New extra-inning rule stirs debate as teams strategize

MILWAUKEE — Baseball has its answer to penalty kicks, overtimes and shootouts, and it figures to stir just as much debate as all those other forms of tiebreakers.

Major League Baseball will start each extra inning in this abbreviated, 60-game season by putting a runner on second base. The rule has been used since 2018 in the minor leagues, where it created more action and settled games sooner.

“It’s like ‘arena baseball,’” said Scott Thorman, who managed the Kansas City Royals’ Single-a Carolina League affiliate in Wilmington, Delaware, last season.

Those words may cause traditionalists to shudder.

“I haven’t met anyone so far that likes it,” Washington Nationals manager Dave Martinez said.

Dave Martinez, meet Christian Yelich.

“I think it’s great,” said Yelich, the Brewers’s outfielder and 2018 National League MVP. “As a player, there’s nothing worse than extra innings. Especially in a season like this, where you literally can’t take on that 15- or 16-inning game with just how rosters are constructed and pitchers not being built up to where they usually are and not really having the option to draw from this minor league talent pool.’’

Indeed, MLB is experimenting with the rule this year in part to prevent marathon games from causing long-term damage to pitching staffs.

Brady Williams, who manages the Tampa Bay Rays’ Triple-a affiliate in Durham, North Carolina, said he initially considered the extra-inning format “Mickey Mouse baseball” but eventually appreciated how it reduced his bullpen’s workload.

According to Minor League Baseball data, 71% of extra-inning games ended after one or two innings in 2016 and it was about the same in 2017 (74%). With the new rule in place, that number climbed to 93% percent each of the last two seasons.

Brewers general manager David Stearns, who backs the change, noted a game that lasts at least 15 innings “can impact you for weeks after that if they are compounded by other challenging games.”

“I think it makes sense in terms of trying to bring some finality to the game in this short season,” Chicago White Sox general manager Rick Hahn said. “And, frankly, in a year where we’re playing 60 games, why not try something different? Why not experiment a little bit?’’

The experimenting will be occurring in dugouts across baseball as MLB adjusts to this format change.

Will road teams try to bunt that runner over to third or play for the big inning? How often will pitchers walk the leadoff batter to set up a double play? How frequently will teams pinch-run for the guy on second?

“It’s a whole different realm strategy-wise,” Arizona Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen said.

AP - Aaron Gash, file Fans cheer as the Brewers’ Christian Yelich walks off the field after driving in the winning run during the ninth inning of a game against the Cubs last season. Yelich is one of the players in favor of a rule in place for the 2020 season, in which a runner will be placed on second base to begin each extra inning.

AP - Phelan M. Ebenhack, file Two Tampa Bay Rays fans sleep in the stands during the 16th inning of a game against the Orioles in 2013. The aim of the new extra-innings rule is to limit such long games.