That makes sense to me – pinch-hitting for a pitcher does, of course, always lead to a pitching change, but it’s a pitching change at the start of the next half-inning, rather than a mid-inning change, and the new pitcher gets the usual start-of-inning warmup pitches, so it’d have little or no net delay to the game.
Good point.
One thing that flummoxes me is, before they had to close them again just now, why did they do their training camps in Florida??
I mean, Covid or no Covid, it’s HOT in Florida in June and July. The reason the spring training camps are in FL and AZ is that in February and March, the weather’s nice down there, while it’s crappy for baseball in most of the MLB cities. But there’s no reason not to do June ‘spring’ training at the regular ballparks - that’s where they’d be playing anyway at this time of year.
And the rebound of Covid-19 in FL and AZ is just the cherry on top.
I suspect it’s because the teams’ spring training facilities are more than just a single stadium – they all have multiple fields, which makes it easier to run multiple training activities simultaneously.
You are correct. The facilities are in Florida and Arizona to handle 100 players at once.
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I don’t give a crap what they do to tinker with the game this year. Make the pitcher wear a funny hat, the bases are run clockwise in innings divisible by 3, whatever. I’m actually afraid they didn’t institute enough changes. The game is in a decline, and something is going to have to give at some point - this is the time to see what can work (hint: it’s having the umps enforce pace-of-play and keeping batters in the box). [/quote]
Too bad they aren’t doing those things. MLB is just so weirdly resistant to fixing things that are actual problems.
We had someone on our high school team that did this a lot as well, as he was fairly fast but pretty awful at everything else, and the school wasn’t big enough to justify cutting players from the team - everyone who wanted to sit on the bench in a uniform all game could do so. As to the rules, it could only be done for a pitcher or catcher, I believe. Catcher was so that they could get their gear on and be ready for the next half inning immediately when the current one was over, and the pitcher so that he didn’t get tired and could stay in the game longer (I guess). They were called “courtesy runners”. This was in Michigan in the late 90s.
I like baseball and I’m not going to throw a tantrum over these temporary changes.
A favorite bit of trivia. The designated runner: Herb Washington
Appeared in 105 games, scored 33 runs and never had a single plate appearance.
Very true, but in case there is confusion, there was no position of “designated runner” like there is “designated hitter.” Washington was a player on the roster who never had to touch a bat or a glove. He only was used as a pinch runner and every time it cost a substitution.
Interesting. So it’s all just a bunch of BS to get the NL to include the DH. Well that’s depressing.
Recently MLB entered into a contract with the Atlantic League, a minor league of unaffiliated teams. The Atlantic League got an influx of cash and MLB uses them to experiment with rule changes in real game situations. One of those experiments was the runner on second in extra innings. I went to a game last year that had extra innings. The runner in scoring position didn’t suck as much as I thought it would. I could get used to. To be honest most games that go deep into extra innings tend to be boring. Eliminating bullpen ruining 15 inning games is not a bad thing.
The universal DH has been a thing that MLB has wanted forever. Just get it done and that’s that. A huge amount of today’s fans have never known a world without the DH. National league fans will like that a player given a rest day might be the DH that day.
The runner on 2nd is stupid. Ok, I get why MLB and probably the players don’t want to play games deep into the night and using every pitcher. It’s strictly confirmation bias but those long games always seem to be followed by a day game the next day. Just declare a tie after 12 innings and finish the game later in the season if it’s necessary for the playoffs.
I don’t object to having a real consideration of those rules (I mean, I do because I hate them and they are, IMHO colossally stupid).
My objection is passing them off as a necessity because of Covid-19 and bullshitting people.
And no, no ties, damn you. 
It’s baseball. Play until the game is won.
Other posters have said that rules need to be changed because the game is losing viewers or that we shouldn’t be tied to tradition. But what is it about the DH and a runner on 2nd in extra innings that will bring back fans?
To follow up. How does this runner on 2nd rule work? Does the manager just pick a guy? Is he substituted in the lineup? Is it a designated spot in the batting order? Does a team forego an at-bat in the order? Can you pinch run for him? Does the pinch runner take a spot in the lineup?
I agree using COVID as an excuse to bring in the changes is stupid.
I don’t care about the universal DH, no player has known a world with without it. I’m not a purist.
I hate the idea of a tie as well. But, games going longer than 12 innings are very rare. I hate the bullpen specialists crap, but it’s a part of today’s game.
Part of MLB’s problem is they simply don’t realize this isn’t the 1950’s and need to ignore the ‘baseball is dying’ shit the media spews. Yes, the days of people standing in Times Square waiting for the scores are long gone. There’s a million entertainment options and the USA doesn’t look like the Leave it to Beaver world.
Games dragging on is a problem but it’s not limited to baseball. Squeezing every dollar from advertising has that effect. Plus, endless replays don’t help.
You clearly know that betting is against the rules on this board, and I refuse to engage in it.
To follow up. How does this runner on 2nd rule work? Does the manager just pick a guy? Is he substituted in the lineup? Is it a designated spot in the batting order? Does a team forego an at-bat in the order? Can you pinch run for him? Does the pinch runner take a spot in the lineup?
It’s the player who made the last out in the prior inning. And I agree with those who believe these changes are here to stay. Both sides had agreed on the universal DH in principle during the post-March negotiating process, and they’re likely to do so again.
The DH is here to stay. Both sides want it. The runner-on-second is absolutely temporary - it’s designed to get the players out of the stadium as fast as possible, which is a concern. When there are fans in the stands buying hot dogs, owners will pull the runner-on-second thing in a heartbeat.
The tie and play later in the year part is not good either. Logistically it is hard enough for just the partial game rain outs and make-up games. There is no good answer, anyone you is at all a purist is probably going to hate the runner on 2nd silliness, but stopping at the end of the 12th just won’t work.