A question for baseball fans .....

[Ohiogal]

It seems like every year at this time, the powers that be try to address ways in which to speed up the game.

I was listening to a radio broadcast this morning where the two announcers were discussing ways that have been rumored to have been discussed to speed up the game.

1. Get the DH in the NL. (I don't know how this would speed up the game, since usually the pitcher is an easy out).

2. Time the pitchers with a clock.

3. No more matchups with relievers. If a reliever is brought in, he has to pitch to at least 3 batters. They discussed how stupid the last one is and I agree. That will be taking the strategy out of the game.

Does anyone else think the game is just fine the way it is and that we should just leave it alone? That is my humble opinion,anyway.

[ADX]

1. I agree with allowing a DH in the NL...

...but not so much with the other proposed rule changes...

[Ohiogal]

3. But I don't know how having the DH in the NL

solves the problem of too-slow games. (too slow for some people, anyway).

AL games, which do have the DH, are considered too slow, as well ....

[ADX]

6. I don't think speeding up the game is part of the rationale...

...for implementing a new, universal DH rule...

[CaptYossarian]

11. Having a DH isn't baseball.

That's why I don't watch AL games. Besides, if you think the game is too slow, you aren't a true fan.

[bearsfootball516]

2. I'd be fine with adding the DH to the NL.

Timing the pitchers, I don't think would do much. And forcing a reliever to face at least 3 batters would be a TERRIBLE idea. Sometimes a reliever comes in and you can tell after one batter that he just doesn't have it for that game. They're gonna force him to stay in there for two more batters and get shelled?

[Dave in VA]

4. I like it just the way it is

n/t

[PeeJ52]

5. I think both leagues should have the DH just for consistency, but don't speed it up...

I love baseball. The point of going to a game is relaxing at the park and soaking it in. There is no clock in baseball. It's not meant to be timed. As a wise man once said, It's not over until it's over. I don't even like a full ball park. I like finding an empty spot, putting my feet up on a rail or empty seat in front, kicking back and enjoying a cold one.

When I was a kid, I used to love going to the double headers so I could stay at the ball park all day long. They only want to speed it up for the non-fan.

[Ohiogal]

13. "They only want to speed it up for the non-fan."

BINGO.

[The Polack MSgt]

19. I'm in favor of abolishing the DH for consistency

As far as speeding up the games, well starters going 7 innings would help.

Umpires calling strikes strikes would speed things up as well...

But the game takes as long as it takes. I am not in favor of making changes just to placate folks who rarely watch the game.

Isn't all this talk about game length in service to attracting young fans?

Well, if they want younger fans MLB would be better served by investing more in youth ball and growing fans

Harumph. (Gets off soap box, shakes fist at the clouds, muttering)

[Ohiogal]

23. I'm standing right next to you

muttering and shaking my fist at the clouds, too, PolackMSgt.

[Wellstone ruled]

7. The real delay is allowing

Batters playing their mind games by leaving the Batters Box and the Ump's having to call time. If you do not know what the Pitcher is capable of throwing,well you need to the Instructional Leagues.

[Kurt V.]

10. yes. most baseball insiders say this is the number one problem

[Timewas]

12. That would help

Might help some to limit the throws to 1st also, and if it is intentional walk then why throw 4 balls just wave the hitter to first..

[Ohiogal]

14. They already do that,

wave the batter to first for an intentional walk. I think that started last year.

[Timewas]

16. I watched all summer

And never saw that happen....American league so maybe Nationals do that..Did a little research and find that it is actually optional...They claim it only saves 35 secs a game..I would think that more than that to throw 4 pitches

[Ohiogal]

17. I am an Indians fan, and watch almost all their games

I KNOW I saw Terry Francona do this maybe a ten times all last season. I didn't realize it's optional, though.

And, yes, you're right, it saves very little time.

[RockRaven]

8. The DH one sounds dumb to me... pitchers are fast(er) outs, and if you pinch hit for the pitcher,

which is a limited-use DH equivalent, the new pitcher can be warming up while your team is at bat. There is no significant delay involved there. The big delay involved in substituting for the pitcher is switching pitchers while your team is in the field. And the DH does not affect that. Substituting a higher batting average player for you lowest batting average player will only lengthen the game.

And the data backs this up. From a quick google search, I found that games between 2 AL teams are, on average, two minutes and 15 seconds longer than games between 2 NL teams.

Seems to me that people who favor spreading the DH to the NL under the guise of speeding up games are just people who favor the DH using a specious argument to try to spread it. If they follow the data, people wanting to speed up games should be favoring eliminating the DH from the AL instead (if indeed they insist on some DH-related action).

[Danmel]

9. The whole point of baseball is that there is no clock

No one knows how to just relax anymore. It's a shame, really.

[LakeSuperiorView]

15. There is no significant difference in AL vs. NL games if you throw out the 2 slowest and fastest

teams. There is more difference due to certain team's style of play than DH vs. no DH.

How would one implement a pitch clock? There is at least as much time with batters dicking around with their batting gloves as a pitcher being slow.

What's wrong with game times? If you want to watch a faster game, DVR it and skip the down times. Maybe if they stopped trying to stuff so many advertisements into the game...

[gainesvillenole]

18. Keep the batters in the box!

The biggest single change they could make to speed up baseball is to put a stop to the ridiculous ritual of batters stepping out of the batters box on EVERY SINGLE PITCH! It maddening.... every pitch the batter calls time, steps out, kicks dirt, adjusts his gloves (and other things) and steps back in. Make it so a batter must stay in the box unless deemed necessary by the umpire to step out due to hit by pitch or one allowed step out to see signs from the third base coach. It would easily cut 30 minutes from a game.
You could limit throws to first as well.... either by a rule limiting the number or more directly make every throw to first a ball. Yes, it would tilt the advantage to the runner trying to steal, but hell, what’s wrong with that? It would make it more exciting. As it is now, between the endless step outs, throws to first and the scratching/adjusting “equipment”, baseball has become a boring spectacle of watching two guys play catch while eight others stand around and watch.....

[Auggie]

20. Two fewer :30 second commercials between innings. That's eight minutes right there.

[First Speaker]

21. I absolutely support the three-batters-to-a-reliever-rule...

...or at least two. There is nothing more boring than endless pitching changes in the late innings of a game. It's led to the farce of 13-man pitching staffs, to give managers--or, more accurately, control-freak front offices--the most shadowy advantages while making a travesty of the game. Over the last generation, three real baseball players have been sacrificed for three left-handed "specialists" to try to get one lousy hitter out. How does this help the game? Or make it better? Tony LaRussa's game is a goddam bore. As for reducing strategy--crap. Putting more guys on the bench would increase strategy a lot more than the eight-man bullpens would. And maybe we'd return, at least a little, to the game of the 60s and 70s, when real pitchers threw real games. Sometimes--gasp!--nine innings. You know--Gibson, Marichal, Koufax, Bunning, Jenkins, Seaver, Carlton. Those guys. Maybe there are masochists who'd prefer the endless parade of the one-batter lefty relievers to watching real pitchers throwing real baseball. I say, restrict the staffs to ten men. Maybe, too, this will keep kids from blowing out their arms when they're 13--*teenagers* are getting the fucking Tommy John surgery these days--and over-emphasizing things like weight-lifting. These guys are baseball players, not Olympic weight lifters, or even football players. Baseball requires a balance of skills, and size and strength, per se, are only one aspect of the game. It's gotten muscle-bound, literally and figuratively. OK--old fart's rambling polemic in favor of the Good Old Days is over...

[kairos12]

22. Don't speed it up. Baseball is the only sport I can think of that isn't timed. Leave it alone.