A popular idea, but a bad one, IMO. We've all seen that pitch intended to be a wide one for an intentional walk that gets away and causes some mayhem with the baserunners. That's interesting.
Furthermore, there are those occasions (extremely rare, but they do happen) where a hitter decides he's had enough of this and swings -- and gets a hit.
What they ought to do is require the catcher to keep one foot in the catcher's box, thus preventing them from lining up up the baseline and making the ball impossible to hit.
There is a designated leadoff area at 1st base which a runner can’t leave until a pitch is thrown. If the area is a little tight the pitchers won’t be throwing over to 1st a lot.
And kill the stolen base once and for all? Stolen bases are exciting. Good for the game.
And again, what about the errant throw that gets away and instead of second, now the runner's on third? You'd eliminate that in the name of saving a minute or two.
It's not about the time of games -- it's about the pace of games. I'll watch a four-hour baseball game if something is happening, if it's close and teams are playing baseball instead of just trying to hit homeruns. Or if it's a pitchers' duel and they're trying to make a run or two. That's much more interesting than a two-and-a-half hour game in which 12 pitchers appear and everyone who doesn't hit a homer strikes out.
Can we end walk-up music?
I remember why the 8 pitch warmup rule was put in, why the rule stating two visits to the mound in the same inning is a pitching change was put it, why they instituted the rule that a pitcher must face at least one batter.
To speed up the game without affecting its fundamental structure, these rules can and should be tweaked.
I remember why the 8 pitch warmup rule was put in, why the rule stating two visits to the mound in the same inning is a pitching change was put it, why they instituted the rule that a pitcher must face at least one batter.
To speed up the game without affecting its fundamental structure, these rules can and should be tweaked.