They Are Killing Baseball – by Jonathan V. Last – The Triad:
We are now in Year 2 of the MLB’s attempt to destroy the game.
Let’s talk about it.
There are four major changes to the rules this year:
• A clock for pitchers which requires them to pitch on a time schedule.
• Pitchers are limited to two pick-off attempts per at-bat.
• The bases have been made larger.
• Infielders have required zones of play to prevent defensive shifts.All of these are terrible.
Agreed.
If you need excitement, then you should watch basketball. It’s a great sport, defined by constant action.
No tweak to baseball’s rules is going to make it exciting enough for you. What the rule changes will do is dilute baseball’s unique appeal as a sport: A pastoral atmosphere of repose set in relief against the exquisite tension between being and becoming.
This is an excellent description of baseball, at least as it was. This new form of baseball holds little interest, and I suspect no amount of “juicing” the game will help. It needs to be what it is and that’s what it was.