Dino's Blog

Everything is going to change (The new Baseball)

First, I am not a fan of baseball at all.
My buddy Ron is a huge fan, so if you want to hear about it from a fan try his site.

I have some suggestions for rule changes that would make baseball bearable to watch.
I haven't put a lot of thought into them, so I thought I would open the forum here to help improve the game.

Baseball is the American pass-time, mainly because it passes so much stinkin' time!
First off, we need to find a way to cut some time out of this mess.

1. A 15 second pitch clock is needed.  I say that the clock starts the moment the previous play is dead (usually pitcher has the ball).  This rule would eliminate a ton of time from the game.  Currently, the pitcher can actually take as much time as he wants.  The other players sometimes go out to the mound to chat it up, which is completely unacceptable.  This guy is paid quite well, and supposedly an athlete, he should be able to handle his job with minimal discussion.  See the quarterback role.
2. 3 timeouts are allowed in a 9 inning game, with and additional timeout given at the first of each three extra innings.  The timeouts should be 30 second timeouts.
3. If the pitch clock is violated (delay of game), a 'ball' is added to the batter's count, and a new clock begins.  This gives the opportunity for a cheap timeout with the normal pitch-out (walking a runner).
4. When switching pitchers, a timeout is needed or the normal pitch clock applies.  I have never understood the notion that after warming up for a half-hour then when it finally is time to play, he is given as much time as he needs to warm-up again on the real field while everyone simply watches him.  Again, these people are pro athletes, and supposed to be the best in the world, they should not need to practice on the actual playing field.  Golfers would perform much better with a practice stroke just before each hole, but that would give too much help to the golfer, and the same applies to the pitcher.  Less warm-up on-field may mean more scoring, which is also good entertainment.
5. Each additional inning after nine involves losing a player from the defense, on each team.  This one may be negotiable, but I think it would prevent the 12 inning plus games.  Losing a member of the fielding team, would promote more scoring and likely more of a gap between the teams.  It would also allow for more favorable game times, which is attractive to most home-watchers, especially with night games.

Another issue is that a good deal of the team has no purpose for most of the game.  I am not as convinced of these rule changes, but I thought I would throw them out there.

1. During the offense, several members of the batting team should be in the outfield.  The goal of these players is to prevent the outfielders from catching the ball.  There should be no physical contact between the two teams.  I think it should resemble the football pass defense with no physical contact even after the catch.
2. The members of the batting team in the outfield should have painted circles where they belong prior to the pitch.  These circles should be near the back wall, and I envision maybe 3 players out there; one between each outfielder.
3. I think that offense as a team effort would be much more entertaining for the fans.

One last thing, although I reserve the right to think of more annoyances.  This one is the most annoying to me (and likely any engineer).

1. The field dimensions are not negotiable.  Every team gets to choose the distance to the back wall along with the height of the back wall.  There are non-negotiable dimensions on the field, but the back wall is one large variable in this sport.
2. Every field to host professional baseball should be designed the same on the playing surface.  Every other major sport, with the exception of golf, has the same playing surface at each venue.
3. This list covers most of the reasons I don't watch baseball.  These changes could be the best thing to happen to baseball.  Let's face it, the sport is on life-support, and could use some additional help. 
   Of course, I am open to further suggestions, although this blog is not likely to start the discussion, but I will start here.
   Consider this an open forum for discussing change in pro-baseball!