MLB Off-Topic

[SPTO]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

I agree that one game is not enough of a sample size. I would love to see how it shakes out with all available broadcasts from a year in the '80s vs a year a in the 2010s and see if that was a one off or if there's actual truth in those findings.


Personally, i'm not against the pitch clock. I've said for years that pitchers and hitters take way too long between pitches either doing gamesmanship or outright being slow to do everything. I haven't heard any minor leaguers crying about how it's ruining baseball. Actually, I'd like to see how some of the minor league pitchers who've had to pitch with the clock fare with their pace once they're called up.

[TheMatrix31]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

I'm not a fan of the pitch clock, but honestly if its added to regular season games I really don't care. It's been in the minors for 2 seasons now and I attend quite a few Louisville Bats games (AAA) and honestly the pitch clock has no bearing on the game itself. It doesn't effect the chess match that is the sport. It doesn't effect the strategy. And honestly if I didn't see the clock counting down, I would never know it was in effect.

So then what's the purpose, lol.

[SPTO]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

So then what's the purpose, lol.

The purpose is to be an unobtrusive means of picking up pace while not overly changing the game.

[BigOscar]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

So then what's the purpose, lol.

To ban Pedro Baez from taking 8 years between each pitch

[countryboy]

MLB Off-Topic

So then what's the purpose, lol.

Well to penalize those who do take longer than 20 seconds to come set once receiving the ball back.

The point of my post is that people were freaking out as if this rule is somehow going to change how the game is played, when judging from I dunno 80 games I’ve seen it implemented, it won’t.


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[Blzer]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Sorry, my point got longer than it should have been. I'll break it up into two parts. And keep in mind as I say all of this that I am rather okay with a pitch clock (given the penalties in play and the obtrusiveness of it all).

The point of my post is that people were freaking out as if this rule is somehow going to change how the game is played, when judging from I dunno 80 games I’ve seen it implemented, it won’t.

While this is understandable, this goes back to the bigger question. The bigger question is not: "How can we decrease time between pitches?" The bigger question is not even: "How can we increase pace of play?" The bigger question is: "How can we attract more young audience members to our sport?"

It is true however that the current trend seems to be with a larger answer that is: "Increase pace of play," and unfortunately when one thing isn't enough, they start attacking another. When shorter commercial breaks didn't cover it, they went to automatic walks. When automatic walks didn't cover it, they went to mound visits. When mound visits didn't cover it, they went to pitch clocks. When pitch clocks won't cover it, they'll go back to minimum batters faced per pitcher, reducing number of regular season games played, etc. It's that slippery slope that will lead us toward a precipice as long as Manfred is continuing the conversation, and of course eventually it will trend toward DH in the NL and everything else.

Others keep bringing up a big point, though. It's not measured, but it is reasonable enough: "These changes won't bring non-fans of baseball toward baseball." Consider ESPN on television and its lack of attention to baseball: how the heck would shortening games to even an hour's length make ESPN want to cover baseball any more than they do now? Their show is all about condensing and analyzing to begin with, whether the game is one hour or six. I don't see how pace of play will bring them back into the light, so exposure will essentially stay as is.

One thing I also mentioned a few weeks ago is that ESPN Radio actually happens to cover baseball quite a lot. The reason is simple: the radio demographic is different from the TV and internet demographics. They'll cover what people will pay attention to, and radio listeners still happen to pay attention to baseball. That too won't increase the volume of listeners if we increase pace of play to an hour's length of a ballgame. It just will be where it is, unless they attack other angles of the game (such as off the field antics, marketing, social media, etc.).

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Slightly related rant below:

Spoiler

From an ignorant baseball fan's perspective, the real problem is people themselves. Our generation is attached to their phones and social media, instant gratification, yada-yada. It's the first thing that angered me about The Emoji Movie. In its opening narration, the main emoji character says this:

Like every freshman in high school, [his] whole life, everything, revolves around [his] phone. And, as the pace of life gets faster and faster, and attention spans get shorter and shorter, and... you're probably not even listening to me right now. Who has the time to type out actual words? And that's where we come in, the most important invention in the history of communication... Emojis.

This got me off my rocker immediately, because it's so very true. Why are we helping feed their ADHD? We're just exacerbating the problem.

Here's a matching anecdote: I played in a band with some of my teacher colleagues, and before starting we all used the same tuner, which was slightly uncalibrated/incorrect. I would want to tune my guitar using its built-in tuner because it's more correct, but they would insist on me tuning my guitar to theirs. It makes sense because we want to sound the same, but do we all want to sound out of tune together? I'd rather they work that extra bit to be in tune with me. But alas, I lost that battle for time's sake.

In short, baseball shouldn't change because we are changing. I'd rather it dies on its feet than live on its knees (meaning "knees" would be the point I would actually stop following the MLB).

We shouldn't have to change the nature of the sport and its rules to possibly cater to others, and furthermore I don't think it's going to draw much else if it doesn't increase the conversation in media outlets since the time of the games has nothing to do with their exposure on the sport.

Personally, I think Manfred is making things worse by initiating the conversation. It gives others who already don't like the sport validated ammo to continue to not like it, even if they have other reasons in mind that aren't quite as tangible or even if these fixes come to light for them and they are still turned away by its overall essence. The sport, by nature, is slow-paced. They will have to fix themselves to like it, and for the most part we should just let it be instead of changing things for the sake of changing them.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

It's just a pitch clock that has no effect on the game itself.

I'm watching the Cardinals/Nationals ST game and they are counting the clock and guys are still stepping out, stepping off the rubber, doing everything normally and they are getting pitches done within the 20 seconds.

[ShowTyme15]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Fox will be airing baseball on Thursday nights in September.

https://www.12up.com/posts/6304930-r...e&view_medium=[mlb]

[BigOscar]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

It's just a pitch clock that has no effect on the game itself.

I'm watching the Cardinals/Nationals ST game and they are counting the clock and guys are still stepping out, stepping off the rubber, doing everything normally and they are getting pitches done within the 20 seconds.

Yup, 20 seconds, in reality, is a very long time to get ready. It'll work out just like the mound visits did, the only reason you'll ever even consider it is because the commentators will probably bring it up a lot in the first month of the season.

[TheMatrix31]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Fox will be airing baseball on Thursday nights in September.

https://www.12up.com/posts/6304930-r...e&view_medium=[mlb]

This type of thing does way, way more in helping people become fans than worthless, obtrusive regulations that are---admittedly even by proponents of said regulations--pointless in mature.

Make your sport an event not to miss.

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

In a dramatic turn of events, baseball will actually take precedent over Thursday Night Football, as the MLB will be aired on the main FOX network. TNF will assuredly be broadcast on either NFL Network or FS1.

Hmmm, interesting.

[CMH]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Hmmm, interesting.

At first it seemed crazy but then I realized it's just four games.

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[SPTO]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

At first it seemed crazy but then I realized it's just four games.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

Four games is a quarter of an NFL season. I don't think the league is particularly happy about this considering how they've put all their eggs on broadcast TV. It's why the NFL STILL hasn't given a full package to any online streaming sites.


For MLB, this is great exposure though and if they pick the right games to air coming down the playoff stretch than they could probably get good ratings.

[DieHardYankee26]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Hmmm, interesting.

The most interesting part to me is they're doing this because baseball is getting in the way of their college football Saturdays, hilarious.

[areobee401]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

I don't see MLB on Fox making a splash ratings wise head-to-head against a TNF game, even one on cable. I look at it as more of a way for Fox to maintain decent ratings on the main channel, while bringing significant eyeballs to the FS1 brand. Something they have done with other properties they own rights to in the past.