The wild finish to Game 4 of the 2020 World Series -- perhaps the most unpredictable and exciting sequence of the entire postseason -- was predicated on one key element.
The ball was put in play.
It’s something simple and yet essential. The game is more fun when hitters hit, fielders field and baserunners run.
Lengthy sequences of walks and strikeouts -- interrupted by an occasional home run -- are draining the game of its life.
The 2020 postseason has hammered home the reality that baseball needs to consider changes -- maybe even radical ones -- to keep the problem from getting even worse.
The trend toward the Three True Outcomes -- walk, strikeout, homer -- is nothing new. But while other cyclical trends in the game have worked themselves out naturally over the years, this one seems only to be accelerating.
League-wide, the percentage of plate appearances ending in a strikeout, walk or home run increased to 36.1 percent in 2020. In a related trend, the number of pitches per plate appearance (3.97 in 2020) has also gone up. That means long stretches in which the fielders might as well be playing in the sand, because they’re not seeing any action.
The trend is more noticeable in the postseason with empty or nearly empty stadiums. In the past, TV producers could turn to crowd shots showing rapt fans during the tense but slow moments of playoff baseball. This year, they had nothing. So, rather than being suspenseful, the long counts just seemed...long.
As the pace of play slows, it gives you time to wonder: When was the last time someone hit the ball in play? Six batters ago? Thirty minutes ago?
These are all issues in the regular season, too, but the playoffs are a time in which more casual fans tune in to watch. For those of us who follow the game on a daily basis, perhaps the changes in modern baseball haven’t been as jarring because we’ve been watching them unfold over the last several years.
But what about casual fans or even non-fans who have been away from the game for a while? Do you think they’re intrigued by what they’re seeing? Sure, there have been riveting moments in this year’s postseason, but do you think most casual fans are even making it that far?
The ratings would say no. (Although it should be noted that ratings are down in every sport for a variety of reasons).
So what should baseball do?
The first step -- admitting there’s a problem -- has already happened.
But finding a fix is much tougher, something MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred is well aware of.
“It’s very hard to legislate action with a rule,” Manfred said recently. “What you’re really doing is you’re changing the rules in a way that creates incentives for some of the greatest athletes in the world to change the way they’re playing. That’s a very complicated task.”
It may sound both simplistic, but one way to incentive balls in play is to simply make fields bigger. But whereas ballparks were once played in multipurpose stadiums with somewhat flexible dimensions, most of the newer parks have less space to make adjustments.
And to be honest, most people aren’t against home runs so much as they’re against the idea that hitting a home run is the only way to get on the scoreboard.
Another much-discussed the idea is limiting the shift. The easiest fix is simply tell teams that they must have two infielders to the right of second base and two to the left. All four infielders must have one foot on the dirt.
That would eliminate a good many of the single-robbing shifts that all but force many players to loft the ball in the hunt for homers.
Although the devil is always in the details, limiting the shift would, in theory, increase league-wide batting average at the expense of strikeouts and home runs.
The eventual arrival of robo-umps could allow MLB to seamlessly adjust the strike zone to achieve its desired result. One idea: Lower the bottom of the zone just a bit to encourage grounders over fly balls.
None of the solutions is foolproof, nor will any of them stem the arrival of ever-bigger, stronger athletes who can throw harder and hit the ball farther.
But we have to try. Not to tamper with the game, but to preserve what makes it great.
"ball" - Google News
October 27, 2020 at 03:02AM
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How to make baseball fun again? Put the ball in play! - MLive.com
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