Garbage Baseball

I've been cranky lately as it is. Might just as well carry on with it today.

I hate the free runner that Major League Baseball puts on second base to begin extra innings. And I'm not saying that simply because my Detroit Tigers lost because of it yesterday. 

Okay, maybe I am saying it a little bit because of that, but I'm against it on general principle just the same.

The powers that be want to shorten games, and I get that. They also don't want to run out of pitchers in longer games, but that I don't get. To that point, how about not using so many pitchers in the first nine innings to begin with, in search of infinitesimal mathematical advantages that will almost certainly not come into play? But maybe I don't know what I'm talking about. Quiet Ron.

To the first point, you want to shorten things by significantly impacting the most basic rules of the game in placing a runner 180 feet closer to scoring? You can do better than that, MLB. How about demanding a pitch be thrown every 15 seconds? How about not overthinking every stupid pitch you want to throw, again seeking supremely small advantages? Throw the doggone pill. 

How about batters not adjusting every article of clothing on their person when they bat? Stay in the box and be ready to hit, or get an automatic strike call if they dally. And here's a wild thought: call the entire rule book strike zone, to help reduce the wear and tear on pitchers and make the batter take his weapon of war off his shoulder. Forget the sabermetrics and make them put the ball in play, or at least strike out more quickly.

But no. We're going to shorten the game by giving the teams a free runner at second base in the 10th Inning. That's garbage baseball and I don't like it.

Rant. Over. Until the next garbage loss by anybody.

Well, except the Yankees.