MLB Discussing Universal DH And Expanded Playoffs For 2021

[Ron Madden]

Mets president Sandy Alderson recently said in a conference call, “having a DH in the National League is a good thing. The fact is, pitchers can’t even bunt anymore. So I’m in favor of putting a hitter in that additional slot. ultimately it makes the game more exciting. More offense, or more opportunity for offense, a bigger challenge for the pitchers. “I just think for the overall quality of the game, the excitement level of the DH is the right thing in the National League.”

BOB NIGHTENGALE | USA TODAY | 21 hours ago

[Kc61]

The only rule change I care about is the seven inning doubleheader. I love this. It makes a doubleheader watchable. I really enjoyed them last year and would never have sat through a full DH.

Have to be limited, don’t want too many 7 inning games, but I favor several per team each season.

Don’t care much about the rest of it. I expect the DH rule in the NL soon. It’s inevitable. I’d prefer to keep extra innings the old-fashioned way. But the only thing that truly improved my enjoyment of the game was the doubleheaders.

[757690]

It speaks volumes that so many die hard baseball fans here on this site find the game so boring that the can only watch it for a two hours.

I used love long games, loved extra innings, the more extra the better, and I absolutely adored long double headers, and hope each time that both games go into extra innings. That was true up to just a few years ago.

Now I understand why so many baseball fans don’t like any of that, and it’s a shame. We need to figure out how to get back to loving baseball so much that we don’t want it to end, instead of trying to change the rules so that there is less and less of it.

[M2]

It speaks volumes that so many die hard baseball fans here on this site find the game so boring that the can only watch it for a two hours.

I used love long games, loved extra innings, the more extra the better, and I absolutely adored long double headers, and hope each time that both games go into extra innings. That was true up to just a few years ago.

Now I understand why so many baseball fans don’t like any of that, and it’s a shame. We need to figure out how to get back to loving baseball so much that we don’t want it to end, instead of trying to change the rules so that there is less and less of it.

You've been making the case it's boring from minute one due to three true outcomes. I enjoyed shorter games. It added urgency (top of the lineup might only get three cracks at the opposition). It increased the chances for the SP to dominate the game. It took innings away from extraneous arms in the bullpen. Lower-scoring/lower-margin contests increased the incentives to be aggressive on the bases.

Plus, just because you like pizza doesn't mean you've got to eat the whole pizza.

[757690]

You've been making the case it's boring from minute one due to three true outcomes. I enjoyed shorter games. It added urgency (top of the lineup might only get three cracks at the opposition). It increased the chances for the SP to dominate the game. It took innings away from extraneous arms in the bullpen. Lower-scoring/lower-margin contests increased the incentives to be aggressive on the bases.

Plus, just because you like pizza doesn't mean you've got to eat the whole pizza.

All of this is MLB trying to become the NBA and NFL. It will be more popular, but an inferior game. Like Michael Bay movies. Super popular, makes a ton of money, and lousy movies.

Enjoy your quick edited car crashes and gun fights. I will prefer my Kubrick thought provoking storytelling.

[Bourgeois Zee]

All of this is MLB trying to become the NBA and NFL. It will be more popular, but an inferior game. Like Michael Bay movies. Super popular, makes a ton of money, and lousy movies.

Enjoy your quick edited car crashes and gun fights. I will prefer my Kubrick thought provoking storytelling.

That might be the most arrogant take in the history of RedsZone.

All you need is a black turtleneck and a clove cigarette.

And maybe a beret.

[Wonderful Monds]

I don’t think there’s anything more I despise than the amateur hour runner on 2nd nonsense or seven inning games. If they don’t want games to be 4 hours, they should institute a pitch clock and tell batters not to step out to take 20 practice swings and adjust every piece of equipment between every single pitch. The pace of the game is what’s boring - a two hour game where you can run an entire Kentucky Derby between every time the starting pitcher throws a pitch is still an excruciatingly paced game.

[757690]

That might be the most arrogant take in the history of RedsZone.

All you need is a black turtleneck and a clove cigarette.

And maybe a beret.

I fell in love with baseball because it wasn’t like the other sports. I like the other sports, but I love baseball.

