2020 has seen Major League Baseball roll out a series of rule changes. Some of these were necessitated by the Corona-compressed season we are going through. Others were on the cards before the pandemic threw all of baseball into flux. Some were needed and some will be the subject of scrutiny I'm sure once the next Ken Burns baseball documentary comes out. Let's examine the good, the bad, and the ugly of this season's rule changes.
The Good:
Universal DH: It was long overdue for the National League to adopt the Designated Hitter. Somewhere, Ron Blomberg is doing the happy dance as once again he is thrust into the public consciousness. Since 1973, the senior circuit had stubbornly refused to spare us the spectacle of pitchers with scant hope of reaching base going up to take flailing swings and striking out on three pitches. A few of them could at least bunt but that's not so exciting in today's game. I will miss unexpected homeruns (hello Bartolo Colon) and the hitting prowess of a Madison Bumgarner but the risk of pitchers getting hurt and the fact that they're generally poor hitters offsets this.
7 Inning Doubleheaders: Normally I wouldn't like this but for this season I think this is appropriate. This lessens the burden on pitching staffs and on the teams in general. Given that there will be many doubleheaders due to Covid postponements, this rule will be of help in lessening the headaches on managers and front-offices.
Position Players: In a game where someone is losing 15-0 do managers really want to burn relievers they may need tomorrow? No right? This season, position players can pitch without restrictions for the first time. If you have a Cliff Pennington or a Stevie Wilkerson (he even got a save!) that would like a crack at mound duty, what's the harm? You know love watching position players pitch. I do too. The only risk is injury as was the case with Ryan Goins or Jose Canseco but both the manager and position player know this and if they accept the risk, why not?
The Bad:
Expanded Playoffs (kind of - I understand why they're doing it): I know the season is truncated so there is a lack of time for the men to be truly separated from the boys. I know owners need to recover some of the Covid induced losses. I know good teams sometimes miss out under the old 10 team format. That out of the way, I also know that 16 teams out of 30 means mediocre teams will be more likely to squeeze into the postseason or heaven forbid even sub .500 teams. It also lessens the excitement around the trade deadline as fewer teams would now consider themselves as sellers but you could argue the opposite by asserting that there would be more buyers as more teams could plausibly make the playoffs. I don't hate this and I grudgingly admit that if I were Rob Manfred I'd probably sign off on it as well for financial reasons.
3 Batter Minimum: I get that constant pitching changes and the associated commercial breaks are annoying for fans. I feel likewise. That said however, managers need to be able to manage their bullpens as they see fit. For some relievers, one or two batter summons are what they thrive on and it is interesting watching managers play matchups like this. A real baseball fan doesn't gripe about pace of play and pitching changes. He or she understands these as natural parts of the game. Baseball is tactical and numerical in nature. Managers will learn to adapt but it will be frustrating watching a guy who clearly doesn't have it and you can't remove him until two batters later or not being able to summon a Tony Fossas style specialist.
The Ugly:
Extra-Inning Runner On Second: This is the only rule change I will classify here. Of all the different ways you could address bullpen killing 18 inning marathons this?! Could MLB not have implemented ties after 12 innings like they do in Asia? Ties after 9? The only positive thing I can say is that it does more often than not end the game in the 10th inning but this rule seems gimmicky and amateurish. Feel free to think otherwise but for something like this you might as well implement a homerun derby as a tiebreaker. At least that would be oddly exciting.
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