Really? I see it as a fundamental perversion of the sport. Why is the guy on second? Did get he get a hit or a walk? Reach on an error? Nope, he’s just there. It’s something a little league coach might come up with so they could get the little tykes a hot dog and a soda before dark.
Banning the shift or instituting a pitch clock is an insignificant tweak. Every game decided by the ghost runner is another game with an illegitimate result.
Nitpick: The number of strikeouts must be finite, but it can be arbitrarily large. 
And that’s your right, but I’ll note that even in this thread, there was somebody arguing that banning the shift was a fundamental change in the game. Opinions clearly differ.
I don’t really care about extra inning games. Let games end in ties, if ghost runners are a bridge too far. All major sports have had to incorporate some changes that purists would consider excessive. While some don’t want the game to change at all, it pretty much has to change to survive. How it chooses to do so, I’ll let other people decide. People consider baseball stodgy for good reason.
To me, the ghost runner sucks but it’s become a ‘whatever’ for me. I know enough about the early days of baseball to know that games sometimes ended early because of darkness or the team had to catch a train. No one wants that part of the era back.
I am sure it’s just confirmation bias, but I do remember a lot of teams getting stuck with a mega 17 inning night game and then having a day game the next day.
Or pitch an immaculate game. 81 pitches, 81 strikes. There have only been 100 or so immaculate innings in MLB so it’ll probably never happen, but it is possible.
Totally agree with this statement.
On September 18th, the Twins and Guardians played a 15-inning game, the longest in the majors this year. Also the longest in terms of time. So the ghost runner is achieving what it was intended to do.
The Manfred Man perverts the game for several reasons, but chiefly because a pitcher can do everything right and still surrender a run. That it’s an unearned run doesn’t really matter. Bury it forever.
Pitch clocks, reviews, robo umps, shift bans…none of the other proposals screw with the essence of the game. Besides, who doesn’t like free baseball?
Well, or five.
I also looked into wether or not it is possible for two runners to be safe on the same base.
The rule clearly states it cannot happen, BUT:
If for whatever reason, if two baserunners end up on the same base by mistake, it is still the responsibility of lets say, the third baseman, to tag out the lead runner.
In this this situation, coaches tell players to quickly tag both runners just in case the third basemen isn’t sure who the lead runner is.
Which means the lead runner is not out until he is tagged.
So, the question is, only hypothetically of course, if the third baseman does not tag either one of the runners, and throws it back to the pitcher instead to restart the game, what happens next?
If the lead runner is not tagged he is not out, so can the game resume with two runners on third?
I’ve long wondered this myself. And if the bases are laded with two runners on third, does a grand slam give the batter 5 RBIs?
However, the lead runner is not out. It is the following runner who is out if both are tagged.
The Yankees and Cardinals will both clinch their divisions tonight if they win.
@OldGuy is right. If two runners occupy a base, the lead runner is safe. The following runner is subject to being tagged out. If two runners are occupying the same base, the play is still live, and the umpires will not call time out until the following runner is tagged or he safely returns to his preceding base.
A Marlins pitcher, who had never committed a balk in his career, was just called for THREE in a single inning. Gave up a run, which makes it 6-4 Miami going into the ninth.
Absolutely bizarre. I’m a Mets fan, but I think that was very poor umpiring and I don’t blame the Marlins for being upset and a couple of people getting ejected for arguing.
They certainly won’t call “time”, but what will they do? Suppose the pitcher gets the ball and stands on the rubber and the batter gets in the box. I guess the home plate ump will just stand there and not get “into position”. What if the pitchers throws the ball? I guess it’s still live?
Wow, that is some complete bullshit. I have seen many pitchers that balk much worse than that routinely. To call that three times in a row is just some ego-tripping. If I were more conspiracy-minded I’d want to make sure that ump didn’t have anything riding on the game…
The third one in particular I didn’t see anything. Certainly nothing that would fall under “attempting to deceive the runner”.
And Crag Kimbrel has absolutely gone terrible. Might be cut from Dodgers postseason roster. Threw 9 pitches half a block away from the strike zone.
No, no, keep him on the roster. He’ll come around.
I’ve been watching baseball for 60 years and I still can’t tell WTF is a balk and what isn’t.
One week to go in the regular season, and five divisional races have been decided. The Mets and Braves are tied for the NL East with 7 games to play; one team will win the division and the other will be the top WC team in the NL. Otherwise, nothing has yet been determined in the WC races, with Seattle holding a 3.5 game lead over Baltimore for the last AL WC spot, and the Phillies trying to hold off the Brewers for the last NL WC spot.
The Mets play a 3-game series at Atlanta this weekend.