Some things that will make this season interesting

[SteveA]

44 minutes ago, Oriole1940 said:

Yes, I say that it smacks of school yard ball when even girls used to participate, and out play some of the boys, I might add.  As to the obsession to speed the game up.  When you folks have lived as long as I have, you just might realize that life is/has been one big RUSH.  Baseball was the one place where I could sit back, have a beer and some popcorn and for a few minutes not have a care in the world. If I really wanted to participate,  I could always scream at the ump. I hope they still allow that.  

I saw on one of the writers' tweets last night that if you a player/coach/manager gets within 6 feet of an ump to argue, they would be suspended.

So you can scream but don't get within 6 feet.

[SteveA]

35 minutes ago, bpilktree said:

So based on the schedule should look like this 10 games against the AL east teams each.  6 games against the Nationals.  3 games verse the 4 NL east teams.  So that gets us 58 games not sure what the other 2 would be. 

Probably 4 games against 2 of the NLE teams.

[Ruzious]

2 hours ago, Dipper9 said:

Agree completely.  This is such a dumb rule. 

Not just dumb but agonizingly dumb.  I'd almost rather they decide an extra inning game on some kind of homerun derby idea if it's still tied after 12 innings - to sorta mirror what the NHL does with shootouts.    

[Ruzious]

20 minutes ago, Ruzious said:

Not just dumb but agonizingly dumb.  I'd almost rather they decide an extra inning game on some kind of homerun derby idea if it's still tied after 12 innings - to sorta mirror what the NHL does with shootouts.    

Come to think of it, that might be a great idea, thankme very much.  Maybe do it after 10 innings.  

[survivedc]

I guess I’m the only person that doesn’t mind the extra inning rule. We could see some walk of suicide squeezes which is always exciting.

[LA2]

13 hours ago, SteveA said:

Obviously this season will always have an asterisk on it in some people's minds.   But there are a few things that will make it intersting:

   1) The sprint of a 60 game season.   At least for teams in contention.   After 60 games last year the Nats were 27-33, and they won it all.   The Phillies led the NL East, the Cubs led the NL Central.   Neither made the playoffs.   There will be a lot of "unexpected" team performances due to the small sample size.   The pennant races could be great.  The importance of an individual game go way up.   A 5 game losing streak could knock a team out of contention.   

   2) With the season being a sprint and there being an August 31 trading deadline, I don't expect to see significant deadline deals this year.   I don't see a team trading prospects after playing 35 games with 25 left to play to try to improve their chances of winning a title that a lot of people feel won't mean much anyway.   So this is going to be a sprint where teams are going to go with what they've got.   People who don't like a team making huge changes to the character of their team by getting a Verlander at the deadline will enjoy this.

   3) Of course all of the "average" stats will have some outlier numbers.   The Cy Young Winner will likely be 10-1 with a 1.36 ERA.   Someone may hit .400, certainly several people will hit .350+,   There's going to be some incredible cards in next year's Strat-o-matic set.

   4) The extra inning experiment.   Not sure if I like it but I'm willing to approach it with an open mind.   It might even put a premium on having a player who has mastered the lost art of bunting!   Get that guy over with one out at home and you've got a good chance to win the game.

   5) Instead of rosters expanding in September, they will shrink, essentially.   (First two weeks of the season will be a 30 man roster, next two weeks will be a 28 man roster, then there will be a 26 man roster starting about August 21 through the end of the year).

   6) For losing teams like us, following the daily doings of the "taxi team" in Bowie or Aberdeen or Frederick will almost be like a second spring training, especially if they find a way to play actual games against other teams' taxi squads.   There will certainly be some 4A filler on those 30 man taxi squads to come up when guys get hurt, but there will probably also be some premium prospects.

   7) At some point I suspect they could start allowing fans in games in some limited, social distancing fashion, before just opening up to full crowds.   Would be a lot of fun to go to a game with just a few people spread out in each section, especially if you are in a section that will get some foul balls.   Bring a glove!

