Ding dong, the shift is dead. Long live the pitch clock.

[pitchleague]

Watching yesterday's Brewer game and a random assortment of other games on MLB Network this week, I have realized what the quicker pace of these games reminds me of.  Before I state what it is, I do want to say that I do like the shorter games while hating it at the same time.  I will like having extra time to do other stuff instead of sitting there watching a game on television.  But I also had zero problem with long, slow games.  It's BASEBALL and I Love baseball.  Slow games equaled more time watching baseball, which to me was great!  But I will appreciate some nights that are not so late (even though I live in Arizona and most games were done around 8:00 pm.)

I also think that the quicker games are going to rob us of some stuff on the broadcasts.  Stories, anecdotes, interviews . . . they're all going to be minimized because at bats and innings will be over so fast.  That's kind of a bummer to me.  I think there still will be stories, anecdotes, and interviews but they may be interrupted quite often for station breaks, etc.

Okay, here goes.  These faster games with the pitch clock remind me of playing baseball video games.  If any of you are like me, whenever I would play RBI Baseball, MLB2k, or The Show (or whatever baseball game), I would usually just start chucking pitches in as fast as I could so I could get back up to bat.  Pitch counts in video games were never even remotely close to accurate as a result.  So, when I watch these spring training games, I almost imagine some giant people with controllers playing the game as fast they can.

That's what it feels like, to me.

[TURBO]

I'll enjoy a shorter game watching on TV, but in person, at the ballpark, I think I might feel a bit cheated.

[MVP2110]

1 hour ago, TURBO said:

I'll enjoy a shorter game watching on TV, but in person, at the ballpark, I think I might feel a bit cheated.

This is basically how I feel, I feel like I won't have time to get up to grab a beer or food or whatever now. But for watching TV it'll be great 

[Brock Beauchamp]

1 hour ago, TURBO said:

I'll enjoy a shorter game watching on TV, but in person, at the ballpark, I think I might feel a bit cheated.

One huge upside for shorter games at the ballpark is that I have young children. I've basically been unable to expose them to baseball consistently but the pitch clock changes that, at least somewhat.

Baseball has an old white guy problem (the fastest shrinking demo in America) and maybe this takes a small step toward repairing that damage.

[owbc]

Oakland and Cincinnati played a 14-14 tie today with 29 hits and 16 walks.

3:16 time of game.

 

[homer]

I look forward to west coast games ending before midnight.

[Brock Beauchamp]

3 minutes ago, homer said:

I look forward to west coast games ending before midnight.

I look forward to actually watching west coast games because eastern/central games I care about end at a reasonable time.

I love the Padres and will be happy to watch more of them.

[owbc]

36 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

I look forward to actually watching west coast games because eastern/central games I care about end at a reasonable time.

I love the Padres and will be happy to watch more of them.

The Mariners are starting all of their evening home games at 6:40 this year, including weekend and summer ones. The only exception is fireworks night. Some of those are going to be over around 9:00 local time. 

[jerichoholicninja]

Does anyone know who is actually controlling the pitch clock?There has to be someone somewhere pushing a button to reset it after each pitch. If this is an employee of the home team you have to think every team is figuring out ways to take advantage of this. Like which of their pitchers would like an extra half second or which opposing pitcher they are going to try to rush by taking it away.

[owbc]

6 minutes ago, jerichoholicninja said:

Does anyone know who is actually controlling the pitch clock?There has to be someone somewhere pushing a button to reset it after each pitch. If this is an employee of the home team you have to think every team is figuring out ways to take advantage of this. Like which of their pitchers would like an extra half second or which opposing pitcher they are going to try to rush by taking it away.

https://www.mlb.com/news/how-mlb-pitch-timer-works#:~:text=The FTC position itself it,uniform people at the park.

Seems like a FTC is going to be a pretty challenging job. 

Speaking hypothetically, would you want to give extra time to the batter or the pitcher? It seems like the batters are the ones being rushed from what I've seen so far because they have to "engage" (look at the pitcher) with 8 seconds left on the clock. 

[igor67]

I do find myself wondering if part of the Brewers decision to let Suter go, was that once everyone was on the clock his rapid pitching wouldn't be disruptive to hitters as much anymore.

[jerichoholicninja]

1 hour ago, owbc said:

https://www.mlb.com/news/how-mlb-pitch-timer-works#:~:text=The FTC position itself it,uniform people at the park.

Seems like a FTC is going to be a pretty challenging job. 

Speaking hypothetically, would you want to give extra time to the batter or the pitcher? It seems like the batters are the ones being rushed from what I've seen so far because they have to "engage" (look at the pitcher) with 8 seconds left on the clock. 

From reading that link it looks like the FTC will be MLB employees which makes sense because teams will try to take advantage of it if they can. 

From the little ST I've seen so far it looks like the hitters are rushed more than the pitchers but I think after a couple weeks neither will be.

[KeithStone53151]

This seems like a really bad idea, I hope on all hope that teams shift like this against the Brewers. It's one thing for left handed hitters to not want to take bunt singles, but the incentive to just go to left seems way too high with this shift. Even Rowdy might get triples against this. Yelich might score if it's hit right down the line.

[jerichoholicninja]

If guys hadn't tried to go the other way before why would they start now? 

[MVP2110]

29 minutes ago, jerichoholicninja said:

If guys hadn't tried to go the other way before why would they start now? 

