TIME TO CHANGE

Everyone knows that MLB games are too long.  Even Joe Torre found its length tiresome when he managed.  Thankfully, he’s involved with MLB in trying to fix or, at least, alleviate the issue.  MLB has implemented a plan which is being tested during the games that are currently played in the Arizona Fall League.

As much as I love baseball, even I feel the length of games has gotten ridiculous.  How many times do we have to watch players adjust each of their overabundant equipment?  The hitters re-strap their batting gloves, fiddle with their helmets, kick the batting box dirt, take practice swing after practice swing, etc.  The pitchers walk to the rosin bags way too often, walk off the pitching rubber while dazing around, throw to first when a runner is barely off the bag, stare at the catcher’s signals way too long, etc.

With all of these time-consumptions, it should not be surprising to most fans to learn that, 30 years ago, the average game time was 2 hours and 35 minutes, while this season the average time was approximately 3 hours and 3 minutes!  Furthermore, in 1964, a ball was averagely put into play at 2 minutes and 29 seconds.  Today, that occurs every 3 minutes and 30 seconds!

Here are the 6 Time-Saving Rules MLB is currently thinking about implementing:

1)  Batter’s Box - Batters will keep at least one foot in the batter’s box throughout the at-bat.  Exceptions may include a foul ball/tip, an inside pitch that causes the batter to move outside the box, granted timeouts, wild pitches, passed balls, etc.

2)  No-Pitch Intentional Walks - A manager will simply signal to the home plate umpire with 4 fingers for intentional walks instead of the pitcher trying to throw 4 ridiculous out-of-the-strike-zone pitches.

3)  20-Second Clock - A 20-second clock will be in each dugout, behind home plate, and in the outfield where an independent operator will begin once the pitcher is in his standard ready mode.

4)  2 Minutes and 35 Seconds Inning Breaks - This rule’s timeframe is estimated because they have to work this one out with their all-important paying sponsors; but, whatever time is finalized, here's the estimated implementations:  they will enforce the hitters to enter the batter’s box at the proposed 2:15 mark or a strike will be called within the pitch count, while by the proposed 2:35 mark, the pitcher must make a pitch or a ball will be called within the pitch count.

5)  Pitching Changes Within 2 Minutes and 30 Seconds - The clock for this will begin once the pitcher enters the playing field (thought to be when he crosses the warning track and, again, if the pitcher fails to pitch by the limit, a ball will be called.

6)  3 Timeouts - No more than 3 timeouts (other than pitching changes or injuries) will be permitted collectively within a game, even if the game includes extra-innings.

Just like the instant replay, the enforcement of time limits in Major League Baseball is way overdue.  Professional sports such as football, soccer, basketball, and hockey all have clocks implementing specified time limits.  Even our own lives have time limits!  I like a lot of the ideas they’re trying in the Arizona League.  They could implement even more as “time” goes on such as expediting instant replay reviews.

Maybe if MLB ends up with games averaging around 2½ hours, they can gain more ratings for their games, playoffs, and World Series.  More importantly, maybe folks (especially the younger folks) will appreciate the shortened time enough to watch more innings and, perhaps even a full game!  Of course, I could keep writing about this, but my time has run out!! 

NO “GIANT” “ROYAL”TIES IN THE 2014 WORLD SERIES

Unfortunately, the 2014 World Series (or any since 2009) did not include the Yankees; but, my love for baseball still encouraged me to watch a lot of it.  While the end of this past World Series schedule (thankfully) didn’t reach November, I thought November 1st would be an apropos date to write this first post-2014-season blog - since November 1^st was when this season’s other big story, Derek Jeter, earned his “Mr. November” title.  Of course, two blog/articles ago, I wrote about Derek so this one is about the other big and now concluded story, the 2014 World Series.

Congratulations to the San Francisco Giants for defeating the Kansas City Royals in 7 games.  I was certainly grateful that I didn’t have to see George Brett join in a celebration of a Royals championship!  That’s especially true because, after all of these years, even though the Royals defeated the Yankees in the playoffs in 1980, he’s still griping to the media about losing to the Yankees in 1977 & 1978!  He’s also been recently involved with the Royals front office.  Those 2 conditions persuaded me to root for the Giants.  (Hey, I can be just as bitter as George Brett and I undeniably get defensive whenever my Yankees are verbally abused, especially when someone like George Brett is acting as the same baby I saw during his 1983 pine-tar days!)

I thought that the 2014 World Series was very entertaining - minus KC’s Game 6 landslide 10-0 victory.  The series offered many great defensive plays and great pitching, especially from the Giants’ starter, Madison Bumgarner and both teams’ bullpens.  It’s a shame that many baseball fans failed to watch!  Of course, most Mets’ fans never watch much of the playoffs or World Series - they’re actually accustomed to watching other things by mid-September, anyway.  Like the Mets’ fans, I’ve disappointedly heard many Yankees’ fans take out their sore-loser frustrations by choosing to avoid watching any or most of the championship games.

Apparently, based on the TV ratings, almost all of the baseball fans (except KC & SF fans) chose not to watch the games.  In fact, almost no one watched these games, according to the ratings, in comparison to the ratings of alternate sports and primetime television shows.  The only exception was the World Series’ Game 7, which drew decent ratings and gave FOX its highest ratings on a Wednesday night in the last 3 years; however, the ratings for a “Game 7” were still unimpressive compared to past Game 7s.  Collectively, the 2014 World Series scored the lowest ratings of all time for any 7-game World Series!

I guess the baseball world needs the Yankees - whether they love them or hate them!