What I love about baseball is that there it is more intellectual than physical. Strategy plays a bigger role than athleticism. It has no time limit, no clock, it meant to be a chess game that lasts as long as it takes. It wasn’t about nightlights, but about key moves. The mind games behind the battle between the pitcher and the hitter, on every pitch made it magical. It was romantic and beautiful. There is so reason why it is the one sport that translates into novels and movies.

If it turns into the other sports and eliminates that literary, intellectual quality, it will probably make more money... and lose my interest, become just another game I like but don’t love, don’t care about.

[Bourgeois Zee]

I fell in love with baseball because it wasn’t like the other sports. I like the other sports, but I love baseball.

What I love about baseball is that there it is more intellectual than physical. Strategy plays a bigger role than athleticism. It has no time limit, no clock, it meant to be a chess game that lasts as long as it takes. It wasn’t about nightlights, but about key moves. The mind games behind the battle between the pitcher and the hitter, on every pitch made it magical. It was romantic and beautiful. There is so reason why it is the one sport that translates into novels and movies.

If it turns into the other sports and eliminates that literary, intellectual quality, it will probably make more money... and lose my interest, become just another game I like but don’t love, don’t care about.

I get it. I totally do.

I was referring to the way it was couched. The "I'm right because I prefer Kubrick," more popular equals inferior nonsense struck me as particularly silly.

Baseball is trying new things. As it has always done.

Some-- moving the mound height, allowing defenders to play with gloves, the DH-- have worked.

Some-- spitballs, orange baseballs, and shorts-- have not.

To insist that the game is unassailable is a false assertion.

[757690]

I get it. I totally do.

I was referring to the way it was couched. The "I'm right because I prefer Kubrick," more popular equals inferior nonsense struck me as particularly silly.

Baseball is trying new things. As it has always done.

Some-- moving the mound height, allowing defenders to play with gloves, the DH-- have worked.

Some-- spitballs, orange baseballs, and shorts-- have not.

To insist that the game is unassailable is a false assertion.

When it comes to movies, I am insufferablely pretentious. I make no apologies about that, lol.

As for the game, I have been for changes, I am always for progress. But that is not what these changes are.

[Bourgeois Zee]

When it comes to movies, I am insufferablely pretentious. I make no apologies about that, lol.

As for the game, I have been for changes, I am always for progress. But that is not what these changes are.

These are absolutely changes to the game. They are undoubtedly progressive.

They're not what you want, for sure.

The pretension was what I was making fun of.

[757690]

I don’t think there’s anything more I despise than the amateur hour runner on 2nd nonsense or seven inning games. If they don’t want games to be 4 hours, they should institute a pitch clock and tell batters not to step out to take 20 practice swings and adjust every piece of equipment between every single pitch. The pace of the game is what’s boring - a two hour game where you can run an entire Kentucky Derby between every time the starting pitcher throws a pitch is still an excruciatingly paced game.

For all my Grandpa Simpson, beret wearing Kubrick loving self, I agree with all of this. A pitch clock would be make the game more watchable, and not change the game in any meaningful way.

[RedTeamGo!]

What a lame post. Basically “if you don’t agree with me on this you are intellectually inferior.” Get outta here.

Here’s the thing. If a game goes 18 innings that means there are likely (at least) 8 innings of nothing happening. Just batters going up and making outs. Usually by around the 13th you can tell the players have checked out mentally. They are ready to go back to the hotel room. They are just going through the motions. It sucks.

[757690]

What a lame post. Basically “if you don’t agree with me on this you are intellectually inferior.” Get outta here.

Here’s the thing. If a game goes 18 innings that means there are likely (at least) 8 innings of nothing happening. Just batters going up and making outs. Usually by around the 13th you can tell the players have checked out mentally. They are ready to go back to the hotel room. They are just going through the motions. It sucks.

No runs scoring does not equal nothing happening. Again, this is the NBA/NFL mentality. Some of the best, most entertaining innings I have even witnessed had zero runs scored.

Btw, I have friends who are huge Michael Bay fans who are definitely intellectually superiors to me.

[RedTeamGo!]

The idea the NFL and NBA is not as strategic, intellectual, cerebral, or whatever is complete nonsense. There’s a reason NFL teams put so much stock in an IQ test for franchise QBs.