2024 MLB Season Thread

That would be a fundamentally different game. I'm not against rule changes that attempt to fix some of the shortcomings of the game as it is but that would be too different to even call it the same game. Maybe it could work as an independent league or something a la Savanah Bananas, see if it catches on. I think there's something to be said for requiring every player on the team to hit to incentivize building the best roster possible rather than just collecting the best 3-4 players.

What would end up happening is that the 8/9 slots in the order and to some extent the 7 slot would become like designated fielders. They'd typically be catchers and middle infielders and thus we would probably get improved defense at these positions.

You're telling me it would be a fundamentally different game, while we now watch innings start with a man on 2nd base? We watch starters routinely avg. 5 innings per start when they used to average 7+? Closers weren't even a thing until the 80s. The steroid era came and went. Nobody sacrifice bunts anymore. Takeout slides and home plate collisions were removed. The shift was banned. The DH is now in both leagues. Astro turf came and went. Batters didn't wear helmets at one time and black people weren't even allowed to play. The game has always been changing, why not make a change that lets us watch the best players play more rather than rotting them on the bench?

This would be a change for the better, and simply allow the fans to watch the best players more, something baseball specifically fails to do compared to other sports. The NBA doesn't mandate that the 3rd quarter is only for the bench players, and baseball doesn't need the 7/8/9 hitters to have an inning for themselves either.

The best pitchers would still be the best pitchers and their value wouldn't be reduced. And if a pitcher threw a good game, he'd have a better chance of going the distance or at least getting the game directly to the closer.

We already replaced the weak hitting pitchers with a DH. That was the right idea. Let us see a real hitter instead of some guy who puts 98% of his training into something else. I'd be perfectly happy to see defensive upgrades in key positions by specialists who don't need to come up to bat the same number of times as the star players. I do like the idea though of them still being in the lineup. I'm guessing the 7 spot would come up about 200 times per year, the 8 spot maybe 80 times, and the 9 spot maybe 40 times.

Baseball wastes its best talent, there's no doubt about it. No other major sport forces its best players to spend most of the game waiting their turn while lesser players take equal turns.

I tuned in to see if McLovin went to the Subway Series.

Instead I learned that someone appears to have taken micro-dosing a little to far.

I saw previous subway series at Citi Field seats I normally sit in were $150~. I imagine similar quality seats in the Bronx tonight probably went for $250-300.

I decided instead to order Chinese food from my go-to spot and watch at home lol. Wish I bet the over (o/u: 8.5), 78% humidity meant the ball traveled like nobody's business tonight. 5 homers for Mets, 2 for Yankees and several balls nearly went out (warning track catch or off the wall).

I should be going to a game within a few weeks I think though. I'll play it by ear.

Welp. Guess that explains why the Mets are winning!

Edit: Won. Forgot I was watching behind. Lol

Of all the examples you cite I agree that this one is the biggest fundamental change to the game that has been introduced recently and it's the one I'm least fond of. I get that 15 inning games where no one scores after the 9th inning are boring AF though so it's probably a net positive.

None of these things changed the fundamental rules of the game.

Because watching the same 3-5 guys hit every inning will be boring AF too even if they're the best hitters. In your game the bad hitters will never get any better because they don't get a meaningful amount of playing time. How is a rookie supposed to improve if he's in the 9 spot getting 1 AB per week if he's lucky? The more I think about it the more I hate your idea.

I can't be bothered to look up the numbers but I think those are all ~50% too high. I can believe a team bats around the order about 20 times a year but not 40 (well, maybe the best teams might but not most teams). It should happen a little more often with the best hitters always starting the inning but not dramatically so. So your number 9 hitter is getting about 20 AB's all season, if he plays every game. Sounds like fun.

I agree that the top MLB talent plays an undersized role in the outcome of individual games compared to other sports. That's why team construction around the best players is such an important part of the game. I can see why some would be attracted to your game since it will obviously generate a lot more offense but I would hate it. Very little chance for player development offensively, morale would be absolute **** for those guys at the bottom of the order, and I'd get ****ing sick of watching the game 3 guys bat every inning.

