How to fix baseball’s problem in ten Steps

Baseball has a problem. It’s not the game itself, baseball is a beautiful game that is a chess match from inning to inning and pitch to pitch. It’s why there has been so many great baseball movies. Baseball is a sport that we romanticize about, a game that is played on warm summer afternoons with the warm summer sun almost appearing as if it’s smiling down on you. Baseball playoffs is concluded on crisp fall evenings, with the brown leaves blowing through the concourse entrances. It’s a beautiful game but baseball is losing popularity. Some of the issue is that baseball is very slow and methodical, which isn’t aging well in the short attention span hooked to our cell phone era we currently live in. Basketball is very fast paced, played in indoor arenas and has the ambience of a mash up of a hip hop concert and cirque du Soleil show. Football is played in large stadiums that serve as modern gladiator cathedrals. Games are only played once a week, which gives the communities something to discuss and look forward to, it’s like waiting to go to a rock concert at your favorite venue in the level of anticipation for every game. Football is easy to gamble on and play fantasy in, it does not require the daily grind of baseball and basketball fantasy and wagering. Millions play fantasy and billions of dollars are wagered every season through various sportsbooks. These two aspects alone (not even including the general popularity of the average football fan) makes football king in America. Baseball need to know that they cannot compete in the glamour of basketball or the goliath that is known for football. But to say that what we used to call America’s pastime still can’t be relevant in today’s sports landscape is naive to be kind. We first of should explain what the problem is with baseball right now and why things need to change starting in 2022.

Baseball has become a game of analytics. The moneyball teams of the Athletics, Twins and Red Sox in the early 2000’s changed the game to what we see today. It’s a game that has become all about using data to it’s advantage (thanks Jonah Hill!). Why pitchers know what to throw to specific hitters in specific counts and vice versa, where a hitter hits the ball. When to pull a starting pitcher etc. To ask teams to stop using math and intelligence is an archaic and unrealistic way to approach what we can change. Baseball was ahead of other sports in the analytics regard. This is why NBA teams shoot so many 3’s and football teams play far more spread formations and far fewer I formations with Quarterbacks under center. So if we think that we are going to go back to the 80’s and 90’s style of thought in baseball is not going to happen and I’m not asking us to. But baseball can be run be the nerdy stat heads and still be exciting to watch. But here are the things that are killing baseball right now and making many young Americans tune out to watch youtube or play on tic tok or whatever other stereotypes you would like to pin on today’s generation.

Sorry non analytics guys but I’m going to throw some statistics your way for how the 2021 Season is going so far. The average amount of hits per team per game is 7.75 (tied with 1908 for lowest of all time). As recent as 2008 there was 9.08 hits per team per game (which is more than 1 per inning on average, give or take know there is extra inning games) The average amount of strikeouts per team per game is 9.00 (or 1 per inning give or take, highest of all time). In 2009 (or only 12 years ago) there was 6.91 strikeouts per team per game (that is over a 2 strikeout per game pace which is astronomical over a large sample size). Teams are hitting .234 overall (lowest of all time). All this lack of offense means quicker games right? Well the average length of a baseball game is 3 hours and 9 minutes this season (second most of all time just behind 2019). In 2015 (just six years ago) games were on average 2 hours and 56 minutes (a difference of 13 minutes ago astronomical over a large sample size). What all this means is games are longer but with far more strikeouts and less hits/balls put in play which means no real game action, which means (you can say it) a boring game to watch. You can realistically go use the restroom, get a hot dog and a soda and return to your seat and have missed absolutely nothing except maybe a strikeout or walk.