That's the way I look at it--this is going to be a one-of-a-kind, very entertaining season, as long as we can keep the Corona away, about which there are many reasons not to be optimistic. And if it's just too strange to enjoy, it'll be over before we know it.

[Philip]

Ending in a tie isn’t just stupid, it would require a whole rethinking of baseball, which doesn’t do ties.

if a game goes 16 innings, it goes 16 innings. “That’s the way baseball go.”

this rule serves no purpose, accomplishes no goals, solves no problems. It’s just stupid. 

[Can_of_corn]

Except for the part where baseball does have a history of having ties.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Tie

The most recent one was in 2016.

[LA2]

Combined with the minimum-batters-faced rule, it's more evidence of MLB's anti-LOOGY campaign. You'll want a right-handed pitcher on the mound to keep an eye on the runner at third and a good pick-off move to first gives no advantage. It also raises the value of premium arms in the OF, especially in RF now that lefty hitters will be pinch-hit for less.

[ScGO's]

Is there an All Star Game this year?  Probably not, right?

[DrungoHazewood]

17 hours ago, Oriole1940 said:

Yes, I say that it smacks of school yard ball when even girls used to participate, and out play some of the boys, I might add.  As to the obsession to speed the game up.  When you folks have lived as long as I have, you just might realize that life is/has been one big RUSH.  Baseball was the one place where I could sit back, have a beer and some popcorn and for a few minutes not have a care in the world. If I really wanted to participate,  I could always scream at the ump. I hope they still allow that.  

Of course when you were a kid an average game where you sat back and enjoyed things was 45 minutes or an hour shorter than a game today.  In the pre-WWII era 90-120 minutes was the expected time of a game.  The famous 26-inning tie in 1920 was done in 3:50.  The 2019 Red Sox played eight different nine-inning games that took longer than that.

Maybe you like batters stepping out after every pitch, unlimited timeouts, eleven mound visits, every other batter with OCD batting glove adjustments, sixteen pickoff throws, 23 commercial breaks, five mid-inning pitching changes... I'd rather just watch a couple hours of baseball.

[DrungoHazewood]

3 hours ago, Philip said:

Ending in a tie isn’t just stupid, it would require a whole rethinking of baseball, which doesn’t do ties.

if a game goes 16 innings, it goes 16 innings. “That’s the way baseball go.”

this rule serves no purpose, accomplishes no goals, solves no problems. It’s just stupid. 

In 1914 2% of all MLB games ended in ties.  In the era before lights and modern groundskeeping and train travel most teams had several ties a season.  I believe it was 1908 that the great three-team pennant race between the Cubs, Giants, and Pirates was impacted by the fact that the teams had (IIRC) nine ties between them.

[DrungoHazewood]

In 2001 Cal's last game was supposed to be at Yankee Stadium.  9/11 changed that, but a friend of mine got some tickets to that game.  We went, it was raining on an off all day.  After 15 innings they called it, and end went in the books as a tie.  I don't think anyone was walking out of the park thinking "ties are stupid enough that we need to keep playing in the pouring rain in a game that has zero impact on the standings."

[Dipper9]

18 hours ago, Oriole1940 said:

Yes, I say that it smacks of school yard ball when even girls used to participate, and out play some of the boys, I might add.  As to the obsession to speed the game up.  When you folks have lived as long as I have, you just might realize that life is/has been one big RUSH.  Baseball was the one place where I could sit back, have a beer and some popcorn and for a few minutes not have a care in the world. If I really wanted to participate,  I could always scream at the ump. I hope they still allow that.  

Not allowed.  Too much spit might fly out of your mouth.  

[Frobby]

17 hours ago, SteveA said:

I saw on one of the writers' tweets last night that if you a player/coach/manager gets within 6 feet of an ump to argue, they would be suspended.

So you can scream but don't get within 6 feet.

Honestly, a scream can project droplets a lot more than 6 feet.    But, it’s unclear how dangerous that is in an outdoor setting.