How do you like the new “three batter” rule?

[jerios55]

Is the intent part of speeding up the game?  I hate the times we have long innings after 2-3 changes between teams.

I get why it would bother/concern people. Maybe they'll figure it out as good/bad before we are planning to win again anyway.

[BarclaySouthway]

I get the impression that Rob Manfred doesn't even like baseball.  He should go become the commissioner of an e-sports league.

[InsideCoroner]

4 hours ago, TommyPickles said:

So a guy can let up back to back homers and a manager can't pull him?  That's wild.

That would actually be an interesting addition: if the three batter rule was waived if your reliever gives up a homer to either of the first two batters. 

[DirtyBird]

Just eliminate warmup pitches on the mound. It’s not that difficult.

[Frobby]

2 minutes ago, DirtyBird said:

Just eliminate warmup pitches on the mound. It’s not that difficult.

Build an oubliette just behind the mound.   (Look it up.)    When a pitcher is replaced, another one pops right out.    

[Satyr3206]

All these ideas on how to speed up the game but never any discussion about shortening or eliminating commercials.

For the record I hate the rule change. Like almost all of the recent rule changes.

[glenn__davis]

I'm generally opposed to these sorts of things but I like this one for now.  I've hated these one-batter pitchers since I was a kid.

But still, in the interest of speeding up the games, ALL YOU REALLY NEED TO DO IS MAKE GUYS STAY IN THE BOX.  I don't understand why this is so hard.  Quit re-adjusting your batting gloves and taking a stroll after every pitch.  The game would flow so much better.

[DrungoHazewood]

I'm going to wait and see how it works out.  Maybe I've missed some nuance and managers will find a way to make this even more annoying and ludicrous than six mid-inning pitching changes.

But I LOVE the fact that Major League Baseball is willing to try this.  Hopefully this signals a greater willingness to address problems instead of rebranding them as features that "real" baseball fans should like.

[Il BuonO]

1 minute ago, DrungoHazewood said:

I'm going to wait and see how it works out.  Maybe I've missed some nuance and managers will find a way to make this even more annoying and ludicrous than six mid-inning pitching changes.

But I LOVE the fact that Major League Baseball is willing to try this.  Hopefully this signals a greater willingness to address problems instead of rebranding them as features that "real" baseball fans should like.

I’d be more impressed if they were moving along to an electronic strike zone. No, I don’t like it and I’m not impressed with any perceived boldness. Guess I’m not very nuanced either. I always loved Girardi’s multiple pitching changes especially after rosters expanded. What a great baseball mind!

[Il BuonO]

9 hours ago, Frobby said:

Build an oubliette just behind the mound.   (Look it up.)    When a pitcher is replaced, another one pops right out.    

Word association

 oubliette —> dungeon 

[DrungoHazewood]

8 minutes ago, glenn__davis said:

I'm generally opposed to these sorts of things but I like this one for now.  I've hated these one-batter pitchers since I was a kid.

But still, in the interest of speeding up the games, ALL YOU REALLY NEED TO DO IS MAKE GUYS STAY IN THE BOX.  I don't understand why this is so hard.  Quit re-adjusting your batting gloves and taking a stroll after every pitch.  The game would flow so much better.

Tell the umps it will be noted on their performance appraisals and reflected in bonuses if they aren't calling automatic balls/strikes if the pitcher doesn't pitch in the allotted time, or the batter steps out.

AND disallow mid-inning pitching changes.

AND set the max number of pitchers on the roster to nine (phased in over the next four years).

[DrungoHazewood]

6 hours ago, Satyr3206 said:

All these ideas on how to speed up the game but never any discussion about shortening or eliminating commercials.

What is the average commercial break?  Three minutes?  Seventeen breaks between half-innings, plus six mid-inning pitching changes... so 23 x 3 = 69 minutes. If you make it 45 seconds then you shave about 52 minutes off an average game.  Let's do it!  I'd even trade that for shirt sponsors, like Chico's Bail Bonds.

Another option would be to eliminate lights.  You can't play after the sun goes down.  The addition of lights probably added 30-45 minutes to an average game, and took away almost all incentive to keep the pace up.

[weams]

6 hours ago, Satyr3206 said:

All these ideas on how to speed up the game but never any discussion about shortening or eliminating commercials.

For the record I hate the rule change. Like almost all of the recent rule changes.

There are no commercial breaks. None.  This is NOT NFL.  They have commercials when the players are "warming up" getting into position.

[MurphDogg]

15 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

What is the average commercial break?  Three minutes?  Seventeen breaks between half-innings, plus six mid-inning pitching changes... so 23 x 3 = 69 minutes. If you make it 45 seconds then you shave about 52 minutes off an average game.  Let's do it!  I'd even trade that for shirt sponsors, like Chico's Bail Bonds.

Another option would be to eliminate lights.  You can't play after the sun goes down.  The addition of lights probably added 30-45 minutes to an average game, and took away almost all incentive to keep the pace up.

Would love to know the cost of shortening commercial breaks by 30 seconds or a minute, I can't imagine it is all that significant considering MASN and every other RSN only has 15 or so different commercials that they cycle through. Hell, I bet it wouldn't cost the Orioles anything as they likely have 30-60 seconds of commercials for MASN during every commercial break.

National games could still have the longer breaks, but there is no reason for locally televised games to have them. It isn't an undue burden on the players, who come up in the minors where the breaks are shorter so I don't know who would object.

[DrungoHazewood]

28 minutes ago, MurphDogg said:

Would love to know the cost of shortening commercial breaks by 30 seconds or a minute, I can't imagine it is all that significant considering MASN and every other RSN only has 15 or so different commercials that they cycle through. Hell, I bet it wouldn't cost the Orioles anything as they likely have 30-60 seconds of commercials for MASN during every commercial break.

National games could still have the longer breaks, but there is no reason for locally televised games to have them. It isn't an undue burden on the players, who come up in the minors where the breaks are shorter so I don't know who would object.

I've mentioned this before, but I don't understand why shortening the commercial breaks would cost anything.  Today's scenario is you sell advertisers three minutes of commercials for $X.  Next year you sell advertisers 1 minute of commercials for that same $X.  Less time, so the advertisers are competing for scarcer timeslots to get their product to your eyeballs.  Analogous to smaller stadiums but same or higher revenues/higher prices due to scarcity.

I guess one problem could be that MASN attracts some lower-end sponsors, and some of them just won't pay higher rates.  I'd love to know how much money MASN makes off advertising.  My not-very-informed guess is that it's far, far lower than they get from mandatory cable fees.