Pitchers throwing harder than ever (from 91.2 fastball velo average in 2006 to 93.5 today) with nasty offspeed pitches to boot, this naturally will increase strikeouts with pitchers having better strikeout stuff. But to spike as much as the stats have is absurd and it isn’t just because of the increased fastball velocity, analytics say to hit more homeruns because of baseball shifts and defensive strategies show that it’s more beneficial to hit the ball over the fence. If you played baseball before you know changing your swing and approach to hit homeruns is going to make you very likely to swing and miss a lot. Now since you know strikeouts, are up, hits are down (no fun legging out doubles and triples, no fans booing as the pitcher throws over to first over and over again on a speedy baserunner) and the game is longer, and the young fans are tuning out. What can we do change all this, to make baseball great again. To make baseball the fun game that we great up loving, well let’s do it in ten quick steps.

1.Outlaw the shift

This is the most obvious rule change and almost certain to go into effect after this season. For those who go all Southpark rabble rabble on me let me defend why this is a no brainer. In basketball the rule changed to no hand checking beyond the three point line. In football you cannot hit hit a QB low or high (this is a safety rule as well keep the breadwinners of the game healthy please). In Hockey no two defenseman to remain inside a teams blue line when the puck has left the defensive zone. All these rules were made to increase offense and most importantly to let the best athletes do what they do best. So in baseball this change is simple, two infielders on each side of second base. No infielder can position themselves outside of the infield dirt before the pitch is thrown. This will change analytical thinking to realize that grounders and line drives will not die, if a power lefty hits a line drive into shallow right it will not fall into the shallow right fielder (or the second basemans) glove but fall for a single (which was the result in the first 150 years of baseball history). This will change the analytical thinking to realize that putting the ball in play again is the best approach since there is more holes in the field to hit the ball without hitting the ball out of the ballpark.

2. Lower the Pitchers mound

Analytics say that spin rate is a attribute on a pitchers fastball. A way to counter this is to lower the pitchers mound. This already occured after the dead ball year of 1968. We are in the second ERA of the deadball so the easiest way to counter that is to lower the mound again. This will give hitters an advantage as spin rates on fastballs and breaking pitches will drop which will increase offense (primarily batted balls in play).

3. Keep the Extra inning rule

The Extra inning rule starting with a runner on second in the 10th inning is working. We should still go old school in the playoffs but during the regular season like in hockey’s shootout format why do we want to wear out pitching staffs going 16-17 innings. It is a gimmicky rule but it is working as most games are concluding in the 10th or 11th inning over the past two seasons.

4. Universal DH

As a west coast guy I loved seeing Madison Bumgarner take Clayton Kershaw deep (twice). But even the ever enjoyable Mason Saunders is a career .179 hitter. The age of pitchers hitting is over, have the pitcher focus on what they are good at pitching. Bartolo Colon hitting a homerun was legendary in it’s own right as well but pitchers hitting are mainly just sad. It will take away also the strategy of the National league game, no more double switches…. Just go with Universal DH before I change my mind, it’s what’s best for baseball.

5. 20 second pitch clock in between pitches

I was thinking of what is the best way to enforce this rule. The second base umpire should have a clock inbetween pitches and if the pitcher or batter violates this it’s an automatic ball or strike. What we want to see is every single game be like a Mark Buehrle start. Quick and efficient get on the mount get in the box and let’s play ball. Just even having this rule would quickly fix the deliberate pace of a baseball game.

6. Keep the 7 inning doubleheader

Again a great rule change and start to the evolution of today’s game. This will save pitching staffs across baseball throughout the season to cover for rainouts to play two 7 inning games. Plus under our new settings wouldn’t it be fun to say the Braves beat the Nationals 2-1 in the first game of a doubleheader in a game that was 1 hour and 48 minutes.

7. Only two pickoff throws per batter

Maybe I’m being too sinister here but come on pitcher. Fans boo for good reason when the pitcher keeps throwing the ball over to first base on pickoff attempts. There are many ways with their delivery and pace of pitching that they can counter base stealers. Pitcher throws ball over more than two times while a specific hitter is in the box it’s a balk. When the pitcher either retires that batter or that ensuing batter reaches base then the pitcher is allotted two pick fresh pickoff attempts.

