MLB should just go all out against the analytics guys and give an automatic double for any bunt. I mean they have already taken away the shift and made is so much easier to steal bases which is a big no-no for the analytic guys because it wasn't worth the risk. Those charts are really going to have to change.
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***Official - 2025 Major League Baseball Thread (8 Viewers)
- Thread starter ChiefD
- Start date
Ministry of Pain
Footballguy
Realignment?
Rays, Marlins and Braves in the same Division I was hearing, that would be fun but I get to see those teams all the time now anyways.
I like the AL in St Pete and the Marlins down here in South Florida, all the NL teams.
Love that the shift is gone, was destroying the game IMHO
Spartans Rule
Footballguy
The shift ban won’t have the impact people think it will.
It’s not even really a ban. You can still move your outfielders wherever you want, and you can have your 3rd baseman stand right next to 2nd base. Only the really drastic shifts can’t be replicated, and all-fields contact hitters don’t see those much anyway. The guys who benefit are the dead pull hitters who are so bad at going oppo that they don’t try even when that whole side of the field is empty. We’re helping Joey Gallo bat .200 instead of .160. Hooray?
But, let’s suppose I’m wrong, and we get lots more hits on balls in play for everyone. That would just increase scoring leaguewide. You’re not restricting power hitters in any way, just making it easier to get runners on base for them. The losers would be pitchers, specifically the low-K innings-eating ground ballers. More offense, more pitching changes, longer games. Hooray?
It’s not even really a ban. You can still move your outfielders wherever you want, and you can have your 3rd baseman stand right next to 2nd base. Only the really drastic shifts can’t be replicated, and all-fields contact hitters don’t see those much anyway. The guys who benefit are the dead pull hitters who are so bad at going oppo that they don’t try even when that whole side of the field is empty. We’re helping Joey Gallo bat .200 instead of .160. Hooray?
But, let’s suppose I’m wrong, and we get lots more hits on balls in play for everyone. That would just increase scoring leaguewide. You’re not restricting power hitters in any way, just making it easier to get runners on base for them. The losers would be pitchers, specifically the low-K innings-eating ground ballers. More offense, more pitching changes, longer games. Hooray?
Cowboysfan8
Footballguy
I agree with the sentiment here but it is a ban. You need to have two infielders on each side of 2B and no infielder can be on the OF grass. That is a significant change to the current "shift" where you have three infielders on one side of 2B with one of the infielders stationed in shallow OF way into the grass.
For the bolded I am not sure if you understood what the ban is requiring based on that statement. So even if you move your 3B to stand right next to 2B you would still need to have your SS right next to him on the 3B side of 2B per the rule. I am not sure if you understood what the ban is requiring based on that statement.
Technically you can't. Where would the SS play?
GreenNGold
Footballguy
I think I'll like these changes overall but will have to see how everything plays out.
Overall, baseball is my favorite sport. I think it is great and overall the sport is as healthy as ever, but it seems to be the popular sport to hate on by people who would probably never watch it no matter what the changes are. To me, a mind-numbingly boring sport that I'd never watch is soccer, yet somehow that sport has fans that like it, to each their own.
Overall, baseball is my favorite sport. I think it is great and overall the sport is as healthy as ever, but it seems to be the popular sport to hate on by people who would probably never watch it no matter what the changes are. To me, a mind-numbingly boring sport that I'd never watch is soccer, yet somehow that sport has fans that like it, to each their own.
Agreed 1000%
They can hold hands just to the 3B side of second base. Still legal.
-fish-
Footballguy
So you tip the batters off by moving your defense every pitch in anticipation of what's about to be thrown?
TripleThreat
Footballguy
every team is playing each other and the previous 19 division games is down to 13.
What would the point of that be? Keep in mind with new rules, infielders cannot swap positions in the middle of an inning. For example, the SS cant swap positions with the 2B because a lefty is due up and the SS is the better fielder.
Spartans Rule
Footballguy
That was more my point, you can still do some crazy things with shifting. Obviously that example would be silly, but it’s not like teams are restricted to traditional defensive alignment. I’m sure the computers are hard at work finding the new optimal shift.
One suggestion I saw was that you’ll see one outfielder in left center, one in right, and another in shallow right where they used to stick an infielder. The 3B would have some added responsibility to cover shallow left, but of course the hitters who would face this shift won’t be ones that put it there very often.
Seems kind of silly to sacrifice doubles (or triples) just to prevent a few singles but I guess we'll see. Should be fascinating to watch unfold.
Subtly to some degree. Many times it would be more of a heads up than an actual movement to the fielders to know what was being pitched to help in their reads.
The whole point I was trying to make (while some of you are getting hung up on the minute details) is that there are a lot of things to review prior to every pitch that the pace of the game is not slow if you are doing them.
