Don Mattingly: Why Baseball Is Unwatchable and How to Solve the Problem | The Rich Eisen Show
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- Опубликовано: 28 июн 2021
- Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly tells Rich Eisen why recent trends in scouting and approach to hitting have made baseball more and more boring to watch.
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It’s crazy to say but baseball was more exciting when they would bunt, steal and hit and run. You rarely see that these days. Everyone just tries to hit homers
Nobody plays small ball.
Analytics bro
Love the hit and run. So much can happen
You couldn't be more right! Once burning and stealing were removed, the game fell apart.
Analytics has made any manager who attempts such a thing out to be a crazy old fool. There used to be baseball schools of thought and theories behind how to win. Analytics killed that debate. Now every team has the same boring strategy.
As much as they say it’s analytics, MLB pushed the HR happy game and it’s backfired. Homers are exciting but not when literally nothing happens between them. They need to put more balls in play and keep the action moving
MLB also approved a lot of small ballparks. Cincy and Philly come to mind. Lots of cheap home runs at those parks.
Totally. Homers are now boring b/c they are so common and predictable. They need to study baseball in the 70's, figure out what they were doing, and copy it. Doubles, triples, stolen bases, and some homers.
True
@@JasonKTerry Excellent idea.
Bunts steals and hit and runs are exciting for those who know baseball
When starting pitchers could go 7 or 8 innings per start the game was 2 hours and 30 minutes
True.
Yeah, because they don’t try to strikeout 27 batters in a row.
As a avid baseball watcher, I think the clear answer is pitch to pitch. Most pitchers not all, will literally throw a pitch for a ball, hop off the mound, stretch, Rosen bag up, readjust the hat, Readjust the glove, shake off 22 signs, stare at the catchers marker, and then go through the wind up for another ball, watching a full random regular season game gets to the point of mental exhaustion
That's a choice they make, usually to their own detriment because not just spectators, but their fielders lose focus as well.
Stop the batters from adjusting their batting gloves every single pitch.
YES! I say this every time this debate comes up. Its ridiculous and an obvious thing to correct.
Batting gloves pi$$ me off. Supposed to be there for grip and bats still fly out of their hands. Go back to no gloves. (I know won’t happen but should.)
Amen, Amen, Amen
Batters and pitchers both need to snap out of it and get down to business. Pitcher is up there adjusting his hat, walking around behind the mound, shaking the catcher off multiple times. The batter is standing there looking at the end of his bat, adjusting his gloves, making sure his gold chain is perfectly placed. And all that just to get to "ball 1".
And limit the time pitchers are "preparing" a new ball after getting a new one (following a foul ball or ball in the dirt), by having them run down approved balls in between innings.
Simply create a rule that prevents the hitter from leaving the batters box. No stepping out and readjusting your equipment after each pitch. The game would move along quite fine.
That and a pitch clock.
That's already a rule.
Rule 6.02b. Enforce it.
"(1) The batter shall take his position in the batter’s box promptly when it is his time at bat.
(2) The batter shall not leave his position in the batter’s box after the pitcher comes to Set Position, or starts his windup.
PENALTY: If the pitcher pitches, the umpire shall call “Ball” or “Strike,” as the case may be."
COMMENT: "The batter leaves the batter’s box at the risk of having a strike delivered and called, unless he requests the umpire to call 'Time.' The batter is not at liberty to step in and out of the batter’s box at will."
I think people forget how much time the pitchers use up as well especially with the whole foreign substance debacle
First they gotta walk around the mound then get the rosin bag treat the ball with that then touch their hat belt and jersey to get that sweet spidertack then they gotta marinate the ball in that and then they throw it
All that for one pitch likely to be fouled off or called a ball
yep, lets turn MLB into a video game
That would lead to too many injuries and less hits , less hits = less home runs
In my opinion it’s this homer or nothing approach. You have to have a diverse lineup with all sorts of different hitters, not just a million power hitters
Homeruns in MLB are like 3 pointers in the NBA.
I'm not so sure. I played in a slow-pitch tournament with my son's coworkers, and we played a team of guys all of whom had "no necks."
The only way we got them out was because of the rule that a team could only hit two home runs per inning.
We got smoked, but I have to admit; it was fun.
I just don’t like the commercials every half inning🤷♂️
Basketball be doing that a lot during the playoffs
That is NEVER going away.
@@samcalven12 and football
Basketball is worse cuz they blow the whistle everytime the run up or down the court
Got get with that soccer or futbol life my dude! It's like slow hockey and no commercials!!!
Baseball just needs more action. More balls in play!!! Less everything else.
i agree. i'd like to see more balls in play because the glove work in todays era is the best it's ever been in the history of the game. i love to see what these guys can do defensively
its just easier to play with my own balls.
Get rid of the mound!
@@bballjj18 well, just play cricket then.
@@bconni2 more people watch cricket and they are much more interested in it.
All these years and Mattingly still hasn’t trimmed those sideburns. At least Burns wasn’t as bad as Steinbrenner.
