But....it worked perfectly 93 times out of the 100 simulations we ran. It just doesn't make sense 
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Let's talk Baseball!
- Thread starter socalgal
- Start date
I mock the people who complain about the over shifting. Every other sport' the defense adjusts to the offense. You don't like it? Hit it the other way. Bunt it up the other line. Do that enough, the shifting against that player will stop...or they will get beaned..either way, they get on base.
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- Nov 17, 2015
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Every other pro spectator sport adjusts the rules to what the fans want to see. Baseball has devolved into an unwatchable home run, walk, strike out game. They should ban the shift and 4 outfielders, and change the ball to favor control pitchers and contact hitters.
dm
Dave Kingman would rule today.
"Baseball has devolved into an unwatchable home run, walk, strike out game."
Because that's what the short attention span TV audience with minimal appreciation of the game likes, and TV money now calls the tune.
Because that's what the short attention span TV audience with minimal appreciation of the game likes, and TV money now calls the tune.
When we were kids my brother got to see Koufax pitch one of his no-hitters in LA. Why wasn't I with him that day!
I am not a fan of the rise of the relief pitcher. Nothing personal, but It really slows play when a team uses a half dozen relievers in two or three innings, and if both teams are doing that it's really brutal. However, the game has changed. The hitters are bigger and stronger. I think the starters are throwing harder/more destructively now, so many tommy john surgeries. Pulling starters after 5 or 6 innings extends their careers. Vicious cycle.
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It's not the fans, it's the metrics that shows that those strategies work. Only the most knowledgible fans like to watch batters work to a 10 pitch walk. Casual fans want to see the ball in play, and lots of running on the base paths.
dm
Pro Sport is simply an entertainment business. If you are losing long time fans and can't attract new ones with your product, like any other business you need to evolve the product or take losses. Hockey stopped the clutch n grab (and fighting) with rules. Created boundaries for wandering goalies, reduced goalie kit in size to get more goals. I played minor league ball till I was 16 and casually with friends for years. I love a good radio broadcast and routinely watch a game or 2 if I have the free time. But unless you grew up with it, or appreciate the very subtle shifts and adjustments it is getting to be a tough sell because it isn't entertaining enough. It's not just the 20 year olds either. I'm 56 and unless your local team is in a Series I don't think a lot of 30 yr olds are watching it and Minor League Ball is very popular in the summer here.
Remember when they said if you tried to get clutch-and-grab out of hockey there'd be 100 penalties a game? In about 3 weeks that was forgotten and we have much cleaner open ice play. Now if they'd just call boarding as it's written...
Bigger question, and I'm sure it's getting asked all the way up to the commissioner, is... why wasn't the game stopped immediately and everyone put in isolate mode immediately? They stopped that NBA game under similar circumstances then shut down the entire league as well. Yes, huge cluster for all the fans who traveled there, the logistics of rescheduling, etc.. But health and safety of everyone was at risk. If anyone else from that game goes down ill or worse, career ending cardio complications, etc.. They totally should have shut it all down.
It is getting harder and harder to watch. I love the game and, as a Nats fan, loved how they did it last year with amazing starting pitching and a terrible pen. I like the strategy of the game and more and more that's being taken out with the long ball and the strikeout. Why guys can't hit opposite field befuddles me....Tony Gwynn was not a guy you shift against....
It works because there has never been that many Tony Gwynn's or near Tony Gwynn's in pro baseball. And if pitchers stopped giving up so many home runs, the batters would adapt to hitting line drives.
The knife cuts both ways.
The knife cuts both ways.
I recall he used of of the smallest bats too. I totally respected Tony but I was more a Rod Carew and George Brett fan...from the Charlie Lau school.
I was in grad school at Wisconsin during the Brewer's WS appearance. Cecil Copper was not quite as good as these guys, but had a bit more power. The Brewers beat Carew's Angels for the AL pennant, but lost to the Cardinals in the WS.
I was at a Phillies-Padres game last year with my wife. There was a guy behind us wearing a retro-Gwynn jersey that was chatting us up. Of course the camera found him with his jersey, so my wife got a lot of camera time that some friends reported to us. My face was not seen as I was too busy watching the game, not talking...
Rod Carew and Harmon Killebrrew were both on the Twins when I moved there in 72.
I watched many a game with Hank on the opposing Braves. He appeared to be a real class act!
Truly a great ballplayer, and a great human being
