Random Baseball Thoughts
I know I haven’t been writing much lately. In fact, this might be my first post of the year. But what better way to break the ice than a quick discussion of first impressions about the new baseball rules? I’ve only watched a handful of games this weekend, but I already have thoughts.
*The Pitch Clock: I’m going to be a huge fan. I’m not sure when EVERYONE became a “Human Rain Delay,” but there’s no doubt the game had slowed to a crawl. I mean, it got to the point you could cook a 5 course meal between pitches. I grew up with baseball in the 1970s, when night games started at 7:30 and ended before the 10 o’clock news came on.
The three games I watched this weekend all ended in about 2 1/2 hours. And this is Spring Training, when games are typically longer! Hallelujah!
*Defensive Shifts: Again, I’m a fan of their being banned. I was never a fan of them to begin with. After all, baseball was played for over a century without teams going to 4 outfielders and 3 men between first and second. Joe Maddon and Terry Francona won’t like it, but you know what I saw? Hard ground balls going for singles instead of 9-6-4 double plays.
Larger bases: I know the idea was to improve safety and that might prove to be the case. But those bigger bases have cut down the distance between them. It’s forced players to be quicker when making throws and making decisions. That makes the game more exciting and anything that raises the excitement level is good.
*Limited Pickoff Attempts: the jury is still out. I’ve only seen one player take advantage. But I suspect this is because there just aren’t very many base stealers in the game right now. But there are a bunch in the minors, and we’ve already heard some current major leaguers talk about improving their stolen base totals.
That’s it for now. But stay tuned. Baseball is back and looks to be better than ever.
Political Baseballs 