By: William Robinson
Baseball is a very old sport, it’s been around since the 1850’s and over the length of the sport there have been very few changes that have been spread out over many years. That’s why the 2020 season feels so out of sorts. It doesn’t feel like baseball anymore. I’ve almost gotten whiplash with the quickness of all these changes that have occurred this season. That’s why it’s been so difficult for me to get interested in this season. That’s why you haven’t been reading as many posts from me and why I haven’t been buying as many baseball cards as I have in previous years.
Now baseball cannot help that there was covid. I get that, and they cannot help that they are unable to play in front of a crowd. They also cannot help that we cannot go to the ballpark and watch games. So from my perspective it’s not their fault that these games on TV feel weird. However, if the games already feel weird, why make all these changes? To me it was horrible timing and it makes the season already feel like an exhibition and not real. Which in a time when there are already a plethora of distractions present it makes it easy to forget that there is real baseball going on.
Now let’s take each rule change and run through them. First off is the universal DH. Now for my part I can see both perspectives of this rule. On one hand having the pitchers hit increases the amount of strategy in the game and makes teams plan around that position and also makes the coaches have to use their benches more strategically. On the other hand the pitchers generally cannot hit well and have on occasion gotten injured batting. Them getting injured batting is unacceptable when they are already have a high risk of being injured by virtue of their position. I feel like this rule change was inevitable as the players association wanted it as a way to protect the pitchers and to increase scoring. So this one rule change is the one that I’m probably most okay with for this year.
The runner on second to start extra innings is just goofy. I hate it and it makes the game feel cheap. Who cares if extra innings last longer. Me personally, I don’t care how long the game is, I just want it to be fun while I’m there. Part of the fun of the game is that it’s an escape from your normal life. Who wants to go back sooner? I think it feels very gimmicky and needs to be done away with immediately.
Double header games are only 7 innings. What the ever-living hell is this shit? Why are double header games different? I hope to GOD that this is something that only happens this one bastard season but having this be the case makes those games feel less important and less real to me. I mean one came this year it looked like Ian Anderson was going to throw a no hitter in a double header game, but guess what it wouldn’t have counted because it was only 7 innings. If it doesn’t count towards records then why does it count at all? It’s just silly.
Another asinine rule is the three-batter minimum. I hate that. It takes away from the strategy of the game. Again, I understand that they are doing this to try and shorten the game but, for those of us with an attention span we actually like the fact that there is strategy in the game. We also don’t care that the games are long. This rule takes away a lot of strategy from the game and makes it less fun.
And finally, the worst change in the sport this year is the expanded playoffs. I’m sorry but I’ve always felt like one of the things that separated baseball from other sports is that it was actually hard to get into the post season which meant that the regular season matters. But now with 8 teams getting in, teams under .500 are going to get to the playoffs and in the playoffs anything can happen. We have seen time and again since we have started to expand playoffs that teams with a hot pitcher can fly through them and if a great team has a few bad nights they can be put out. I hate this. It means that the regular season doesn’t matter, and if a 162 game regular season doesn’t matter then why am I going to pay attention at all until the playoffs? It ruins the sport and honestly if this happens next year then I may very well just ignore the season until the playoffs start and it’ll cost them my money.
So in summary leave my game alone. This season already felt weird without having to implement all of these weird rules and now it feels like a fake game. It feels like who ever wins this world series needs an asterisk by it. The whole season feels like an exhibition. Next season we have to go back to the basics and start over. Either that or I fear that you’ll lose a lot of the regular fans. You may well lose me.