Yea those numbers all seem super high. No way teams bat around 40 times a year. Even 20 seems high.

Baseball will never do something that drastic though.

It would also drastically alter player values so I couldn't even see most owners agreeing to it.
For example if they did this next year the Yankees would have Judge locked up for a long time at well below what he's worth under the new rules. Unless you had a star hitter locked up you're screwing yourself as an owner by agreeing to it.

I wouldn't mind seeing some way to get great players more abs especially high leverage abs.

A drastic change like this would also make starting pitchers pitch even less and they're getting way harder to market the more they're babied. It's hard to market a game with 2 aces when they're both out of the game in the 6th inning.

lol nice one, i am indeed the mets epic jinx.

Yeah my estimates were probably high. I was factoring in the increased opportunities with the stronger lineups, but that would be balanced out by the shorter 6 inning games.

To your last statement - I think baseball is in danger of becoming an unmarketable sport. It's too slow for today's world. I feel like Shohei Ohtani is most of what makes baseball worth following right now.

To give an example of what I mean, look at the recently published ESPN list of top 100 athletes of the last 25 years. There were 4 tennis players in the top 12. I think 5 basketball players in the top 20. The highest baseball player was Pujols at 24, even a WNBA player ranked above him. Try to imagine such a top 100 list being so weak in baseball players at any time in the past. The 1975-2000 era of baseball had so many more big stars, as did the eras before that. the 2000-2025 group is a bunch of B list celebrities in the world of pro athletes.

I'll go the opposite and go with Little League rules. All 26 players on the roster have to get a PA every game.

Ottavino (or anyone) getting the W for a third of an inning on 4 pitches in the all-important 5th will never not be amusing.

Yea they're way high- even if you just go by the first inning how often does the 9 hitter bat?

The pitch clock has definitely helped but you're right it is becoming harder to market.
They'll never shorten it but the regular season is way too long. In 10 years or so half the league will make the playoffs and they'll still be playing 162 games that are largely meaningless.

I saw that list and laughed every time I saw a wnba player. I think they even had one ahead of Durant.
Ichiro over Arod was pretty funny as well.

Half the high paid stars in baseball are starting pitchers and at this point I don't know how you market them. We haven't even had a complete game in the playoffs in 7 years.
"come watch garret cole pitch 6 innings" doesn't sell well. A shorter season could help with this as hell if it means more off days. Let the aces pitch more often than the 5 starter.

Ohtani is such an absurd unicorn. I know people who don't watch baseball at all. People who don't know who Mookie Betts or Bryce Harper are but know about Ohtani.

I really can't disagree with you that it would be more fun to watch the best hitters get more abs although I'm not sure I'd go as far as you would.
When I have a game on I might be messing around on the computer half paying attention, going to make dinner when 6,7,8 is coming up but if Judge and Soto are about to hit the game has my full attention.

I think the 5 inning minimum for a starter to get a win should be reduced. Starters these days are often removed earlier even when they've pitched reasonably well. Perhaps the win in these cases (starter leaves with a lead that holds) should go to whichever pitcher pitched the most innings.

I found stats for how many batter hit on average per inning.

https://defector.com/cal-quantrill-start...

BEISBOL

Padres really should be one of the faves this year, but somehow always disappear.

X Post: Tuma and I *SWEPT* The No-Hitter Pool today

OMG!
Mets win in walk off in 10th!

Beginning of June the Mets were 10 games back of Braves.
Now they are 0.5 games back.

THIS IS THE SUMMER OF GRIMACE!!!!

lol braves tho. fly balls are hard

Lol confirmed hard. Thats what they get for intentionally walking petey the polar bear.

Lmao wtf was that

Astros were probably that far back too. Stros/Mets WS for the two worst teams to ever make it.

They pitch to Judge why? Seems like it should be a 250 walks thing like Bonds. I see he has 7 intentional walks this year. ????

Precisely. I've seen a large number of de-fact intentional walks where the pitcher is deathly afraid and basically gives him nothing to hit.