OT - What's Wrong With Baseball? Could the Game Be Improved?

[OsFan]

Originally Posted by Section103

Each team gets 3 pitchers per 9 innings. 1 additional pitcher for 2 extra innings.

This is an interesting idea.

[OsFan]

My biggest problem with the game unfortunately is I assume any player having a stand out year is taking ped's. It sucks and hopefully over time if MLB stays on top of it, I'll begin to get over that.

[Butch7999]

Did anyone watch the "special limited commercial interruption" telecast of that Colorado-at-St Louis game a week or so ago?
Commercial breaks were linited to one minute between each half-inning. It actually didn't shorten gametime very much,
but oh, how much more satisfying was the pace and flow. Not exactly as much of an improvement as commercial-break-free
Olympic hockey, but a big improvement.
Seriously, have a few more pitching changes really added an hour or more to the length of a nine-inning game of years ago?
Prior to this 21st-century, did batters never step out to "adjust" themselves, did pitchers never step off the mound, did catchers
and managers never visit the mound for a chat?
We're pretty sure they've always done all those things, and the Roger Angell trope of the "ineluctible pastoral timelessness
of baseball" seemed to be a widely-shared ideal that would have repudiated the idea of putting a clock near the field
other than to tell us what time it was outside.
Is it just remotely possible that three-minute-plus commercial breaks every half-inning might be adding fifty minutes or more
to the time it takes to complete nine innings?

[packs]

Contracts will now come with mutually agreed upon minimum figures. If a player fails to reach the minimum figures outlined in the contract, the team is able to either restructure the contract for the remaining time, or cut said player without financial penalty.

This way we'll get rid of bums like Arod, Carl Crawford, Jacoby Ellsbury, etc. who are pariahs and impossible to trade.

[JollyElm]

With all of the talk about the DH, here's an idea. Give AL teams a limited number of games in which they can use the DH (pitchers have to bat in all of the other games) during the season. Say they get a total of 30 opportunities to utilize the position and it is up to the manager to decide which games the team is going to use the DH in (maybe these managers could be taught to not end sentences in prepositions ). Do you save as many of these games as you can for the end of the year when (hopefully) it's crunch time and you have a shot at the playoffs, or do you employ the move when you face tough divisional rivals earlier in the year? Do you use it as a ploy to give your starting pitcher a 'rest' within the game? Perhaps the rule could be written where the home team gets to decide whether or not the opposing team can use the DH during each game of the series (so, in effect, you would generally play the DH only during your home games). Sort of a home field advantage. Would be a cool twist for strategic thinkers.

[frankbmd]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

With all of the talk about the DH, here's an idea. Give AL teams a limited number of games in which they can use the DH (pitchers have to bat in all of the other games) during the season. Say they get a total of 30 opportunities to utilize the position and it is up to the manager to decide which games the team is going to use the DH in (maybe these managers could be taught to not end sentences in prepositions ). Do you save as many of these games as you can for the end of the year when (hopefully) it's crunch time and you have a shot at the playoffs, or do you employ the move when you face tough divisional rivals earlier in the year? Do you use it as a ploy to give your starting pitcher a 'rest' within the game? Perhaps the rule could be written where the home team gets to decide whether or not the opposing team can use the DH during each game of the series (so, in effect, you would generally play the DH only during your home games). Sort of a home field advantage. Would be a cool twist for strategic thinkers.

It's bad enough that the two leagues are not playing the same game with the DH rule.

Now you want two teams playing against each other not playing by the same rules. I think not.

On another subject from a different thread there is one positive change I would cite,

The elimination or reduction of

CONCRETE DONUTS

[JustinD]

I would support a standard size for MLB fields.

The ridiculous porches at Yankee Stadium make me disavow the HR numbers compared to players in adult size stadiums.

In the obverse, Comerica Park here in Detroit is so stupidly huge that the ball can take a mileage deduction on it's taxes if someone goes yard. The fences are silly. There should be a happy median.