He needs to bring back the mustache.
I understood that reference
@@UnhumanNewman internet, so helpful
You sound like you are smart as an eggplant...just saying.
@@thebourg internet not needed if you're a Simpsons fan.
Used to go to Wrigley in the 70s for a double header and get there around noon and we would be headed home around 5 or so.
I applaud Rich Eisen for giving attention to baseball and it's problems in a way that no one else is right now
That's a good point.
I have read that bob gibson could pitch a game in an hour and a half. He pitched , wanted the ball and pitched again. You had to be ready in the box. Maybe thats a place to start.
I agree completely. Let the pitcher determine the pace. If he’s ready to throw his pitch the batter better be ready or that’s his problem. The fact that the pitchers have to wait for the batter to step out and adjust every single time is bullshit.
i also read that the average fastball in bob gibson's era was about 5 to 7 miles per hour less than today. say what you want, but today's arms are better than they've ever been in the history of the game.
Yep once you are in the box you stay in the box. That would cut an hour lol
There's a rule in the book that's been there for ages but never gets enforced. It says that if the pitcher doesn't deliver the ball in at least 12 seconds after coming set and the batter signifies that he's alert to the pitcher, then the umpire can call a delay and affords the batter a walk. It doesn't need a pitch clock--I would stop watching baseball if it used a clock--it just needs some common sense enforcement.
Because he threw strikes and the hitters were looking to simply put the ball in play. ABs were shorter, the game moved along. I grew up watching Carlton and Seaver and those guys. Same thing, the games were over in 1:45.
Nine commercials between innings, commercials when changing pitchers...that's when I change channels.
it is even worse at the stadium where you cannot mute or escape the bombardment in between innings. it is too much and is wrecking baseball.
12 pitchers used a game. Shifting every other batter. Launch angle, guys aren’t hitters just “specialists”.
the pitching in today's era is better than it's ever been in the history of the game. and so is the glove work. what the defense can do with their glove is pretty amazing today.
@@bconni2 pitchers are faster but they burn out faster too
And management are "specialists" with advanced metrics to tell a fielder exactly where to stand and a pitcher exactly where to pitch.
Talk about a robotic game
Yep, a 1-0 complete game 3 hitter is way more fun than a 10-8 game with 8 pitchers and 7 home runs
Pitchers are stronger but doesnt necessarily mean their better
Man who misses the 80s early 90s national league? Stolen bases, small ball action. Man what’s happened to baseball ?
The home run contest and high amounts of strikeouts
Speaking of that, people don't like fielding shifts, but how about hitting to opposite field? Or bringing up guys who aren't dead pull hitters? Wade Boggs and Steve Sax used the whole field, so it was harder to get them out. I hate being an old guy yelling at clouds, but home runs arent the only way to score runs. The 2015 Royals took advantage of strategies like this, and it's disappointing that more teams haven't tried such strategies in the past 20 years.
@@75aces97 loved how the royals played and won that year. I was happy for them. Small market an all
Those were magical times for any baseball fans
@@75aces97 First of all I hate the shift. To me it isn't traditional. Having the 2nd baseman 40 ft. deep in right field isn't baseball. Fans and enthusiasts want to see hitting; base hits as well as home runs. I do understand why it is used and if I was a manager, I guess I would use it too. The deal is, if it was outlawed neither team would have an advantage. As it is now it takes away hits and scoring.
No interleague play. Used to be the AL was the more offense driven, NL was more about pitchers. Anymore its just a bunch of power hitters, 5 pitchers per game, and no real differences.
I love interleague play. Get to see AL teams play here in Phoenix.
Interleague was great when it was only a few times a year. Now it is devalued because its just a regular game now randomly during the season.
Most like interleague play and DH coming to NL in 22
This is the MLB Bobby and there are 30 teams. There shouldn’t be an excuse why they can’t play them all to measure who they really are. A win is a win, a loss is a loss.
@@DMalltheway I will only say this, that there was a mystique about both leagues when the teams were not playing each other. Winning the pennant in your league meant something even if you lost the world series. Now its less about the leagues and their unique personalities and just wins and losses.
Never been a huge baseball fan but I was watching a game last year and the cameras were really capturing the chess match nature of the game... close-ups of the infielders, shifty eyes, signals, fake signals... made me feel like I was watching The Sting. And Joe Buck, love him or hate him, was doing an excellent job explaining the possible strategies. It was the first time that I ever realized that baseball has an almost clandestine nature about it and I really enjoyed it.
tl;dr - highlight the chess match and sub plots.
Good call.
Home runs have become so commonplace that it's just not exciting anymore.
Baseball has been reduced to nothing but longball and constant pitching changes, which make the games feel longer. When i was a kid, 35 to 40 home runs was an MVP year, now it's just All Star break numbers.
@@IbnMustapha Aaron Judge. Joey Gallo. Guys like them.
They’re not literally doing 40 home runs at the All Star Break, but there’s simply too many players who are just about the long ball.
Joey Gallo is everything wrong with baseball right now.