The incentive of an XBH vs a single is quite different 

[owbc]

I'm not surprised we're seeing that shift, the big question is how often it gets used. Only against the slow guys who are pure pull hitters? And the defense needs the right personnel who have some serious range. 

It could lead to some fun highlights with the 3B and CF trying to chase down a ball in the corner while a big guy like Rowdy is lumbering around the bases trying to get a 3B or inside-the-park HR. 

[tmwiese55]

It's also easier to drop in that huge space of left and to hit in the air.  Generally speaking, even pull hitters are more likely to hit oppo in the air.  Yelich is a good example, faces the big shift for grounders but generally would get played straight up in OF.   

One of the things I noticed is even when a lefty really tried to hit oppo on the ground it would far too often go right to the one guy playing on the left side of the infield. hitter has to walk away thinking *** when that happens.

That said, am I crazy but I don't see the 3rd OF in that picture?  The trick on this might be to play the CF in LF or Left center. See if the guy is good enough to hit one dead center in between them.  That way you'd have two guys who could run it, plus it's just more difficult than having a whole half of a field to drop it. 

[nate82]

2 hours ago, tmwiese55 said:

That said, am I crazy but I don't see the 3rd OF in that picture?  The trick on this might be to play the CF in LF or Left center. See if the guy is good enough to hit one dead center in between them.  That way you'd have two guys who could run it, plus it's just more difficult than having a whole half of a field to drop it. 

I think the Brewers could easily do that with Frelick, Wiemer and Mitchell in the OF.  That is a lot of speed in the OF and the weakest arm being Frelick's.  Probably could do Wiemer in short right and then Frelick in LCF and Mitchell in RCF.

[KeithStone53151]

That shift, the big difference is the xbh vs single as was noted above...and beating that shift is significantly less difficult on the hitter than the recently banned version. Pretty much everything 15 degrees to the lf side of the cf is a double, even if it's hit poorly. I believe if rowdy hits it in the corner he has a standup triple. I think maybe the cf moves closer to left, but you're still going to have massive alleys for doubles even if you have 2 prime Ricky Henderson's out there. Seeing that shift, I hope the brewers don't do it and other teams use it against us. And I really hope simply seeing it a few times has brewers players practicing going opposite field a fair amount more because the reward is worth. I feel like the only guy this would be even somewhat effective against on the brewers is tellez.

[torts]

On 3/1/2023 at 9:27 PM, Brock Beauchamp said:

One huge upside for shorter games at the ballpark is that I have young children. I've basically been unable to expose them to baseball consistently but the pitch clock changes that, at least somewhat.

Baseball has an old white guy problem (the fastest shrinking demo in America) and maybe this takes a small step toward repairing that damage.

My kid will be 5 by end of summer and the length of a game is the reason I didn't take him last year, and was not planning this year.  If actual games end up being in the 2 - 2.5 hour range at PNC Park, that changes things (we live walking distance to the trolly, and walking up hills both ways, so have to factor in that commute)

[MrTPlush]

This has sped up games by about 20minutes. 
 

People are kinda missing the point though. It isn’t about making the games shorter, it’s about making them feel shorter. Watching pitchers work more like Brent Suter is going to make the game feel 100x faster even though it really is only 12% shorter. Especially important when games last past 10pm frequently.

I haven’t watched much baseball on TV since like 2019 because it got insufferable to watch and it felt like it took 6 hours. In reality games weren’t getting that much longer, it just felt like it with the constant 10 second fiddling around.

People will watch baseball for 3 hours…they won’t watch a guy throw to first 5 times in a row, Ryan Braun circle home plate three times, constant mound visits, etc.

[torts]

3 hours ago, MrTPlush said:

This has sped up games by about 20minutes. 
 

People are kinda missing the point though. It isn’t about making the games shorter, it’s about making them feel shorter. Watching pitchers work more like Brent Suter is going to make the game feel 100x faster even though it really is only 12% shorter. Especially important when games last past 10pm frequently.

I haven’t watched much baseball on TV since like 2019 because it got insufferable to watch and it felt like it took 6 hours. In reality games weren’t getting that much longer, it just felt like it with the constant 10 second fiddling around.

People will watch baseball for 3 hours…they won’t watch a guy throw to first 5 times in a row, Ryan Braun circle home plate three times, constant mound visits, etc.

20 minutes to a prek kid is an eternity, at least in my experience 

[jerichoholicninja]

Re: the 2 man outfield shift and going the other way, just because hitters may be more willing to try to hit the other way doesn't mean they are going to see pitches that allow them to do that. You can guarantee any team that shifts that way is going to throw everything inside.

[KeithStone53151]

5 minutes ago, jerichoholicninja said:

Re: the 2 man outfield shift and going the other way, just because hitters may be more willing to try to hit the other way doesn't mean they are going to see pitches that allow them to do that. You can guarantee any team that shifts that way is going to throw everything inside.

That's a fair play and you're probably right, but better not catch too much of the plate down and in against a lefty.

[MrTPlush]

17 hours ago, torts said:

20 minutes to a prek kid is an eternity, at least in my experience 

Right, so your kid has already died of boredom about 6 times before the difference between 2:40 and 3:00 happens. 
 

I have taken my son before…I don’t think 20 minutes is any better. When I had him and he was sub 5 years old I’d leave early anyway as it was just easier that way. I guess it’s 20 less minutes I have to ask myself why I was so dumb and brought a 3 year old to a MLB game.