So will there be a 2020 season?

[Duke of Earl]

Why the runner on 2nd base? To shorten the game, obviously. Why do we need a shorter game with only 60 games?

I think the  rule was agreed to back when they thought there would be many more than 60 games, shoehorned into a short period with few days off.  In that case the rule makes more sense, although I think a much better solution is to declare a tie, say after 12 innings.  .... and then they never bothered to reconsider once they settled at  60 games.

 I will never be able to watch a runner at second to start the inning without thinking I'm watching girls softball.

[Duke of Earl]

The runner on 2nd rule is dumb but I completely understand using it for this mess of a season.

Yeah that's another thing, the whole season is a joke, so why not?

[bluestreak]

One thing that 1965 had right was length of games. Combine the batting technique of taking time in order to reset the brain and the countermeasures by the battery which adds time — all with umps granting time outs, mound step offs, etc., — and the result is predictable. Start calling strikes on batters and balls on pitchers coordinated with a timer, and watch how quickly things proceed without gimmicky fixes like some of those being decreed by der commisar.

Also, can we have a few more day games — not a ton, but some — and return to a less division-heavy schedule for the sake of interest and appeal? Something the NBA and NHL have always gotten right is providing the chance for the local team to host everyone and their stars each year. With interleague play a norm, more interest is assured in seeing an unfamiliar team and its stars versus the 10th home match against the current iteration of the Marlins

Gotta maximize those Yankees-Red Sox games.

But you would think that the Wild Card would make a balanced schedule a no brainer. One of the reasons the Nats got the wild card last year was that their crossover division was the AL central and their rival in the AL is the Orioles.

[Natsinpwc]

Having a shorter season makes it more interesting in a way because each game will be more important.  We won’t be able to say “it’s early”.  And it will give fans of some bottom feeder teams more hope. Undoubtedly at least one team not expected to be in the chase will be there.

[ajcartwright]

a 60 game MLB season is equivalent to an NFL six game regular season.......think about that for a minute

[Five Banners]

Having a shorter season makes it more interesting in a way because each game will be more important.  We won’t be able to say “it’s early”.  And it will give fans of some bottom feeder teams more hope. Undoubtedly at least one team not expected to be in the chase will be there.

It’s early

[bluestreak]

I’d had rather them just say “F—it” and played like 2-3 weeks for warmup and then play a tournament where all teams participate. Playoffs run late August thru October.

[Natsinpwc]

It’s early

[imref]

with only a 60 game season, I guess if we lose opening day then the calls for "blow it up" will start right away?

[mmzznnxx]

The runner on 2nd rule is dumb but I completely understand using it for this mess of a season.

You think it will be only this season? Totes adorbs.

[Natsinpwc]

with only a 60 game season, I guess if we lose opening day then the calls for "blow it up" will start right away?

Maybe in the first inning. 

[varoadking]

...return to a less division-heavy schedule for the sake of interest and appeal?

This!

[Natsinpwc]

This!

Can’t happen because the Yanks have to play the Red Sox a million times each year.  Other teams need to follow.  The tv executives know that approach works in spite of the dimished tv ratings which we as fans mistakenly think call for new approaches to scheduling. 

[blue911]

They should enhance revenue by allowing corporations to sponsor players. I could see massengill playing big dollars to advertise on Harper

[UMDNats]

The only company worthy of advertising on Juan is GOAT simulator 2020.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

They should enhance revenue by allowing corporations to sponsor players. I could see massengill playing big dollars to advertise on Harper

[JCA-CrystalCity]

I would like to see a walker manufacturer sponsor Zimmerman.

[PatsNats28]

1964 actually--at least until the last two weeks of the season.

I agree generally--the sport has to find a way to attract new fans.  No one gets excited about kickoff changes in NFL.  Just a note on hockey that they actually extended the regular season games with OT and shootouts--used to be ties until 1983.  But the OT has always been limited except for playoffs. 

Right, I'm a diehard football fan (moreso than baseball, actually, as the ordering of the username suggests!) and I'm generally not a fan of NFL rules changes over the past ten years but recognize my traditionalist biases there. None of them have fundamentally changed the game, even when Bill Polian whined and changed how DBs cover receivers. DH plus runner on second is a fundamental change.

Also a minor quibble, but why not put a runner on first instead of second? The latter means that if the away team records two outs and gives up a single, they lose. Seems unfair to me.

[imref]

They should enhance revenue by allowing corporations to sponsor players. I could see massengill playing big dollars to advertise on Harper

Post of the year

[Natsinpwc]

Win total projections. 32.5 for the Nats. I will take the over. Might be the last big hurrah for Max. And Sanchez. And Howie. And Zimm.  Just need to keep it together for 60 games.

https://www.espn.com/chalk/story/_/id/29366144/los-angeles-dodgers-top-caesars-revised-season-win-totals-37

[Elvir Ovcina]

Can’t happen because the Yanks have to play the Red Sox a million times each year.  Other teams need to follow.  The tv executives know that approach works in spite of the dimished tv ratings which we as fans mistakenly think call for new approaches to scheduling.

If ESPN had been in charge of the new season, the Yankees and Red Sox would play each other 60 times.  Each team would be required to field a lineup including at least two non-current players, one of whom must be a retired member of the respective team and the other of whom must be a current ESPN employee.  (ARod only counts once.) 

At the conclusion of this, the top two teams in the standings that are named "Yankees" or "Red Sox" would play a best-of-45 World Series with all fences moved in by 100 feet, meaning that at Fenway the LF would be able to field bunts and at Yankee the RF would need to duck for pickoff throws.  Commercial breaks would be an hour long to allow Red Sox 2B Peter Gammons to replenish his oxygen.     

[JCA-CrystalCity]

If ESPN had been in charge of the new season, the Yankees and Red Sox would play each other 60 times.  Each team would be required to field a lineup including at least two non-current players, one of whom must be a retired member of the respective team and the other of whom must be a current ESPN employee.  (ARod only counts once.) 

At the conclusion of this, the top two teams in the standings that are named "Yankees" or "Red Sox" would play a best-of-45 World Series with all fences moved in by 100 feet, meaning that at Fenway the LF would be able to field bunts and at Yankee the RF would need to duck for pickoff throws.  Commercial breaks would be an hour long to allow Red Sox 2B Peter Gammons to replenish his oxygen.     

you post this as if this would be bad.

[Natsinpwc]

you post this as if this would be bad.

[Elvir Ovcina]

you post this as if this would be bad.

It depends.  If you'd like 24/7 coverage of Alex Verdugo's tattoo artist's bowel habits by someone who hadn't heard of Alex Verdugo six months ago, it's your dream scenario.

[Natsinpwc]

It depends.  If you'd like 24/7 coverage of Alex Verdugo's tattoo artist's bowel habits by someone who hadn't heard of Alex Verdugo six months ago, it's your dream scenario.

Who wouldn’t want to see that?