8. Market your Star Players

It’s a shame that we do not know who Jacob Degrom is. He’s a flamethrowing Demon and arguably the best pitcher of this generation (Max Scherzer and Clayton Kershaw may say hold my beer). He’s comparable to Aaron Rodgers in his legendary statistics and ability. He pitches for the New York (NEW YORK!!!!!) Mets and no one knows who he is. Is that Jacob Degrom’s fault? No it’s not but baseball’s fault for not marketing one of the best pitchers of my lifetime. The NBA is very savvy at marketing their best players. We should be seeing Mookie Betts, Fernando Tatis Jr., Francisco Lindor and Degrom in commercials, billboards across America. Betts, Tatis and Lindor in particular all have a ton of flair and are exciting players to watch and cover. This is a fundamental issue and should be researched and fixed immediately.

9. Start Season in Mid April, Sunday Doubleheaders, no postseason games on Sunday’s

Okay follow me here. If we started this season on Thursday April 16th and ended on Wednesday September 29th it would make more sense. You can have the Season begin when the weather starts to warm up a bit. Minnesota, Denver, Chicago and Detroit usually still have cold awful weather in the beginning of April and fans do not want to sit and watch baseball on a cold, damp 35 degree evening. Have the season end on a Wednesday which baseball did for a couple of Seasons (and was brilliant). 2011 was the season that comes to mind with us watching the Rays comeback from 7-0 down to shock the Yankees and sneak into the playoffs in dramatic fashion (sorry Red Sox fans). I remember this is what the sports world talking about the following day. If these events occurred on that ensuing Sunday you know what we would be talking about? Not the Rays and Red Sox but what happened in Week 4 of the NFL Season. Baseball needs to realize that they cannot compete with football so don’t! Play split Sunday doubleheaders throughout the season so they can shorten the length of the Season. Many pundits will say to shorten the amount of games but that is a lot of revenue lost and baseball gets a ton of their revenue from the gate and not television and advertising so that is not a valid option. In the playoffs do not have games on Sunday’s, as I said let NFL have their day of the Week and baseball playoffs can be played on the other six days of the week. Watching the World Series on a Sunday is wonderful but the country is watching Sunday night Football not the World Series, the ratings proves my point.

10. Baseball needs to be who they are

Baseball needs to be who they are and what I mean is they need to celebrate and romanticize the past but also celebrate the present and future. Baseball should change these rules and keep a couple of rule changes I mentioned but at the root of baseball they need to celebrate the game and be proud of their game. It’s a beautiful and original game and a prime example is the Rockies Giants game last Tuesday in the always wacky Coors field in Denver Colorado. The Rockies were down 6-2 with two outs in the bottom of the 7th in the second game of a doubleheader (or last out of the game). The Rockies would proceed to get four straight hits to make it a 6-5 game with now two on for the struggling Charlie Blackmon. Blackmon would have a great at bat (maybe an AB that will turn his season around) in which was concluded with the Bearded legend hitting a three run walkoff homerun and seal an incredible comeback for a 8-6 final. This is the equivalent of being down 16 in an NFL game with 1 minute left and having the ball at midfield. In that situation it is almost impossible to comeback but in baseball it’s not because there is no game clock but is the game is measured in innings and outs. So by no means am I saying to time the game but in these steps we can pick up the pace and create more action. Because an awesome catch, an acrobatic throw by an athletic shortstop. A play at the plate. A player trying to go from 1st to 3rd on a single. A speeder legging out a triple. These are the most exciting moments for the fans and social media to comment on and watch. We do not get that when a large abundance of plate appearances results in a strikeout, walk or homerun. There just isn’t enough action, baseball is defined by game action. The games need more action, the baseball stars need more limelight, baseball needs to be okay being footballs quirky cousin instead of trying to be it’s attention hoarding little brother. I presented the plan, now baseball put it into action. It’s a great game, a beautiful game. We must not let this great, beautiful game die.