Eliminating the shift isn’t needed. What’s needed is players who can hit the other way.
Hard to do when getting pounded inside.
Ground balls are naturally pulled, inside-outing a pitch doesn't come naturally or easy.
Much easier to say than to execute. Pitchers started getting better and throwing harder, making going opposite field harder. So the hitters adjusted and changed their skill sets. Eliminating the shift is really the only thing that will create more hits and a more “exciting” offense if you want to call it that
Most pitchers are righty’s>batters mostly pull baseballs>it’s quicker to throw to first from the 2nd base side= lefty batters suffer greatly
Pull your hands inside and have a natural inside out swing. It can be done. Plus these specialist throwers aren't always hitting their spots when the organization just cares about them throwing 99 or 100 mph
There are only 15 players in the entire MLB hitting .300 or over. That is the biggest issue baseball is dealing with. BOS CINN and PIT has two players each. More than half the teams don’t have any players hitting .300 it’s pathetic.
Seattle Mariners haven’t had a real .300 player in years.
Too many teams, man. In all major north american sports
What are their OBP's? That's more important.
Eliminating the shift would create more strike outs by encouraging the left handed pull (mostly power) hitters to continue trying to jack the ball to right field. If the shift is getting to you then learn to be a more balanced hitter. It won't take many ground ball doubles to the left side to make the defense stop
We want to see more base running, steals, bunts, close calls, squeeze, etc. But all they do is to hit homeruns. It's like homerun derby between two teams.
I would love to watch my team play but unfortunately i use a streaming service. So unless you want to pay 200$ a month for cable no baseball for me
do you not have the internet?
@@stdavis22 i do. Please tell me how to watch it live
@@brandonshadix2580 There are quite a few sports streaming sites...
usagoals
vipsports
frontrowsports
That should get you started. You'll get lots of pop-up ads, just keep closing them. Dont download anything. You may want to download Adblockplus as well.
You can use surfshark VPN through an Amazon firestick. A few bucks a month for the VPN and about 50 bucks for the streaming stick. Change your location with the VPN and stream your home team.
Homer Simpson at a baseball game when he quit drinking beer: "I had no idea how boring this game is." Face it, It's a boring game. If you love it, you love it. If you don't, you don't. (totally agree about the batting glove adjustment BS though)
Yeah we have shorter attention spans now
@@JeffSayYes doesn't change the fact that baseball is boring and has been overshowed by more fun sports
Used to love it back in the late 90s early 2000s now I don’t watch it at all lol
@@wavestation999 Boring to watch yes. Boring to play no.
“Mattingly, for the last time, get rid of those sideburns.”
As far as the shift is concerned, you have to ask why is there no incentive to try and hit the other way. I don’t think eliminating the shift will solve that problem.
Short answer is that it’s really hard. Guys would absolutely be doing it if it were easy. It was fun when they shifted a guy or two a night but now they shift every at bat. They shift the infield and outfield these days too. So that takes away a double. So guys are just swinging for the fences because hitters get paid for OPS and other power numbers these days. I agree changing JUST the shift wouldn’t 100% fix the issues but it’s one of the things that needs looked at.
Like someone else pointed out, batting isn’t like shooting a basketball. There’s an extreme amount of luck involved after making contact and it is much more beneficial and effective as a player and team to train to swing for the fences and avoid the shift that way then it is to try and aim the ball in a certain direction and maybe get a single or a double.
Plus people forget that the shift is aided by the pitcher’s pitch sequence, which are usually pitches designed to make it even more likely that the batter hits into to the shift.
I grew up watching Donnie Baseball play with the Yankees. It's hell seeing your idols grow old.
The only thing worse is seeing yourself grow old
Every pitcher is fully rested and any slight fatigue, he gets swapped out. Yeah nobody is gonna hit if every pitcher is at 100%. Endurance as a pitcher is meaningless now, dumb
In fairness the life span of a pitcher in mlb 3.99 years.
How about getting back to playing small ball? Bunts, squeezes, etc….
Nobody is going to sacrifice results for entertainment. What is the league going to do to encourage that?
@@doofus9575 spend billions and make every ballpark larger lol
If people could learn how to bunt again, it would render shifts useless. You could almost get a double with an opposite direction push bunt against the shifts today.
For me, I think that the biggest problem is that everything is a pursuit of HR/BB/K. I think the best solution is to put more balls in play, and there are two ways to do that: bring back the letter-high strike (to lead to more defensive swings) and push back the fences. Maybe someone else can figure out the exact rule, but maybe grandfather existing stadiums, but if you either build a new stadium or renovate an old one (a la Yankee Stadium in the 1970s), require each fence to be at least 350 feet from home plate, with the farthest fence at least 425. You might even see the triple come back with those dimensions.
The trick to making baseball watchable is the "Drink 1 beer per inning" rule. Every game gets fun around the 6th inning! 😁🍺⚾️
When an inning takes 25-30 mins, it gets pretty hard to keep a buzz. I raise you 2 beers per inning!
