In an attempt to cater to fans who don’t care about the game to begin with, MLB has some rule changes in the works.
Among the changes for 2019:
- Number of mound visits reduced from six to five.
- July 31 is sole trade deadline, no more post-July 31 waiver trades.
- HR derby winner receives $1 million
- “Election Day” to pick All-Star Game starters.
- Inning breaks reduced from 2:05 to 2:00, and for Nationally televised games, 2:25 to 2:00.
- The Home Run Derby will now pay $1 million to the winning player.
- Position players will be prohibited from pitching in games that don’t go into extra innings, unless a team is ahead or behind by at least eight runs.
And…
- Pitchers will be required to face a minimum of three batters in a game beginning in 2020.
Really?
Congrats, MLB! You cracked the code. This will get you those new fans you crave.
If i recall correctly, every Major League team just received upwards of 50 million dollars for the rights to stream their games. The product works. Maybe we don’t need to change the “National Pastime?”
This thinking is so flawed, it’s laughable. They are going to destroy late inning strategy and put pitchers at risk for injury, and for what? To shave the times of games from 3 hours to 2 hours and 50 minutes?
Also, if the All-Star Game goes into extra innings, each team will start with a player on second base automatically. So, it looks like they have designs on implementing this ludicrous rule as well. Again, this is what’s going to lure in new fans?
“I really loved the game until the tenth innings, then I decided it wasn’t for me.”
Hey, MLB you know what fans will love? Not having a strike. Why don’t you try that?