Ever since Rob Manfred took over as commissioner of baseball, it seems as though his main focus has been on changing the pace of a baseball game. When I was thinking about my next piece, I simply asked Casey...
"What do you think of the changes to speed up the game?"
He simply wrote back... "I hate it."
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| Photo: SI.com |
Really, over the course of a full season how many walks are intentional in the first place? According to this article on MLB.com, there were 932 intentional walks issued in the Major Leagues in 2016. That's an average of .384 a game.
Each of the past five seasons has established a new record low of intentional walks per game. As this headline from an article from the Los Angeles Daily News states, this initiative is a solution in search of a problem.
"Scott Van Slyke: 'If you don’t like watching baseball games, don’t watch them. I think there’s a problem with people who think it’s a problem.'
Kenley Jansen: 'Games aren’t too long. This is getting out of control. There’s over 3 million people coming to watch the Dodgers every year.'”
Who is it really, that has a problem with the so-called pace of the game? Baseball has been around for over 100 years with very few changes in regard to the actual game itself. Are games longer than they were in the past? Most definitely. To me, the main issue to do with it is the advent of the lefty-righty specialist. Since sabermetrics have been introduced to the game and manager's spend way too much time with their noses stuck in binders instead of what is going on in the field. I say making rule changes in regards to pitching changes and trips to the mound and leaving the rest of the game alone would suffice in saving the time some are so concerned about. Making changes to the batters and pitchers routines before a pitch is even thrown would help a lot as well.
Look, Commissioner Manfred, I get it you're concerned about... the lack of people coming out to the multi-million stadiums. I pretty much can tell you that it really has nothing to do with the pace of the game. How about looking at the overall cost of going to a game instead? The average blue-collar worker can only afford to go to but a few games a year. I know last year when the Yankees were in Phoenix I went to all 3 games. It killed my funds for the month of May and I went alone.
Now, consider that the average everyday citizen has a spouse and children they would love to take with them. With the 200% plus markup on concessions, it's just not feasible for them to be able to go the each and every game no matter how much they would love to.
I believe there isn't much problem with the pace of the game...keep it authentic. In fact, the longer I can stay at the park the happier I am.
There's no place like home!!!
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