I mean, only the first 1/4 of the season. By the last 120 games you're such an alcoholic already, you need double that to even feel it😂
Hahaha, really. Going to a game without drinking beer just isn't the same fun. Boring...also, getting robbed for beer there sucks too. 13 bucks at my ballpark!
Wimpy wimpy wimpy.....1 beer every batter !!!!!!! Now this is the only way to enjoy a baseball game
Hey! we know how to play softball..
I've loved baseball for decades (my wife and I going to MLB games). ...
The game is unbearably slow now, I watch highlights only.
Do like I do, I record it and start watching an hour after it starts. I can fast forward through commercials and the rest of the bs. It actually makes a better game when you’re in control.
As long as analytics say that you should swing for a HR, nothing will change.
First thing you do, cut 30 games from the reg. season. Next, DH in both leagues. Next, eliminate the shift. Then, come up with one substance for all pitchers to use to help them grip the ball. Last, if you’re going to have the umpire check the pitcher they lose a challenge.
You should lose the challenge if you get it wrong.
I'd say go as low as 120 games. To me baseball should be April to early September the latest.
7 inning games are more exciting, there is a faster pace to them, plus if they go extra, its not as bad, as opposed to trying to watch a 14 inning bore fest.
As someone who thinks baseball is super boring i have loved watching the little league world series....its like night and day compared to the pros....only 6 innings which is great...less delay from pitch to pitch, and excited fans.....pro ball isnt totally hopeless if they can make some changes.
I grew up when teams stayed together. It’s the chemistry I miss most. Bowa(11yrs)Lusinski(10)Schmidt(18)Dalton (13)(Dykstra(7)Rollins(14)Utley(16)Carlton(18). It’s all about the money now. I’m done.
It was over when George Steinbrenner decided he can reel in the best talent that was already established in other teams.
Gary Sheffield. Jason Giambi. Roger Clemens. A-Rod. All of them took steroids.
I know what you mean,I remember the Dodgers lineup and alot of players from the Astros or Reds.
Now,don't know who is playing day to day!
The sheer amount of games in a season devalues the importance of a season. That needs to change as well.
Baseball is not the NFL. The season length is what makes for a pennant race. I will agree they should trim 12 games so the world series isnt playing in november
There has always been 154 or 162 games and the game used to be great. Every at bat now being a K, walk or homer has slowed the game down to being hard to watch. The ball is never put in play anymore.
I agree with you. I tuned in last year a lot more during their covid year because each game meant so much more and a team could realistically come out of nowhere
Yeah thats why the NFL just added another game. More games = more TV revenue
Then it effects the record books and that's the problem unfortunately
The launch angle approach to hitting has really hurt the game.
Stop letting pitchers warm up during a pitching change. They warmup in a bullpen before they go in they shouldn’t get 10 pitches (a 2.5 minute commercial break) when they come in; you don’t see pinch hitters take batting practice when they come in the game so why do pitchers get to do it?
Stop batters from spending so much time to bat. They walk slowly to the plate, dig in the dirt, call time etc etc..
Let’s see you try and swing at 90+ mph ball with only a certain amount of milliseconds. It ain’t easy so they need to get their mindset ready.
Biggest problem with baseball right now is commercials. But no one seems to want to talk about that.
Donnie Baseball, my favorite player all time.
I couldn't agree more. the sophistication of the defense is sooo much greater than the simple sophistication of the hitters adjusting the swing angles and lifting weights to get stronger... I was at a Giants game last week against the Pirates. there was a play where the defense played a switch such that if the hitter had just bunted, there would have been no chance of getting him out. but the hitter swung away and grounded out to the second baseman--who didn't move. So who is at fault there for the boring play? the hitter or the defense? A bunt would have been exciting! like giving the bird to the switch!
I wonder if Rich even watches baseball regularly, like a full game when I see stuff like this. The shift isn't the problem. I've been a baseball fan for 25+ years and I can say without a doubt the things that eat the most clock during a typical inning is stepping outside the box after every pitch, playing with your gloves, scratching your balls, staring off into the stands, and of course calling time from either side in trying to get an edge. Jesus guys, just watch the dam game. Here is the real reason they don't want to speed up the game - money. The shorter they make the game, the less they can sell ads. Yeah I know they usually only do the commercials at the end or beginning of innings or pitching changes but if the at bats are going quicker, a 3 up, 3 down inning will make people start wondering, didn't we just have a commercial break? Yes, yes you did. Baseball needs those constantly so they can afford to pay elite players the ridiculous contracts. My two cents.
I agree with the first part -- no doubt the batters and pitchers have for whatever reason decided to do all sorts of rituals (gloves etc) and games are way slower because of this new culture. However, as long as the commercials still occur every half inning, the speed at which you get to the half inning won't bother people.
Funny thing is the game is slow enough who the hell would add to the suffering by watching commercials? These ad people overestimate these spots. Unless it's the Superbowl people will switch the channel.
