Posted on 06/23/2018 4:25:05 AM PDT by a little elbow grease
There is a haunting stirring in the baseball community to establish that fielders defensive shifts should be against the rules.
From BusinessInsider.com: MLB's New Commissioner Is Open To Banning Defensive Shifts To Increase Scoring Here's A Simple Way To Do It.
Does this seem to anyone else as more than heavy-handed, almost totalitarian???
Do you suppose that they also will want to impel OUTFIELDERS NOT TO SHIFT, play deeper in the outfield when a power hitter comes to the plate?
Do they suppose to suggest that when a sacrifice bunt is most likely about to be attempted, that the first and third basemen should NOT BE PERMITTED to creep in toward the plate in order to get the ball and throw out the runner at second base for a force play?
Should outfielders not be permitted to shade toward the right field line when a strong left handed pull hitter comes to the plate? My, my.
Baseball has been shifting since Ted Williams and even before that. Now that we realize its effectiveness, we exploit the advantage. Personally, I don't think that this particular strategy EVER should be made illegal.
As a baseball fan said on reddit.com: People hate the shift when their team hits into it, but love it when the opposing team hits into your shift. It's a part of the game now. Hitters will just have to adjust.
As Wee Willie Keeler used to say, Keep your eyes clear, and hit em where they aint: thats all.
Ill just say this now . I find this idea of restrictions on defensive players shifts to be about the most ignorant, idiotic, witless, reactionary, vacuous, mindless, unintelligent, half-baked, harebrained, imprudent, unwise, and foolish idea of which I have ever heard.
If all seven position players want to form a human pyramid behind second base then they should be allowed to. LOL
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LEAVE THE GAME ALONE
and hit em where they aint.
p
I saw #4 and #5 but, notwithstanding the well-known adage, "A picture is worth a thousand words.", nothing clicked until I got to Jack's narrative in #10 and my first cup of coffee had kicked in. {;^)
I think it's a very good idea. Probably way too radical, especially for National League fans. But really worth trying out in some Spring Training games to see what happens.
It would devalue relief pitching as it is used now. It would put more value on relief pitchers that can get both righties and lefties out. Runs scored would go way way up, as would era’s. This would be more drastic than lowering the mound as far as increasing offense. It would devalue bench players, especially pinch hitters in NL. Complete games, no hitters and perfect games would become even more rare.
I might be OK with it. The problem I see is it might actually cause teams to carry less extra bench players and more pitchers. If it made the game faster with less pitching changes I would be for it, the problem is what if they actually start use more pitching changes because they can carry more pitchers on a staff?
Freegards
Thanks for the ping; post. As a pitcher, I would have liked the idea of a defensive strategic shift behind me although back in my day none were used in high school and college...besides I would have figured I could get the hitter out regardless.
A bunt towards third base would be an easy double.
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Good points ......... and they won't panic. I won't allow it.
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However, the game is no longer about get em on, get em over, get em in. Manufacture of runs is no longer in vogue during the age of launch angle.
And yes, it is an attempt to get millenials interested in a what they perceive as a boring game.
Why dont millenials like the game? Partly, it has become inaccessible. Gone are the days of pickup games with the other kids in the neighborhood. Everything is organized with travel teams, etc. Highly competitive and excludes the marginal players wholl be not be likely to develop skills with age and physical ability improvements if theyve already been told they dont make the cut.
Additionally, and particularly on the big stage of playoffs, games start late - no more day games. Most playoff games last until after midnight. Baseball would rather sell advertising during prime time than during an afternoon game. Good for the bottom line, not so much for cultivating young fans.
Finally, IMHO, baseball is a thinking mans game. However, we live in a culture that no longer rewards thinking. Just my two cents - thanks for posting. Placing the bags ninety feet apart is one of mans greatest accomplishments.
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Perfectly said.
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ps ---- lol, there was a poster a while back on this thread who actually suggested that baseball would be better if they took 2 feet off the distance between bases.
LMAO!!!! (I'll try to find it if I have time.)
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It was post # 86
LOL
“That’s because advanced analytics were used to determine that it rarely ever made sense in the long run to give up an out just to move a runner up one base.”
Bunts and steals from first take away the double play.
If you have more than one above average batter coming up, it’s still a good play in the NL.
Get a runner in scoring position, take away the DP.
Of course NOBODY in the AL (except maybe Houston, who plays like a NL team) even THINKS about this. They think only of hitting the ball over the fence.
Of course they don’t get the LOW strike the NL lives on. That low strike, more often than not, results in a ground ball.
When all pitches are between the gonads and the belly button, why not swing for the fences?
Unless they had to do it 31 times in 6 months.
There are even a few that could do that. But they would not be able to do it for 10 years in a row.
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Please...............
See the stats on complete games for pitchers in my day .... the late 50's, 60's and 70's.
The pitching coaches now and all the "experts" are ruining these pitchers.
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wrong
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That has been talked about for about five years. It would be the end of the game.
That shift is ridiculous and should be banned.
Third base should be on the left side, SS too and he is required to stay on the left side of 2B unless he is going after a ball in play, he cant set up on the right side of 2nd before the pitch.
Don’t need to see the SS and 2B in short right field, BORING.
Beautiful!
“The pitching coaches now and all the “experts” are ruining these pitchers. “
Again, most human beings cannot sustain the physical stress of modern pitching.
Most pitchers “back in the day” were not throwing a consistent 95mph fastball, which had to be backed-up with a curve, slider and change-up.
It’s a much tougher, more physical game today.
Oddly, played by a bunch of prima donnas and pussies lol
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They will say that.
THAT is exactly why I did.
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What? Curling?
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Yes!
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