A counterpart thread to the “let’s fix soccer” thread.
How would you “fix” baseball?
Serious idea: robo-umpiring. All balls and strikes called by the electronic system currently used by broadcasters. Inconsistent strike zone is the worst thing about baseball currently, IMO.
Semi-serious: unlimited (or, less limited) pitcher substitution, or let pitchers alternate, as long as the pitcher’s spot has not come up to bat.
Whiny complaint: replay is good in theory, but what good is it if the replay umps are just as blind as the on-field umps? In the Dbacks-Brewers game last night, the replay completely missed an (inning ending, I believe) obvious out, which led to what? four more runs. Gah!
And the obvious: get rid of interleague and the DH!
Speed the game up. No commercial breaks in the middle of the inning. Manager only gets to make one trip to the mound a game and it can last no longer than one minute. Only one pitcher sub per game.
Enforce the rule on time between pitches and batters leaving the box. Pitcher takes too long (20 sec, maybe?) = ball. Hitter leaves the box for reason other than injury = let the pitcher pitch or just call a strike.
All replays done from the booth. No challenge bullshit. Robo-umps for balls and strikes isn’t a bad idea either, if the technology can get the result reported fast enough. I’d hate to screw with the wonderful timing between the pitch arriving, the call being made, and the crowd reaction.
This is one I can get behind. All the money these guys make and they can’t find gloves that fit?
(I noticed a few of my beloved Mariners don’t do it, and I am really happy. James Jones just stays in the box and waits for his next pitch. Brad Miller doesn’t even wear batting gloves.)
Forget one trip to the mound, managers get NO trips to the mound for idle chit chat, and no trips to argue with the umpires. The manager leaves the dugout for any reason other than requesting a review, someone is out of the game, either the pitcher or the manager.
And, yes, enforce the time limits around pitching and batting. Baseball was a slow moving game 75 years ago, and the games are 50% longer now, with little additional action.
Get rid of making pitchers bat. That only clogs up the lineup, and it forces guys who are really mowing them down to come out of the game to be pinch-hit for by some yokel who’s not good enough to make the lineup anyway. Only one pro league still doesn’t have the DH, and it’s high time they were forced into the modern era.
Have 2 leagues still, but make them a Drug-Free League and an Unlimited League. I can guess which one people would most want to watch.
A batter gets 1 free step-out per AB. One. Stand in their and take your cuts, dammit.
(There’s no serious corruption by gambling in baseball because the players now make enough not to be bribeable.)
Inter-league play I could take or leave, although I can see how it would be upsetting to purists. The problem is, there are some inter-league rivalries (Cubs-Sox, for example) that deserve more attention than an exhibition game.
The players & coaches (not the fans) vote for the All-Star team.
Go back to the ASG only being the best from both leagues and give the WS home field advantage to the team with the worse record (regular season + playoffs).
Robo umpires would be fine with me, if the technology is there.
I’m not a huge fan of interleague play, mostly because I’m an AL fan and have zero interest in seeing my team’s pitchers bat. I like having two separate leagues, one with the DH for people like me who like the DH and one without the DH for those who like not having a DH. I’m not looking to convert either side because I think both sides have good arguments. I just personally prefer the DH.
I think the mound height maybe should go back up some, not because pitchers need the advantage, but there are some thoughts that some of the injuries to pitcher arms might be partly related to how they are having to throw to create some of the angles they would be getting with the higher mound. The health of the players is more important to me than whether there are a frillion runs, so if the mound is contributing to injury, I want a change.
I’m a huge fan of baseball, but I’m not remotely a purist about it. I think everything can be improved.
I agree. I would only suggest that if the pitchers were sub’d with no additional warmup. In and out, get the job done. Do sub’d baskerballers need warm up shots? Do sub’d NFL players need practice tackles? If your pitchers can’t go in and start pitching, then you can’t use the ‘unlimsub’ rule.
No argument here. Sometimes the whole thing looks like a dance at best, and a badly acted HS play others. Ump makes questionable call, manager walks out, pointless arguing ensues (I mean, has an ump EVER changed a call as a result of a manager arguing with him?), manager walks back or gets ejected. ho hum
Agree. Some pitchers seem to make a epic production out of one pitch. Some batters do their entire prebatting ritual after EVERY pitch, even if they didn’t swing. Zip gloves, rub hands, kiss cross necklace, tap hat, tap base, tap base again, point bat back, partial swing, full swing, tap shoulder, move feet, crouch down…aren’t you fuckin’ ready YET?
Speed the game up through minimizing batters wasting time. This is absolutely the primary reason games are longer than they used to be (though they aren’t as long as people seem to think.) Batters stepping out to redo their batting gloves every single pitch is ridiculous and should not be permitted.
More robo-umping and instant replay. Why wait for a challenge? What, MLB can’t afford some video monitors and guys to look at them? If a play is clearly blown and can be caught right away, a light goes red to indicate it’s reviewed and has to be changed, and the crew chief is informed via radio headset how to fix the call. And if Pitch/FX is proven to be almost totally accurate, it calls balls and strikes. Screw tradition. Get the calls right.
If it were up to me I’d dump interleague play. I don’t know that that’s fixing the game of baseball, exactly, but interleague play strikes me as being completely unnecessary now (well, I guess it is necessary while we have 15 teams per league, but that can be changed at some point.) It was kind of cool before but now the novelty has worn off, so the interest it has for the observer is way overshadowed by the mess it makes of the schedule.
To be honest I like the idea of telling the managers they can’t come on the field unless they’re making a formal request for a replay or have a legitimate concern over a matter of interpretation of the rules (as opposed to a judgment call.) The coaches can’t go charging onto the playing area in other sports, why the hell are they allowed to in baseball?
While I am less bothered by the occasional wrong call (so long as they are actually just occasional) I agree that if getting the calls right is the concern, it shouldn’t have to be a challenge.
Just as I hate things like the defense having to challenge whether a runner left too soon on a fly out. There shouldn’t be “I know but I’m not telling” in baseball umpiring.
Oh I forgot that one. Nice catch, no pun intended. The “appeal” process is stupid. Add that to my list.
You would have to define at what point the runner is declared out (it cannot be during the play; it’s perfectly valid to have a player leave early, hit the next base, then realize he’s in trouble and retreat and get back in time) but at some point he just should be out. The appeals process is dumb. You don’t see football refs only calling a ball carrier out of bounds if the other team appeals it.
[ul]
[li]DH - relegated to the scrap heap. It’s a bastardization, and it should be stopped, and never spoken of again.[/li][li]In extra-innings affairs, if a team has exhausted their supply of pitchers, then a position player can come in to pitch, BUT I would add this stipulation. If an position player comes in to pitch, a pitcher who pitched earlier in the game must go play their position. (Outfielder is now pitching, there must be a pitcher substituted into the outfield)[/li][li]On ground rule doubles, all runners that were on base should score.[/li][li]If you are armored to the hilt, you don’t get first base if hit by pitch. The umpires should have some guide to say to a player, you have too much body armor on, you are not eligible for 1st base if hit.[/li][li]Enforce the damn batters box. Step out of it while swinging, or bunting, and you’re out. Period. Make it permanent, not chalked in.[/li][/ul]
