MLB 2022: The Long and Winding Thread

I hate the clock too, but I also like brisk games. I don't mind slowing things down in a tense moment because the crowd is into it and you are on the edge of your seat, but there is no reason for a slow 5th inning moment where the hitter needs to adjust his glove again and take 20 practice swings again and the pitcher to review the signs again and all the other nonsense that slows things down.

I have no issue with a timer that tells people that have to be ready to play. We don't need a 20-second clock if people just got up there ready to go and just played. If it takes then 30 seconds between pitches, cool. But man, it's just a drag now.

 

The first time you go to a ballpark with a pitch clock, you notice for 2-3 innings and never again. All it does is make visible what umpires should have enforced all along.

 

It was one of those things that happened so gradually, it was hardly noticeable until people started complaining. The move from using all sides of the field and a two-strike approach to just whack it as hard and far as you can without consideration for where the defense is playing you didn't happen over night but it feels like it did. I can't imagine telling a guy like Tony Gwynn to focus on launch angle and the three true outcomes.

 

I’ve gone back and forth on the shift. But sure, let’s see what happens.

I am 100 percent for the pitch clock. I think it won’t be a huge deal for most pitchers, and it’ll goose the glacial ones.

It’ll keep batters in the damn box. Which I think is much bigger reason for slow play.

 

I wonder if any of these teams thought have that?

 

Not enough is said about your last point. Most of the blame goes to pitchers, but so many hitters are like Nomar Garciaparra and step out after each pitch and adjust every piece of equipment. The tightness of their gloves didn't change while they took a pitch.

 

I want a rule change that players have to wear caps with propellers on top. Because that’s as stupid as some of these MLB changes.

 

I blame Jeter as much as anybody for this, but your point stands!

 

Biggest problem there is the players who won't change their approach or are stubborn enough to think they can beat the shift. I blame Ted Williams.

 

Getting rid of the shift and implementing the clock will cancel each other out. The time saved will be wiped out by the additional batters who get to bat because more guys will get singles grounders through infields, and more base runners equals longer games.

 

Mike Hargrove may be equally culpable in the larger historical context, but the point is a good one.

 

I wasn't a fan of clocks in baseball when they came to college baseball, but I love it now.

This will be an adjustment for some, but it will make for better, quicker games, something MLB desperately needs. Playoff games that go past midnight have been brutal for the fans of the game.