Baseball Testing New Extra-Inning Rule
Some odd thinking here from Major League Baseball. They are testing a new way to speed up the game. They have an idea that once the game goes into extra innings, a runner will be automatically placed at second base.
The idea of this is to stop games from going into the 17th or 18th inning. They want games to end sooner.
MLB Chief Baseball Officer, Joe Torre, told the Bleacher Report:
""Let's see what it looks like. It's not fun to watch when you go through your whole pitching staff and wind up bringing a utility infielder in to pitch. As much as it's nice to talk about being at an 18-inning game, it takes time."
I do not like this rule one bit! Why change the game? In the grand scheme of things, are there really that many games that go into the 15th inning? No. They need to speed up the pace of the game, and this new rule will not change the pace of the game on a large enough scale to bring more viewers back to watching and talking about baseball.
Plus, I absolutely love watching position players pitch in the 18th inning! That is was makes baseball great!
I do like that they are talking about changing the game, and this new rule will takes years before it goes into affect. They are going to test it in the Gulf Coast League and the Arizona League in 2017, and see if they like it.
I am not jumping to conclusions....okay, maybe I am. I have never seen the rule in affect, and this rule is going to be used in the World Baseball Classic this year, and pretty much all international league use this rule.
Anyway, I don't like it, yet....How about you?