MLB will try speed-up rule in minors
To hear Joe Torre tell it, Major League Baseball is plagued by a plethora of bullpen-draining, fan-shedding, 15-inning slogs that end after midnight with some poor position player comically lobbing 75-mph meatballs over the plate.
That, at least, was the reasoning Torre, the sport’s chief baseball officer, is lending his support to the experimental new rule MLB will implement in the low minor leagues this season, with each extra half-inning beginning with a runner on second base.
“It’s not fun when you go through your whole pitching staff and wind up bringing a utility infielder in to pitch,” Torre said.
But the facts don’t back that up — which is just one reason, and only the most superficial of them, why MLB’s latest idea to speed up the game is a misguided one. In 2016, there were 185 extra-inning games out of a total of 2,428 games played, or 7.6 per cent. Of those 185, nearly two-thirds (122) ended in 10 or 11 innings, and just eight (4.3 per cent) lasted 15 innings or longer. Washington Post
A 19-inning game in Toronto actually featured two Blue Jays position players — Ryan Goins and Darwin Barney — being called on to pitch, and the Indians’ 2-1 victory, with Barney surrendering the go-ahead run in the top of the 19th, stood as one of the most memorable games of the season and served as a precursor to the dominance the Indians’ bullpen displayed in their to the World Series a few months later.
It’s not even clear that starting each extra half-inning with a runner on second would have the desired effect of ending games more quickly. Yes, based on run-expectancy date, teams that have a runner on second and nobody out typically score in that inning about 61 per cent of the time. It would give the home team a massive advantage should they hold the visitors scoreless in the top half, because one run would win the game.
But once you account for the inevitable sacrifice bunt, the two intentional walks in order to create a force at every base and the parade of pitching changes, how much time have you actually saved?
Here’s the thing: It’s not the 18-inning, five-hour marathons that are turning off fans. It’s the four-hour, nine-inning games with 15 pitching changes and the ball actually in play for maybe five minutes total.
Thankfully, this extra-innings trial likely won’t make its way to the big leagues any time soon, if ever. MLB is trying it out in the rookie-level Gulf Coast and Arizona leagues because it doesn’t need to have the Players’ Association approval to do so. The runneron-second rule has long been in use in international competition — beginning with the 12th inning — and will be on display again this spring in the World Baseball Classic, more a curiosity than anything.