11/21/24
March 20, 2010
MLB Tells Yanks, Red Sox, Dodgers to Speed Up: Major League Baseball has told the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers to speed up the play of their games. The teams' nine inning games averaged 3:08 hours, 3:04 hours and 3:02 hours last season, respectively, above the league average of 2:52. "I would contend that that [faster] pace of game -- and many players have told me this -- helps players pay attention and play better," said MLB exec Jimmie Lee Solomon.
I'm all for this, but it's ridiculous to call out the teams. There are plenty of rules already in place to speed up the game (letting the pitcher pitch if the batter won't get in the box, calling a ball if the pitcher takes to long to throw a pitch with no one on base, etc). Enforce the rules you have.
And if that's still too long, take out some commercials. Which won't happen. We're about 5 years away from this being a baseball tradition, the promise to speed up games during spring training.
posted by yerfatma at 03:05 PM on March 20, 2010
Enforce the rules you have.
This.
And if that's still too long, take out some commercials.
I'm guessing this is the primary reason why those teams are tops in game length. Big-ass national viewership = lots of commercials.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 03:12 PM on March 20, 2010
Boston, Los Angeles, and New York all thrive on taking a lot of pitches during a time at bat. This is to cause starters to throw more pitches and put runners on via the base on balls. MLB must not do anything to take this away from an offense. What these teams do is legal under present rules, and changing it will be a fundamental change in the game.
Enforcing the time between pitch rules and instituting a rule for batters to stay in the box (with exceptions for some situations) between pitches should suffice to speed up the game. The allowed time between innings used to be 1 minute, but TV caused the change here. The time is supposed to be measured from the final out of a half inning, and if the pitcher does not complete his allowed warm up (5 pitches for a continuing pitcher and 8 for one entering the game), he is not allowed more. When I was umpiring, I once called a ball on a pitcher who threw an extra warm up pitch after I had told him that time was up. His coach wanted to argue, but was very quiet after I quoted him the rule.
Reading the posted article, one would get the impression that Papelbon had been fined for taking too much time between pitches. This was not the case; he was fined for consistently exceeding the time allowed to enter the game from the bullpen and complete his warm-up. As a Red Sox fan, I felt that there was some "selective enforcement" here, but he did indeed violate the rule.
posted by Howard_T at 04:23 PM on March 20, 2010
Why finishing in 2:52 is better than finishing in 3:08:
So the networks can start the next episode of CSI:Dubuque or whatever at the advertised time.
posted by owlhouse at 05:29 PM on March 20, 2010
Just play ball. I really hate the batters that take forever to get back into the batters box between pitches. They go through this incredibly long process of adjusting their gloves, their grip, their stance after every goddamn pitch. If I was the ump I'd toss the guy. I toss him by switching channels until he's thru batting. It just adds so much un-necessary time to the game. Just stay in the box and swing at the damn ball.
posted by irunfromclones at 06:09 PM on March 20, 2010
Clearly the league would be able to determine how much of an impact TV commercial time was built into this, so they can address that if they want...I'm guessing they won't.
Beyond that, the umpires need to stay on top of the hitters and pitchers.
Not sure how much time bringing relief pitchers in on golf carts saves, what the heck it is somewhat amusing to watch so bring it back.
On a side note, Howard, back when I was umpiring select league baseball, I called numerous balls on pitchers, and strikes on batters, that weren't ready. Some of those games were on the clock, so it was a bit easier to do. Always loved the reaction from the coach and/or parents. Like you, I'd explain the rule and they'd shut up.
posted by dviking at 07:49 PM on March 20, 2010
Boston, Los Angeles, and New York all thrive on taking a lot of pitches during a time at bat.
This is the other source of my frustration, but I left it out of my original comment because I'm obviously biased as a Red Sox fan. It's as though the MLB said, "Look, the style of game you play, which the nerds who are ruining baseball say is the most effective way of playing, is distasteful to us, insomuch as it makes for an inferior TV product when compared to a theoretical 3 hour home run derby of a game." If they're unhappy with how these teams play within the rules of the game, why not bitch at every shitty fifth starter junkball pitcher around the league for nibbling at corners and running counts up because they're afraid to throw strikes?
The MLB needs to get some new blood in the front office. They're obsessed with the idea the sport is going to starve to death in our new Attention Deficit Disorder culture, so it needs to be changed. Never mind that good things last because of how they are crafted, because something in them appeals to broad swaths of people even across generations. This time it's different. Baseball, John Updike suggested, is the one sport you can watch while reading the paper*. The slow pace is nothing new.
I would love to see batters stay in the batter's box, pitchers get the ball and throw it and a general increase in Moving Things Along, but there is no reason baseball has to change to fit the current era. Especially this era. I just finished reading a great article in the NYT about the side effects of mash-up culture and tweeting sound bytes instead of reasoned debate. It applies to Internet discussions in general, but obviously much of it makes me think of why I like Sportsfilter and why I can be an unceasing grump (not grum) here:
"Although new media can help build big TV audiences for events like the Super Bowl, it also tends to make people treat those events as fodder for digital chatter. More people are impatient to cut to the chase . . Instead of reading an entire news article, watching an entire television show or listening to an entire speech, growing numbers of people are happy to jump to the summary, the video clip, the sound bite never mind if context and nuance are lost in the process; never mind if it's our emotions, more than our sense of reason, that are engaged; never mind if statements haven't been properly vetted and sourced."I know the appeal of sport is emotional. I am aware, especially in baseball stats discussions, that I can be coldly technological, Joe Friday-ish, but I'm horrified by the idea that we're moving from a world of Sportsfilter to a world of ESPN message board "discussions", where everything is about he who CAPS LOCKs loudest. "It's just sports", but I think sports are a handy microcosm for examining how we're interacting with each other in general.
TL;DR
* At least, I think he said. It's in some article in my long-lost copy of Red Sox Reader. The nice thing, as per that NYT article I linked to (but may or may not have read), is that you're not going to read through that whole Updike article to see if he said it, so I come off smart whether he said it or I totally made it up. I should have claimed something more offensive.
posted by yerfatma at 02:16 PM on March 21, 2010
Addendum: if you're worried I really am that cold and unemotional about sports, you should talk to my dog, who takes about 2 weeks to get re-adjusted to football season every year. The first couple of Sundays she sits horrified, having forgotten the living room is the place where The Man sits to yell and throw beer bottles at the TV whenever the Patriots aren't winning 72-0.
posted by yerfatma at 02:24 PM on March 21, 2010
I'm guessing this is the primary reason why those teams are tops in game length. Big-ass national viewership = lots of commercials.
That gets my vote too. In fact, I'd say the onus is on MLB to show some hard numbers on length of time per play, and not just length of game, before they should expect anyone to listen to this ridiculous crap.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 08:48 PM on March 21, 2010
How about: -- Open the strike zone (it seems to be closing again) -- Bring back the mobile carts a la the 1970s -- One pinch-hitter/one pitching change in a plate appearance, not one PH, one P, then a substitute PH. Plus, how about we have a minimum of at least two batters faced for a reliever? Nothing worse than 2 or 3 relievers for 2 or 3 batters. -- Reduce time between innings to 90 seconds (I believe it's 2 minutes now; correct me if I'm wrong). That's about 9 minutes right there. Ad revenue decreases -- the local cable networks probably still make a profit.