TripleThreat
Footballguy
the new emphasis on the balk rule I'm happy about. I'm over Kenley Jansen's histrionics...
totally agree with this. These pitchers that keep moving and stop/starting every time is terrible. Not sure why MLB ever let that stuff go.
AAABatteries
Footballguy
These rules changes should help but baseball is in trouble longterm due to the way society is evolving. Most people don’t allow themselves to not be entertained every second of the day. Smart phones, internet, etc. and the immediate feedback loop is changing how people live. The delay between pitches and innings is interminable to a lot of people. I’m as guilty as anybody - I grew up playing and still enjoy the action of baseball but can’t stand watching a regular season game unless it’s just on in the background.
It’s a great sport but I’m not sure they can solve this issue longterm.
It’s a great sport but I’m not sure they can solve this issue longterm.
I mean this is the same exact problem with football where there is even more downtime between plays.
Football 45 seconds between plays. Breaks after each quarter. Longer break at half time. Long breaks for reviews. Each team gets 6 time outs.
Its not even a comparison.
Capella
Footballguy
But football is exciting when it’s played.
I find baseball exciting when it's played. If you don't find baseball exciting when it's played then you're not gonna be a fan of the sport regardless of how society is today.
Capella
Footballguy
I know. Just another problem they face. Maybe the pace of play changes will make big improvements. Stolen bases are exciting. Guys going from first to home on a ball in the gap is exciting. Seems like a lot of that has been forgotten.
AAABatteries
Footballguy
Well, I wasn’t comparing them but I agree football has a somewhat similar issue. However, baseball has about 2-2.5 the number of “plays“ on average and the large majority of them take one second or less. I appreciate the sport because I played it but talk to any kid who doesn’t nowadays- the first thing they say is it’s boring.
Overall, I expect baseball to be fine but I think it is limited in how big it grow.
AAABatteries
Footballguy
Unless you are really in to pitching, the number of times something “exciting“ happens is just so small.
AAABatteries
Footballguy
ChiefD
Footballguy
Good point.
AAABatteries
Footballguy
Hey, I like baseball - my only point is the rules will help but not with most detractors. I think many in here have suggested to just leave the sport alone and let the folks who enjoy it, have it the way they want. They need to balance trying to find new fans and not ticking off the people who already love it.
Totally agree. I think the biggest issue from the perspective of people who enjoy watching the game is that the analytics has taken away a lot of the strategy and uniqueness of the game. Bunting analytically is a bad play. So is attempting to steal. So is anything that risks making an out and taking away another AB that could lead to a HR.
I really thought the shift would eventually bring some of this back as the analytics would swing back the other way a bit where learning how to hit to all fields now becomes worth the effort over swinging for the fences every swing. There will always be a lag as the stats catch up since baseball analytics are over the long haul of a season and the more chances the more the stats show one way or the other.
I am not sure if this shift ban will help or hurt that. Obviously now dead pull guys won't have any incentive to change so maybe that helps because they get more hits or maybe it hurts because it will become more HR or nothing based. Time will tell.
TripleThreat
Footballguy
for them there's the savannah bananas.
There actually touring by me this year. I was going to buy tickets but you are required to buy a 25 game plan to our local independent league team in order to be eligible to buy tickets to see them. Insane.
GordonGekko
Footballguy
From a media optics standpoint, a big driver of change is the networks themselves. Every major American sport is beholden, at some level, to the massive TV contracts that they get. The NFL is a pro passing league because network suits wanted it to be a pro passing league.
There is a desire for "cost certainty" in terms of professional sports being broadcast. NBA games have that ridiculous last 15 seconds of the game clock turning into a half hour in air time because the refs and the league are expected to give viewers a certain product within a certain time frame and time limit. Longer and longer broadcast games dilutes the value of what you can charge for ads during commercial breaks.
When ABC was floundering and had a major worldwide hit in JJ Abram's Lost, the show actually would creep one minute into the next broadcast hour. The reason being that extra minute meant an extra minute of commercials, since the ad rate for showing your brand during Lost was very high. Then Abrams, Cuse and the rest were put under pressure to reduce the length of the "recap" that was at the front of each episode, then reduce the time spent on the opening "teaser", to again, massage more minutes to sell ad revenue.
Baseball can or cannot be fun to watch depending on the person and their background with sports, baseball and , to some degree, their age range. However what can't be argued is the average broadcasted baseball game is a time investment. A large one in current media reality.
If you want ratings success, you need to appeal to female viewership. They are also the major drivers of consumer purchases in the entire country.
Changing the game has some value to the networks.