@@domenicsimsiris2921 or the quick commercials after the PTA then the kick after the score to give a chance at the ball to the other team and quick commercials again before the teams set up for this set of downs.
Yep, there's' the pace of the game, the endless innings where nothing happens and the cost and difficulty of watching the games. Now, if they could just come to our homes and destroy any licensed merchandise we have, they'd have the perfect way to drive off any potentially paying customers.
It’s not even any of that stuff, that stuff has always been there. It’s the pitchers. The pitchers have come to take WAY more time between pitches than they used to.
Go look at stats for Carlton, Seaver, Ryan....lots of those late 60's into the 80's pitchers. 40 starts, 25 complete games, 18-15 records etc....workhorses who could pitch to everyone and anyone. The last guy even remotely close was Maddux, Glavine....Those 2 and Randy Johnson may be the last 300 game winners you ever see.
Baseball is built to move along at its own pace and unfortunately today's society is all about instant gratification and fast. This was not the world the game was created in. The game is fine its us that suck.
Baseball historians consider the Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams era as a sort of ‘Golden Era’. Back then, the world moved a lot slower.
Now the youth is into stupid RUclips and TikTok shorts. A three hour baseball game is too much. That’s why the popularity has gone down the tubes.
@@KratostheThird Yeah, and we just got rid of a president who had such a limited attention span that reports and briefings often had to be reduced to cartoons,
and he's not a youth. He's a boomer, and a disgraceful representative of that generation as well.
@@jhandle4196This video is about baseball, but you had to go and make it political? You turd.
Allow the shift. Outfielders naturally play a little deeper for power hitters. Good hitters will adjust, and learn to hit it where the fielders aren't . They could also learn how to bunt effectively.
Legislating against the shift crosses the line into micromanaging the sport to such an extent as to make it ridiculous. The players have to adapt within the existing rules, like teaching younger prospects how to hit to the opposite field. In hockey ways were found to defeat the "trap" without some ridiculous rule restricting players in the neutral zone.
Football has micromanged for years and its over taken baseball as Americans sport.
@@PianoUniverse Been this way for a long time. Baseball hit its stride a long time ago.
NHL removed the two-line pass to get rid of the trap, not a good example.
But the existing rules didn't exist forever. Outlawing the shift is just one of countless changes made over the years. It wasn't like they made the rules in 1880 and added the DH in 1973.
It’s too corporate with cookie-cutter safe announcers. Hire someone with personality. Someone edgy. If people get upset, good, that’s the point.
Shifts, Ks, and HRs et al are not the problem. Pace of play is #1, and then umps who ruin the validity of pitching.
Move the rubber back to 63 feet; batters stay in the box during AB; eliminate batting gloves (and the constant adjustments); and the most controversial- four foul balls is a strikeout. No more 12 pitch at bats.
I don't have any problems with defensive shifts. 20 years ago, you had to be good enough to hit the ball the other way. If you can't do that, then that is your fault, it's called batting practice.
Find better broadcasters, after a couple innings I get tired of listening to stat after stat. “ here is an interesting stat, this is then171st time these two teams have played when the barometer 26.2 percent and rising
When I first started watching baseball, I found it slow. I wish they added a pitch clock to speed up the game. I think pitchers overall would need to play less innings or pitch less overall but to combat shoulder problems but I don't like how 30+ seconds can go by without a pitch (if you take into account the pitcher and person at bat each calling for time).
100% agree automate the strike zone, add a pitching clock, and let the pitcher control the speed (inside the clock) the batter should be ready at all times once he enters the box the first time within reason, the batter should not be able to slow the pitcher because he need to adjust his gloves for the 4th time while at bat.
You could even borrow from hockey's goalie trapezoid where fielders can only play the ball within a certain area; that is if the ball goes over a centre fielder's head and rolls to the wall only the centre fielder is allowed to go get it if it's still in his area.
Things that would improve the game:
1. Speed the game up. Add a pitch clock
2. Robot umps. Get near every call right.
3. Cut the season in half. Less games makes each one more significant.
4. No sticky stuff. If you can’t control the ball without cheating you shouldn’t be pitching.
They would never cut the season in half. Hell, they probably wouldn’t even reduce the season by 10%. Too much lost revenue
1. Pitch clock? Not quite. Tell the players in spring training to be ready in the box when the pitchers has the ball, otherwise ump will call a strike if you take an inordinate amount of time.
2. Robot umps? Nah, just get better umps, if that's possible.
3. Cut season in half? Nah, will never work as owners will lose money. Baseball can be played 27 days in month, but I would like to see at least 4 scheduled doubleheaders in a season. And more batting practice. Have BP up until game time.
4. Sticky stuff? Or wet stuff? Always rules against that. What, has the slippery elm slipped back in the game?
@@jamesanthony5681 1. Watch Japanese baseball and tell me the MLB shouldn’t, or couldn’t add a pitch clock.
2. No. Absolutely no. If human error can be removed, remove it. We’re not watching the game to see how good the ups are.
3. Not about what the MLB will do, it’s what the MLB should do. A shortened season would make game more exciting.
4. They should get rid of rosin, spidertack, tar…. any foreign substance that pitchers use to grip or spin the ball better should be illegal.
