2020 MLB postseason thread

If that's what it takes to lose less than 100 games, I'm all for cheating. I'll even supply the trash cans. (And the current lineup couldn't hit .225 if the catcher gave them the pitch AND location.)

 

To expand on my previous point. Once you lift that starter, it's a bullpen-matchup game. With a man on, you want your strongest possible middle man in a 1-0 elimination game, not the guy you just usually use.

 

Taking the pitcher out too soon due to analytics is the new leaving the pitcher in too long because I trust my guy.

 

All sense of fun and personality is being ripped out of baseball.

Pulling a pitcher because a computer tells you is reason #92 why less and less people are watching the game.

I know this will make some people’s head explode but I would much rather have a game where teams only get to use three pitchers in a nine inning game. You want to see who can manage? Play with that format. A lot better than this shit we have today.

More runs? Yes
Faster game? Yes
More balls in play? Yes
More comebacks? Yes

Imagine actually watching a pitcher work his way out of trouble? I know. It’s crazy.

 

Computers have always told managers when to make the “change.” Previously they were simply known as calculators. If you were Mr. Gibson with a 1.12 ERA, the calculator said: Keep Mr. Gibson in the game!

 

Pedro threw 123 pitches in that game! Snell threw only 70!

 

I'm a fan of that.

 

The analytics and math are what they are - Teams are going to exploit things best they can, based on the current rules and dimensions of the field. Teams are always going to pursue an edge. If you *want* more balls in play and the other stuff, you can tweak and change the rules, which baseball has done a lot of over the years. Lower the mound to make strikeouts tougher, gradually reduce the active roster size or designate that only X players on a roster can be pitchers, screw around with the dimensions of the field, and so on.

 

You get three pitchers per nine innings. They can analyze and math that.

Only rule change needed.

 

With no corresponding rules to somehow limit the effectiveness of hitters, that's going to produce a *lot* of 4+ hour slugfests.

 

As an aesthetic matter, baseball needs to figure out how to get more balls put in play more than limiting pitching changes or shifts or like that. Maybe move the mound back. In the 1930s, especially on the West Coast, fast-pitch softball was a big time sport, getting equal paid crowds to minor league baseball sometimes. But as anyone who's ever played it knows, a good fast-pitch pitcher is next door to unhittable. People soon tired of paying money to watch a game of catch, and fast-pitch reverted to its very small niche status.

 

Like the 1970s?