The crack of the bat, the pop of the mitt and the cheering of the crowd are sounds we have become accustomed to from the middle of February to as late as the beginning of November. Although these sounds have stayed the same year after year, the game of baseball in which they represent has changed dramatically over the past several years.
Let’s begin with the introduction of analytics. Everyone that has followed the game from even the late 1800’s has recognized that analytics has always been part of the game. It’s the degree to which we have it that has changed. Coaches and scouts always had these big binders they carried around with all the necessary information they needed from how to play defense on a particular hitter to the knowledge they accumulated on where to throw to a batter and what type of pitch to throw. The difference in today’s game is that it is more accessible due to today’s technology than it has ever been before.
The ease of receiving the information is a lot quicker and a lot more available. But that does not always mean that it works. Analytics in today’s game is well over used and has its faults, The problem I see with it is that it doesn’t take the human element into account. How is a player feeling on that particular day? Are they going through some personal issues? Do they just don’t feel up to playing on that particular day?
A good example of analytics being misleading is you could have a hitter that is 8 for 20 against a certain pitcher but how do you know that the hitter didn’t start off going 7 for 8 against that pitcher and is actually 1 for 12 in his last 12 plate appearances. The days we managed by gut feeling has been removed and, in many cases, needs to be put back in place.
One of the most recent misuses of analytics had to be in game 6 of the 2020 World Series when Tampa Bay Rays Manager Kevin Cash pulled starter Blake Snell who had only given up two hits while striking out nine and walking none through 73 pitches. The Rays went on to lose this game because Cash believed more in analytics than using his own common sense.
Another way the game has changed drastically has been with the defensive shifts that every team has now implemented, It’s only in the last several years where we have seen these defensive alignments so drastic.
Remember the days when we had two infielders on each side of 2nd base and the outfield consisted of three players. With the change in defenses in today’s game we now see as many as four infielders on one side of second base and in some cases five infielders and 2 outfielders or even four outfielders and three infielders. That is not the way the game of baseball was designed to be played. It is ruining the game.
There are those who will challenge me and say well then train them to hit the ball where they aren’t, but that is a lot harder to achieve in today’s game when you have pitchers throwing harder than ever. We have taken away the small ball in today’s game and turning it into a home run derby or strikeout game. The excitement of hitting and running and manufacturing runs has turned into an individualistic game where it is now one player making a difference rather than the entire team. That’s not what baseball is all about. We need to play it how it was designed to be played.
Fans want more action. Playing players in those correct positions will lead to that a lot more than going for the fences all the time. It will allow hitters to be hitters again and try to drive balls through the holes and in the gaps. That is what the beauty of this game is all about.
One of the dumbest implementations of a rule had to be the extra inning rule which is putting a runner on second base to start the 10th inning. So let me get this straight. We play nine innings of baseball trying move runners over, and score runs and then, if the game is tied after those nine innings, we change the rules to speed up the game. How ludicrous is this. We are changing the entire meaning and purpose of the game because major league baseball wants to go home. Come on, Major leagues baseball used the coronavirus as their reason but
make me believe that a few more innings would have made that much of a difference with this virus than the first nine innings.
It gets even better when we talk about the double-header rules they had in place last year which had them only playing seven inning games. How the heck can you have some of the games during the season being nine innings and some being seven innings and call that fair? What are they thinking? Do they go ahead and pro rate the tickets for the fans that attend these games since they have less innings being played? Unbelievable.
The game of baseball became America’s pastime because fans fell in love with the game the way it was not the way they are trying to change it to. Maybe this is the reason why attendance is down. Fans want the game that used to be filled with excitement and strategy not the junk they are trying to implement today.
They say if it isn’t broken then don’t try to fix it. If this is true then will the individuals that are in charge of MLB please stop trying to fix a product that was once great, just play the game like it was meant to be played and it will continue to be the greatest game on earth. That’s the easiest way to fix it. Leave it alone.
