MLB is about to get better

Phil Gurnee ♦ March 13, 2019 ♦ 1 Comment

The owners and players have agreed to make some changes to how the game of major league baseball is played and I for one heartily cheer several of the new rules.  I’ve read numerous accounts of the changes but buried in the lede of just about all of them is a change I’ve advocated for since I started writing about baseball.  As a kid, I loved Sept baseball and the chance to watch the prospects, as an adult I’ve been appalled at how baseball simply played the game by different rules in the most important month of the season.

Starting in 2020 that will no longer be the case.

The 2020 provisions are likely to have a far greater impact on the field. In addition to the three-batter minimum, regular-season rosters will expand from 25 to 26 players while September rosters will contract to a maximum of 28.

No longer will teams play games in Sept with 15 – 20 pitchers available, and pinch-runners up the wazoo available to them.

Woo Hoo

For years I’ve been told I was crazy for wanting Sept baseball played like the rest of the year. Well, call me crazy, because baseball has finally come to their senses.

The other rule is that a pitcher must face a minimum of three batters. No more Tony LaRussa innings where it would take four pitchers to get three outs. This is the rule that baseball needed most.  It may not make for shorter games, but it will eliminate dead time as managers visit the mound, replace the pitcher, warm-ups, and do it all over again for the next hitter. If a pitcher can’t pitch to at least three hitters, he shouldn’t be in the major leagues. I was advocating for at least one out, or hopefully three, but I’ll take this.

There are changes that take place in 2019. July 31st will be the only trade deadline, no more waiver shenanigans after July 31st. Some of the Dodgers most important in-season acquisitions have come after July 31st so this could have a major impact on how teams approach the one and only trade deadline.

I only understand one change to the All-Star festivities. A one million dollar prize will be awarded to the winner. This is supposed to get the best hitters to participate. Maybe it will, maybe it won’t. There are other changes but I don’t quite understand them yet.

Some may grumble about these changes, but I find them to be a breath of fresh air compared to the silly time clock rules they have tried to implement.

Plus not one mention of bringing the DH to the NL.