiums, inviting even more scorn from the fans if an obvious mistake isn’t corrected.
Some are arguing: why slow the game down for replay when the system isn’t working? But I still think it’s needed to prevent obvious mistakes, like Angel Hernandez’s missed call at first base in Game 3 in Los Angeles, from potentially costing a team a playoff game.
It shouldn’t be that hard to fix: Joe Torre and other MLB officials need to impress upon umpires working the replay center the importance of making decisions based on the evidence, without being influenced by the original call.
An MLB official said the matter would surely come up for discussion this off-season when the competition committee reviews the replay system, as it does every year.
The Indians obviously have ridden Andrew Miller and their bullpen to the World Series, but for a team that lost its No. 2 and 3 starters to injury, their starting pitching has been crucial to their success as well.
Thanks mostly to Corey Kluber, who gave up two earned runs in 18.1 innings, the Indians’ starters have a 1.86 ERA in the postseason, the best among any of the playoff teams that played more than one game.
(Mets’ starters, you may recall,
Gleyber Torres, the shortstop the Yankees acquired for Aroldis Chapman, is living up to the hype — at least in the Arizona Fall League.
Though six games, as of Saturday, he was leading the league, hitting .429, with two doubles and two home runs.
“You can see he’s got some pop,’’ says a scout who is covering the AFL. “He’s only 19 (20 in December) so he figures to develop more power as he matures physically. That could give the Yankees the option of playing him at third base in another year or so, if they want to keep (Didi) Gregorius at short.’’
The two star shortstops in this NLCS, Addison Russell and Corey Seager, were each selected as high school players in the first round of the 2012 draft. Russell went 11th to the A’s, who traded him to the Cubs for Jeff Samardzija, and Seager went 18th to the Dodgers.
Drafted between them was another high school shortstop, Gavin Cecchini, by the Mets with the 13th pick. Scouts think Cecchini has offensive potential, but the consensus is that he profiles more as a second baseman now than a shortstop. Cecchini made 33 errors in Triple-A Las Vegas this season, the majority with his arm, and he has made three more at shortstop in four starts in the Arizona Fall League.
So how did the Mets pass on Seager? Considering that he’s the sure NL Rookie of the Year and seemingly blossoming into a superstar, you can ask that of just about all of the 17 teams who didn’t take him.
It’s even fair to wonder if the Astros, who took Carlos Correa with the first pick, would take Seager if they could do it over. “Most teams saw him as a big kid who would have to move to third base,’’ says an executive from a major league team. “But obviously teams underestimated his offensive potential as well. Give the Dodgers credit. They said at the time they saw him as a shortstop, and he’s handling the position.’’