You know what would drive up ratings and fan interest? If Taylor Swift had a long term boyfriend in MLB and couldn't stop gushing about him and being seen at games and around baseball related activities. Hailee Steinfeld. Ariana Grande. Zendaya. Do you know what the safe rule is for restaurants near high schools? The owner should be invested in figuring out who are the popular kids in school and get them to want to eat there. Where the popular kids go, the ones with the most social status, it leans into many of the rest of the kids.
The modern term is FOMO - Fear Of Missing Out.
From a marketing standpoint, it's not just game length, it's the lack of status around baseball and it's participants. The NFL has the advantage in that each game is important and they are spaced out. The rule are also complex to the average person who is not naturally attuned to MLB. However NBA and the NFL, the concepts can get absorbed pretty quickly. The games are somewhat simpler in design. Logistics don't help either. People tend to love what they have experienced themselves. Basketball just needs two people, a ball and a hoop. Football just needs a few people, a field and a ball. Baseball, I mean even baseline functional playing, require all kinds of space, equipment and roles. Soccer is so popular because it's accessible. People in poverty can build a ball out of duct tape, plastic bags and some old rags if they have to do it.
Baseball does need some practical changes to make the game itself better on the field. However it's popularity and it's ensuing ratings requires something more complex.
Someone asked me once, in the media optics world, a decade ago, on how the WNBA can actual get solid ratings with sustainable female viewership. I said the WNBA should spend every dime it can to start free youth basketball programs for girls all over the country. You want every little girl in every public school at every level playing basketball for fun.
MLB needs more kids playing baseball and having that be the new normal. It also needs a media strategy designed to appeal to female viewership and also legacy female viewership.
This is why football in person is a terrible game watching experience. It has become and built for TV. The better TV's and replay's etc lend itself to the viewing experience being much better at home than at the actual game. Baseball on the other hand is much better in person when you can enjoy the outside, drink a beer, relaxing while watching the game.
snellman
Footballguy
Totally agree. It's weird, but the older I get the more I enjoy either sitting on the deck or in the recliner and having a baseball game on. I am watching, but don't have to give it my undivided attention. I feel shameful in saying this, but I am almost enjoying watching baseball more than football.
ChiefD
Footballguy
Agree. In my growing years the Royals were great and the Chiefs were terrible. So for me, I LOVE baseball and like football. If that makes sense.
And watching the Royals during the playoffs was WAY less stressful than the Chiefs.
There is just something about the rhythm of baseball you just don’t get with football.
belljr
Footballguy
Analytics helped and hurt baseball along with mega cash. Launch angles exit velo --- strikeouts are just fine as long as you launch it. Guys won't hit in run when they make an extra 2 mill for 50 doubles.
That's why I love the fastpitch softball.....well besides having a daughter lol
ChiefD
Footballguy
If the royals can’t win it I hope the Padres will.
TripleThreat
Footballguy
Los Bravos!
tho I have other ties I’m also TBS kid age… afternoon baseball. Which along with @GordonGekko post would help.
tho I have other ties I’m also TBS kid age… afternoon baseball. Which along with @GordonGekko post would help.
belljr
Footballguy
Sorry if I'm late but woah
tri-man 47
Footballguy
The new rules must be working. I started reading GG's post, and the preseason game I was watching ended before I finished the post!
Encyclopedia Brown
Footballguy
The owner doesn't have much of a poker face. In an interview on MLB Network, he was plainly upset about Machado's intention to opt-out at the end of the season.
Leeroy Jenkins
Footballguy
Sell the Pirates.
Ron Swanson
Footballguy
Houston fans call this the "Kate Upton effect". Doesn't hurt that the 'stros have been a great team for several years. NYM will see the same impact now.
Senor Schmutzig
Footballguy
I'm in Miami and wanted to buy some tickets to see some of the games. I didn't get them at the outset but figured I could find something on the secondary market. The prices for ANY of the Dominican games versus any Hispanic team are insane right now. Looks like I'm going to see them versus Israel!
Will have to see what other good deals there are. I'm sure prices will soften up as the games get closer.
Miami teams: Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Isreal, Venezuela
DR vs. Venezuela - $140 each for nosebleed
Israel vs. DR - $19 for cheapest seats
Puerto Rico vs. DR - $158 for standing room only
Was talking to a sales rep from the Marlins last week and he mentioned that they are going to try and get the MLB to go back to having this every 3 years and have all games at Marlins Park. Not sure if they will be able to swing that but it's an interesting take. Quarterfinals, Semis and Finals are all in Miami and are already sold out.
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Cowboysfan8
Footballguy
eww
dkp993
Footballguy
Get use to it! It’s our time now.
Cowboysfan8
Footballguy
Pretty sure that was last year. Maybe the before?Get use to it! It’s our time now.
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