@@marcusbelanger3489 1. Firstly, I'd get the data and find how much time could be saved over the course of a 9-inning, 4 hour game, if pitchers and hitters were to spend less time stepping off the mound, getting out of the box doing this, that or the other. That should be easy to do. I'd present the data to the players in spring training and say, Enough! , games HAVE to be quicker. In lieu of a clock, I'd fine the offending team a ball or strike for delay of game.
2. You're taking the human element out of the game. Never thought I'd say that, but I'd look at improving the umpiring first.
3. I never thought length of season was a problem. Length of games, yes. That's the beauty of baseball, in that there's a game every day.
4. Rosin bag is needed. Those baseballs are white, shiny missiles, and the pitchers need to have control over them, otherwise, you'd potentially have another Tony Conigliaro situation. I remember that like it was yesterday. Yes, all that other junk - vaseline, etc, enforce the rules.
Gotta stop batters from stepping out of the batters box.
They did, they can't step out now
MLB: The game is too long! We need to shorten the game!
Also MLB: We need to get rid of the shift so the offense can get more hits, make the innings longer and increase the time it takes to play a game.
Yes it’s too long. Take ALL the advertising from the televised game. They will bring the 3 hour and 45 minute game to about 2 to 2.5 hours.
The length of the game is fine, it's all the inactivity in the middle along with the price that's the issue.
@@SmallSpoonBrigade 3.45 hours is acceptable to you? In 1960 a game would have lasted 2 to 2.5 hours. It’s ALL in the 5-15 min PER each half inning. That is atrocious. Only old people will care if this keeps up.
I really enjoy watching batters adjusting their batting gloves between every pitch. Great excitement. Worth the price of admission alone.
@@laverdadescatolica5 Yes, I don't see an issue with that. Perhaps you have issues with your attention span.
Pitching changes is the issue. Guys used to pitch complete games. Now you’re dealing with 8 pitching changes from the 7th to 9th
And a pitcher who goes 6 innings is considered a “workhorse “.
Maybe they should be paid by the inning.
i remember when the curveball was witch craft when it changed the game. if you want to change the game, get players who can hit and not just for power. It's sad how guys now are considered good with a .250 avg but they can hit 30 homers.
Is this really what baseball is like now? Stopped watching since 2015
Mike Zunino the catcher for the Rays made the All Star team with a .200 batting average but he has 19 HR so they voted him in.
The curveball has been around since the 19th century. A .250 average with 30 HRS? What is their OBP? A team of .250 hitters with OBP's < .310 for instance, are not considered good, and those teams will likely not make the post season.
Rich Eisen is smart. That's why I sub.
Allow conflict in the game - simple as that. Can’t look at the ump wrong, pitchers can’t throw inside without getting a warning, cant block the plate. Conflict and drama will create rivalries, rivalries creates excitement and interest.
If you get to the game and it starts at 7:15 you’re probably not home before midnight. It kills the younger generation from going to the game and becoming a fan. Even watching at home it’s too late to watch the last two innings which are often times the best part of the game.
It’s like watching a movie and stopping it with ten minutes to go and telling everyone they can see how it ends tomorrow. Total buzzkill.
Make batters stay in the box
Also, get the next batter to the plate promptly after the previous atbat is completed.
This solves nothing all the next batter will do is strikeout. Baseball's analytical style is the cause of boring no action.
Omg....that's exactly what I've been saying for years. Watch any game pre 1986. No one moved. I watched the 1961 WS game 7 and it was 2 hrs and change. No one moved out the box
this literally has nothing to do with anything... this is a cop out. in the 90s Batters took just as long and the game was more un to watch, the analytics of the 2000s is what is ruining the game, the one and only problem
Amen! If you watch a 1980’s MLB, there was roughly an average of 10 seconds between pitches. Now it’s up to 20 seconds between pitches. That adds up over a 9 inning game and part of the reason the games back then were roughly 2 1/2 hours and now they’re 3+ hours.
DON MATTINGLY DESERVES THE BASEBALL HALL OF FAME.
I love all sports but last year got me into baseball and this year has been amazing! I’m loving it!
Reducing the cost to go to a game would help too. It has gotten ridiculous these last couple years. It's at least 100 bucks to go and park for one person anywhere in California.
Don Mattingly is one of the best pure hitters of his generation. Passed over for the yankees manager job TWICE grrrr
I watched a pitcher throw 52 piches in the first two innings and have a no hitter going. Nibbling pitchers and bulked up batters are killing baseball.
Donnie Baseball grew up and played ball not too far where I live. Awesome player.
Two words: pitch clock. This would speed the game up tremendously. The down time/delay is what's excruciating.
yep, I'm all for lowering the count to 3 balls and 2 strikes as well. Also, make it a rule that once youre in the batter box you cant step out to fix your batting glove every pitch
@@stdavis22 so you WANT more walks and strikeouts? because that is what you will get if you make that change.
