The Time of Game Thread

[Edgy MD]

Umpire enforcement.



Hasn't tennis worked well that way? Nobody is timed and we aren't asked to watch seconds ticking away, but if a guy is trying to abuse people's patience and is stall, the guy in the chair has no qualms about saying "Get on the line and serve — if this keeps up, I'm docking you a point."



The umps obviously been little good at controlling time abuses in the past, but that's not really what they've been trained for, and that's not what has gotten them in trouble if they've failed to do it. It's been an ancillary part of their job. But with much and perhaps all of their judgment calls to be taken away in the near future by technology, this could be the direction in which their role evolves — enforcing pace of play and enforcing sportsmanship.



The results in time are undeniable. Congratulations to all involved for that. I just tend to ask myself whether what I'm seeing is a more fully realized version of baseball.



Universal DH — a less fully realized version of baseball.



Any DH — a less fully realized version of baseball.



Free runner on second in extra innings — a ridiculously less fully realized version of baseball.



Mandatory positioning of fielders in a zone — a less fully realized version of baseball disguised to look like a more fully realized version of baseball.



Roster expansion — the impact is dulled by the universal application of the DH, but this is also a less fully realized version of baseball.



Bigger bases — low-impact thus far, but tinkering for tinkering's sake is foolish and invites long-term outcomes that we cannot see.



So that leaves the clock. Huzzah for the games being adjusted in length. But I think we have to acknowledge that (1) it's part of the infrastructure that has allowed the above changes (some of them quite perverse) to be Trojan-horsed in.



And I think the unintended consequences are only beginning to be seen. These may or may not include (but in some cases seemingly already are including) shorter workdays for starting pitchers; disproportionate impact on older pitchers; adverse health and safety outcomes; a more and a more burned out pitching staff as we work through the hot months.



Much of that is certainly speculative. The Mets pitchers are performing poorly under the regime and it is (and will be) way to easy to project that onto the new rules. But when I see a batter ready, and a pitcher ready, and a pitch is thrown, and the outcome of that pitch is discounted because there's been a violation called because the pitch came in 12.5 seconds instead of 12, and there's confusion over whether the violation was on the pitcher or the batter, and everybody feels like they were acting in good faith, but they don't know who to be mad at because they feel like the opposition was more-or-less acting in good faith too, I feel like I'm watching a less fully realized version of baseball. It feels like the equivalent of an automated system that mails you a ticket for going 17 in a 15-mph zone several days ago, that you can scarcely piece together enough of the context to dispute, but you really feel like you were honoring the law, because it's your neighborhood too, but you can't fight the fucking homeowner's association, but $75 is a lot of money.



Is that camera really about safety or about that $$? But from your perspective, disputing the damned thing will cost more than $75, so you grit your teeth and take it, just as your neighbors all over the HOA's district are doing.



And knowing how baseball is talked about in fora such as these, we know that players aren't just competing against each other, but competing against history, and that competition is dulled when drastic rule changes affect the nature of the game. It's a less fully realize version of the historical game of baseball.



So yes, keep things moving. But I think umps can make batters get in the box, make pitchers get on the rubber, tell Derek Jeter to put his stupid hand down, and tell the pitcher to throw without a clock. When we turn governance over to the machines, we get the rules without the spirit that first animated them into existence, and they become rules for their own sake.

[MFS62]

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Later

[Frayed Knot]

So the just completed weekend series in YSIII was the first for Yanx/Sawx this year.

And the ToGs were: 2:28, 2:29, and an extended commercial time (for ESPN/SNB) with extra innings to boot which went 2:51

Now all the games were low scoring so that helped a bit but only one of the three was won by the home team in 8-1/2 and one, as mentioned, went 10.

And besides, we all know that those two squads have spent years turning games with an average 3-1/2 runs scored into 3-1/2 hour affairs with no trouble

at all, so the combined 7:48 would, in past years, have likely clocked in somewhere north of 10 hours with no trouble at all.