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

[Can_of_corn]

11 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Frobby already said that an average regular season commercial break is about two minutes.  Cutting that in half is probably all you're going to be able to do, and that shaves off all of a half hour or so. 

That doesn't explain very much of the difference between the two hour game of a century ago and the Red Sox' version of a cricket 5-day test match.

But removing commercials would be a necessary step.

[Satyr3206]

4 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

The sun went down and the game was over, so the umps proactively told them to move it along.  Also, trains didn't wait on baseball teams so those Sunday afternoon get-away games didn't linger on.

On the last day of the 1919 season the Giants and Phillies played the first game of a doubleheader in 0:51.

That almost had to be a 1-0 game. And no, I'm not looking it up.

[DrungoHazewood]

1 minute ago, Can_of_corn said:

But removing commercials would be a necessary step.

That's certainly possible.  The TV contract for the English Premier League is $12 billion over three years, and the only commercial break is halftime.

[DrungoHazewood]

3 minutes ago, Satyr3206 said:

That almost had to be a 1-0 game. And no, I'm not looking it up.

Every Giants' batter got a hit in route to a 6-1 win.

[Satyr3206]

Just now, DrungoHazewood said:

Every Giants' batter got a hit in route to a 6-1 win.

Amazing. That would be a 3 and a half hour game today.

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Every Giants' batter got a hit in route to a 6-1 win.

Not a lot of full counts back then.

I remember a quote from a Hall of Fame pitcher from back in the day.  Said something about how you had to pace yourself because you might have to throw 100 pitches in a complete game.

[Satyr3206]

Just now, Can_of_corn said:

Not a lot of full counts back then.

I remember a quote from a Hall of Fame pitcher from back in the day.  Said something about how you had to pace yourself because you might have to throw 100 pitches in a complete game.

The difference between pitching to contact and K's? I think it's related.

[Can_of_corn]

2 minutes ago, Satyr3206 said:

The difference between pitching to contact and K's? I think it's related.

Sure, if you are facing a guy that's 5'6" and a buck forty who is choking up on the bat you aren't going to feel a huge need to strike him out. 

[DrungoHazewood]

6 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Not a lot of full counts back then.

I remember a quote from a Hall of Fame pitcher from back in the day.  Said something about how you had to pace yourself because you might have to throw 100 pitches in a complete game.

Memory is a weird thing.  There are records of pitch counts from (IIRC) the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1950s and it shows roughly the same pitch count rates as today.

The difference between, say, Mark Buehrle and Randy Johnson was something like a pitch an inning.

[DrungoHazewood]

2 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Sure, if you are facing a guy that's 5'6" and a buck forty who is choking up on the bat you aren't going to feel a huge need to strike him out. 

Especially when your manager calls you a little girl when you try to come out in the 8th with a torn ligament.  Pacing was a very real thing.  Matty wrote about it extensively in Pitching in a Pinch.  Only rash kids and rank amateurs threw all out when the game wasn't on the line.

[Can_of_corn]

5 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Memory is a weird thing.  There are records of pitch counts from (IIRC) the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1950s and it shows roughly the same pitch count rates as today.

The difference between, say, Mark Buehrle and Randy Johnson was something like a pitch an inning.

This was closer to the 20's, maybe even earlier.

[Frobby]

3 hours ago, DrungoHazewood said:

So we really could only cut 20-25 minutes off a game by getting rid of commercial time.  I guess the pre-1960 games that were often 1:45 really were all about pace of play.

I honestly think the batters are largely to blame, stepping out of the box after every pitch.   
 

By the way, here’s the best analysis I’ve seen about the length and pace of games, done by a young man I know (friend of my son) who is now working part time in the MLB analytics department.   It’s really a good piece.   https://sharpestats.com/making-baseball-slow-again/

[DrungoHazewood]

2 hours ago, Frobby said:

I honestly think the batters are largely to blame, stepping out of the box after every pitch.  

The rule should be that if you step out of the box with both feet during the at bat it's an automatic strike.  Unless you're clearly broken, or your bat is clearly broken, or you're diving out of the way of a beanball.  And pitchers need to be told that they should never wait for the batter.  If the ump is ready to go, pitch.  The batter will get ready after he's down 0-2 several times, or even strikes out without seeing a pitch, because he's goofing around.  If batters need more therapeutic exemptions for ADHD medicine to keep from having to perform a complex ritual between each pitch, so be it.

[LocoChris]

Would be better if it was a two batter minimum instead of 3. 

[DrungoHazewood]

15 minutes ago, LocoChris said:

Would be better if it was a two batter minimum instead of 3. 

Or just eliminate the concept of partial innings.  Pitchers are only allowed to pitch in increments of three outs.  Unless injured, in which case they can't pitch again for a week.