That will probably take away from the catcher giving pitchers enough signs
Yup! The Shot Clock that applies to both Pitches and Batters. Pitchers get 60 seconds total throughout all 3 balls and 2 strikes, the batter gets a total of 30 seconds to scratch his nuts. After that, the batter is not allowed to leave the box and the pitcher gets penalized by one Ball for every 15 second infraction.
@@inorite4553 think about how many irate managers are going to come storming out the Dugout .. especially from the last point you made
As a baseball purist, baseball is unwatchable for the past 30 years. The game was beautiful for a century.
What leads you to say that it's been unwatchable the past 30 years? Just curious.
@@basilmanolakos7130 1994 strike?
30 years is a stretch. The best Era of baseball was from 1996 to 2004
Perosnally I can't stand the countless pitching changes and the amount of time wasted by pitchers taking their time and batters constantly coming out of the batters box ... speed it up with a clock ... and put the damn ball in play. Too much specialization. You see it in football too which has become boring as well. There's more action in hockey soccer and rugby
The greatest quote I ever heard was Collin Cowherd saying, "If your nickname is the name of the sport you play, you should be in the hall of fame." Donnie Baseball, best first baseman of all time.
Unfortunately, Mattingly was an astounding first ballot hall of fame for six seasons and then his back betrayed him. The power was gone for the second half of his career and his numbers don’t add up. I hope you’re old enough to have seen the young Donnie Baseball; he was so special.
Not sure about Johnny Football dude. Well I mean you could put him in the bust douche hall of fame.
What about Johnny football?
@@bobbyjames9827 Touché.
The “Checked Swing” has almost become an automatic strike. Watch games from the 70’s, and it was just the opposite.
You can’t keep changing the game to make up for the “fans” short attention span.
Money controls all - That’s what it’s really about. Keeping the least common denominator in front of his TV.
The way to shorten the game is to limit the warmup time between innings to 1 minute like the rulebook says.
@@jhandle4196
I guess they could do that with split screen ads.
But - pitchers need more than 1 minute to warm up .
Considering my hometown team are World Champion Cheaters, I'll probably never go back to watching the sport tbh.
Damn 😂
Are you a fan of the Astros, Red Sox, Rockies, Diamondbacks, Cleveland or Dodgers ?
@@thatthinwildsound The big 'ol crybaby cheating Astros. I still can't believe they had the nerve to demand MLB punish pitchers for purposely striking the batters lol
@@simplyluis6548 Why?
MLB is a history of nonstop cheating by everybody all the time. Players, managers, and teams alike. Why would you expect this one group to have some kind of shame about it when they have access to the entire history of the game enough to know that nobody's really got room to complain?
If you aint cheating you aint trying
Could it be the ten billion commercials? Maybe..?
The commercials are unbearable. Same problem with NBA. I record games.
@@lexis4490 I agree. The commercials would be more bearable if we didn't see the same ones over and over and over again. They would still be bad, but there would be more variety.
Isn't that the same problem in all US sports though?
Here in the UK you won't see a commercial during a football (soccer) game until half time. I watch an NFL game and they are festooned throughout. Really jarring sometimes.
@@theredraven Maybe I should move to the UK...
Moving the mound back so that it's in the geometric center of the diamond (it's a few feet forward of it for some reason) will cure many ills: more balls will be put in play because the hitters will have a little more reaction time, and breaking balls will flatten out a little bit more over the longer distance. When pitchers realize that they can no longer just strike out hitters wholesale, they'll have to learn to pitch to contact. So there should be fewer pitches per plate appearance, thus speeding up the game.
Put the mound back, make the base bigger, put in a pitch clock or go to 7 innings, limit time outs a batter can call, put delay of game strikes in if they take too long to adjust gloves and crap.
Don Mattingly has always been one of my husbands favorite players. Much respect for this man.
The shift comes from the Kingman style of hitting. Swing for the fences every pitch every at bat. Nobody cares about contact, base stealing, moving runners over, bunting, sac flies, batting average, etc. I stopped watching baseball after Cashen broke up the Mets in the early 90’s and then I came back when I saw Jeter and the rest of those Yankee teams play some of the best all around baseball I’ve ever seen. Just an almost complete team that could do anything well. Other teams were better at certain things, but they could play with anybody. Since then it’s completely regressed.
That is because almost everyone now grows up learning how to swing and throw the exact same way.
Here’s a radical idea to improve the game:
Make the direction of the base paths be reversible, clockwise to counter clockwise. Make it to where the batter can choose the direction with bases empty. Third baseman and first baseman would become the same, as would SS and 2nd baseman.
I have a suggestion to reduce game time-forego the ritual warm ups between innings. At three-plus minutes each, that would shave a minimum of 48 minutes. Since pitchers don’t bat, they can do any throwing they need to while their team is hitting. It’s hardly necessary for the remainder of the team in the field to throw balls back and forth.
Baseball is incredibly boring to watch these days. I enjoyed 70s and 80s baseball.
