Don't like the idea of totally eliminating mound visits for catchers. Don't like eliminating the shift. I think the base size has to do with increasing base stealing. Not sure about moving the rubber back.
I love how nobody here has mentioned how mlb suffocates its media rights and doesn't allow users to push out content on social media. Stop looking for external ways to improve the game and start from within. MLB does the worst job out of any national sports league to highlight its players. There's alot of really hot super models who are married to baseball players and mlb does nothing to put its players on a platform. You have some of the most charismatic players in baez, bettis, bregman, beltre, cabrera, and I can go on and on. Start showcasing batting practice online and IG live for free. MLB has THE worst marketing wing of any sports league in the world.
It's almost a Greek tragedy. MLB wants to revolutionize the game with drastic measures, but they fail to address the the one glaring, constant problem: shitty umpiring. The egos of these umps ruins the games. Not just that, but their calls can determine and end seasons. It makes *no* sense. MLB wants fans to get truly invested in their game, yet bozos like Angel Hernandez can literally arbitrarily dictate the outcome. AJ's post-game criticism of Hernandez was on point. There are ways to improve the umps' calls at a minimum. Yet their union has withheld all attempts to fix them. Mandate a technological strike zone. It's time. They say these changes are for the fans, right? What % of fans want umps calling strikes? 5%? Home plate umps can make calls at home that are subject to review. It's just asinine. It's mind-boggling. The MLB is looking at extreme measures to revolutionizing the sport, yet they won't even address the glaring problem in front of them.
I think the defense should be able to throw at and hit the runners for an out, sort of like dodgeball. A shot to the head would be worth two outs. If you're worried that might do away with the bunt, just limit the hit baserunner out to once or twice per game. It would certainly create more interest and excitement plus add some strategy.
On the marketing side, how stupid is it to open the season and still have spring training games being played. There's no clarity when the entire spotlight should be on opening the season.
Read that opening weekend attendance was low this year. Looking at highlights of other games you can see alot of empty seats as well. Not good if true.
Series opened at Tampa (29th), Miami (30th), Kansas City (24th), Oakland (26th), and Cincy (23rd). Numbers in parentheses are their attendance rank from 2018. Not to mention (as another poster pointed out), you had games being postponed in the midwest and north while 2 southern dome based teams were playing each other. MLB leaves a lot to be desired in their early season scheduling.
8 more ideas/suggestions: Require all teams to play in a retractable roof stadium by 2030, except for Wrigley field. Each team plays 1 international series per season. Stagger them across Europe and Asia. Decrease the season to 150 games and make the schedule predictable. Opening day is March 30th for all teams, regardless of what day of the week it falls on. The season goes for 25 weeks from opening day and Wednesday’s are the off day. No team’s schedule can include more than 15 games that start outside the 5pm-9pm window of their local time. By 2025 all teams tv deals must include the option for fans to purchase streaming for $15/month or less. MLB should own/manage/sponsor winter leagues in South America, Australia, and Africa. MLB should award bonuses to players based on social media activity and community service/engagement.
I agree with the 2 bolded ones. The others are a bit extreme. You want a roof over Fenway? Yankee Stadium? Why would Dodger Stadium or San Diego need a roof? The schedule would require a complete realignment. I'm not against that necessarily but it's not going to happen.
I’d be fine grandfathering in any stadium over 30 years old, which would be Fenway, Wrigley, Dodger, Oakland, Anaheim, and Kauffman.
https://theathletic.com/1137822/201...ears-about-their-future-electronic-overlords/ Revolution pitcher Mitch Atkins: I throw a 12-6 curveball that’s coming from up to down, and it’ll hit the top of the zone, I mean, right at the guy’s shoulder coming down. And the hitter’s never going to swing at that pitch because it’s always been a ball. I personally don’t think it’s a strike now — but it’s being called a strike. Personally, I think that with the strike zone down, they’ve still got some adjusting to do because it’s giving too much up and down. I’ve seen balls that clip the zone and end up off the plate (low). They look bad, but … TrackMan is calling it a strike. You’ll see the hitter look back at where the catcher is catching it, and his glove is close to the dirt. That’s always been a ball, but now it doesn’t really matter. ---- Time of game – Real umps 2:47, TrackMan 2:46 Runs per game – Real umps 4.61, TrackMan 4.63 Strikeout percent – Real umps 19.6%, TrackMan 19.6% Walk percent – Real umps 8.9%, TrackMan 8.1% --- Interesting article from the Athletic. Basically, delay for calls is under a second though occasionally longer. Article did mention that on a 3-2 count when no call was made after a second or two, runner from 1st went to second as if it was a walk. Strike was called late, but by that time the runner had accidentally stolen second at a leisurely jog. Strike zone is thinner, but larger up and down. The quotes from Atkins was my big fear with the new zone. High breaking balls that clip top of zone are never called strikes. Also, good breaking balls that clip bottom of the zone that end up in the dirt never get called a strike. Granted, the Astros would probably have a huge benefit with all their high spin curveballs. In Atlantic League, K rate hasn't gone up as I feared likely due to wide strike is gone. Though, I think MLB pitchers have more command of breaking pitches so there may be a slight uptick if implemented in MLB levels. The strike zone was altered such that the entire ball had to be in the top of the zone for it to be a strike per the article to minimize the high strikes. Based on those stats being near identical, I'm much more in favor of robo umps.
If we're all being reactionary fans spitballing in the thread, my two cents is a pitch/setup clock needs to be instituted. It's awful watching pitchers take 30+ seconds in between pitches, a batter fouling the ball off before stepping out of the box to adjust his gloves, take some practice swings and repeat the whole sequence again. It's tedious and, outside of big October moments, sucks to watch.
Keeping batters in box and pitchers pitching would help a lot. Batters are probably worse than pitchers. Based on the time of game being basically the same with a delay on balls and strikes, I expect the robo zone would shave about 3-4 minutes off of game time if near instantaneous (every little bit helps). Human umps tend to favor longer plate appearances (i.e. call balls more often when hitter is behind, call strikes when batter is ahead).
I’m against eliminating the shift . I want to see hitter adjust by bunting down a wide open 3b line .
Hope Hopefully we bring Wade back next year, but I would like to see a Miley/Yordan matchup just to see how efficient the game COULD be.
Anyone who thinks MLB doesnt suffocate its media rights needs to look at this as an example. This guy youtube channel gets more unique views then ALL OF THE MLB VIDEOS on their own Instagram account. He regularly gets 500k+ views on videos which is insanely remarkable considering how MLB's own videos hardly get 10k. Instead of MLB giving this guy a job or even helping him promote his channel, they are denying him rights and he cant make money from his videos. Look at what NBA did with House of Highlights. They understand that in this era social media plays such a pivotal role in terms of marketing. Anyone not familiar with whom House of Highlights are, they're a instagram account that shows highlights. They even gave an official House of Highlights award at the NBA cermonies alongside the MVP/6th man/ROY/etc. MLB needs to change its entire marketing plan and live in the modern era. This isnt 1995 anymore.