Move the mound back to get more balls in play and give the bases some more real estate to incentivize stealing. But first figure out the foreign substance dilemma, I like Bauer's idea of applying a single agreed upon substance to the balls directly prior to the game and again every few innings.
Isn't the whole point of the substance abuse policy to help the hitters out?
@@donsolos , huh?
In addition to curtailing the ridiculous amount of batter glove/uni adjustments in between pitches lol.
I'm so glad they are doing away with the shift. The shift has been one of the biggest factors in the absence of small ball. Small balls just totally non-existent thanks in large part to the shift.
Non homer balls in play are just so seldom rewarded
Give the top 5 players in stolen bases, singles, doubles, triples, and bunts $1M extra each. Fixed.
Honestly, great idea.
@@Weremoogle I have been watching baseball long enough to know that common sense isn’t really associated with the way the MLB is governed. My idea is too simple and makes too much sense for them to implement.
That's cute. Idk... Kinda manufactures it though
@@JeffSayYes it doesn’t manufacture anything it incentives players to get away from the sabermetrics style ball where you foul 100 pitches then either strike out or hit a home run to hitting the ball in play. Also even if it was manufactured it would still fix baseballs problem of being so mind numbingly boring.
@@Name-vu1kn you'd only have a few guys trying to steal a base bythe end of the season
Baseball needs to do 2 things mainly reducing the amount of games and adding a salary-cap
I don’t think the players union would ever allow a salary cap
It wont effect the overall quality, pace, or watch-ability of the game, but i agree 162 games is rediculous. You can lose 10 games in a row and its the equivalent of an NFL team losing 1 game
@@stdavis22 162 games a season has been around since 1962. Baseball IS a marathon, however, the teams in the World Series have pretty much earned the right to be there.
Make the batter keep one foot in the batter’s box. No more adjusting the batting gloves. Enforce a time clock for pitchers. Finally, an electronic strike zone. This would speed the game up and allow the hitters to have a consistent strike zone,
Haha. The Marlins were utilizing the shift over 10 times during Thursday’s game (7/8/2021).
Love Mattingly. He was my favorite.
All sports have their pluses and minuses and they usually come from the same source. In football the dynamic action is countered by the high rate of injury and short careers. "Endless" ways to build an offense for multiple players leads to a game that is overly complicated and hard to follow for some. Basketball's game of having all players being able to shoot, pass, play defense and dribble means means that players of nuanced abilities are rare and mostly the most athletic will make the grade. A league in where an individual can showcase great skill means a chance for selfishness to thrive. And in baseball the absence of time as a mea sd sure of conclusion means we will be done when we're done. And most importantly, when a pitcher can be one the mound with a no hitter or a pinch hitter coming to the plate for a in the bottom of the ninth, it also means that there's never a time when players go head to head and and tackle, dunk over, outrun, take a ball away, fake out again and again and again. The drama in baseball is not in the single to right field, but what that means. And, barring MASSIVE rule changes, this will always be this way.
Football careers aren't really that long. The median is something like 7 years when you exclude the player that only showed up for a single game, or were never actually in a game.
Deeper fences>>>less home runs, more balls in play, more triples, more room for diving catches, batters will play more for contact, more balls in play (less strikeouts)
The players are too strong for 320 foot fences, and the pitches come in harder (equal and opposite reaction)
Let's stop changing the baseball every time it hits the ground
Why? Ball gets scuffed or dirty. Replacing a ball takes zero time.
7 inning games OR 100 game season.
This sport is waaaayyy to long for so many reasons
Totally down for a 100 game season. As a fan, it would be so much better. But, that doesn't make MLB front office money!
I say 130
Definitely shorten the season. Baseball Playoffs need to OWN Sept and Oct and fewer worn down players.
Then don't watch every game. 100 games would be stupid. It would mean the season is 3/4 of the way over already.
7 innings is a bad idea. A lot of comebacks happen in the eighth and ninth. No need to shorten the season either. You must be a Dodgers fan.
The old guy at the sports bar I use to hang out in said it best. "To many teams and to many games". Like any thing else when money becomes the only thing that matters things go to crap pretty fast. Just look at what happened to nascar
Many major leaguers have to actually be taught how to bunt. Phil Rizzuto was the master in catching the ball with the bat.
-Eliminate Shifting.
-Pitchers face a minimum of 3 batters before being eligible to be subbed out.
-Batters cannot step out of the box except to avoid a pitch.
-30 seconds between half innings.
-Promote small ball/stolen bases/base hits.
Switching pitchers 5 times and up x 2 teams , ridiculous routines between pitches combined with time out being granted all the time inflating time between pitches to ridiculous level and the ludicrous uses of substance by pitchers leading to 6 -7 pitches s.o. 10 times a game x 2 = 4hrs game .
You have a valid point. After the starting pitcher you're limited to 2 changes: Long relief and short relief.
I happy to say I haven't watched a baseball game in 18 years. I just have better things to do with my time.
You can watch a game while the paint is drying.