[lc9er]

I like the 1, 2, and 4 changes. My feelings about 3 and 6 are mixed. Absolutely dislike the last.

[oldandboring]

While I also dislike the ghost runner, I can't deny that it's been a net positive for the game. By mostly eliminating marathon extra-inning slogs, not only does it speed up the game, but it also makes it much harder for teams to run out of pitchers they can safely use, which reduces injuries and ensures that we are not subjected to watching two backup catchers throw 48mph Eephus pitches in the 17th inning, long after they stopped selling beer.

[musictubes]

Long extra inning games are pretty rare. I too hate the “Manfred Man” but the players and coaches overwhelmingly approve of it. I think that using the ghost runner at the start of the 12th inning would be a good compromise.

[prokopton]

I see it as a negative. Too many games are lost because a reliever gives up a couple fly ball outs and the Manfred Man comes round to score. I’d rather see ties than these fake wins.

[voidfunc]

I think I would be more OK with the ghost runner of it kicked in for beyond the 10th or 11th inning.

[canthonytucci]

This is blasphemy.

One man’s slog is another man’s epic.

Baseball is supposed to be slow.

In a better would we would have slowed down life and society to match baseball’s pace, not turned it in to a TikTok abomination.

[tiahura]

Nothing cooler than staying up till 1:30 am with a radio under the covers to listen to the end of a 14 inning game.

All that baseball they’ve stolen from us just so the degenerate gamblers can get their fix quicker.

[remarkEon]

The ghost runner rule is by far the most ridiculous. A pitcher can give up no hits, and get an ER and the L in extra innings. Make it make sense. Baseball is also telling on itself here because that rule does not apply in the playoffs.

[NaOH]

>A pitcher can give up no hits, and get an ER....

The ghost runner does not count as an earned run.

[astura]

Absolutely nobody likes the Manfred runner except the players. The players like it because they get to leave work earlier and less tired.

Worth nothing the rule doesn't apply to the post season.

[Arainach]

"Absolutely nobody" is trivially false.

Baseball games are way too long even before they get to extra innings. The two hour limit is the most important rule change that makes bananaball superior (but their other changes are also universally positive).

[j4coh]

Gamblers probably like it so they can get the results of their bet more predictably on time

[nsavage]

I hate the removal of the shift. I thought it was such an interesting innovation to the game, and the fact that baseball allowed for such things part of its magic.

[cthalupa]

I'm with you. I think it should only apply to games that have fairly clearly gotten "stuck" and things are just dragging - like others have suggested, 12th inning seems like a reasonable start.

I've always felt a lot of intensity going into the 9th inning in any sort of lose came, even moreso if it's tied. And before the manfred man, that carried through if we went to the 10th or 11th.

Now it feels like as soon as we get to extra innings it's a shitshow. It's one thing if a pitcher has made a series of mistakes (or the fielders behind him) and you end up with someone on second and you throw a passed ball and someone scores. It's another when the first pitch of the half inning is a passed ball and this bizarro zombie runner scores on you.

I want to watch teams have to put together a string of "good baseball" moments to win, or at the very least watch a trainwreck in action if one team loses the game more than the other team won it. Or the majesty of a well-hit long ball, ideally with an excellent bat flip. The only thing that should be able to walk off the game in the very first at-bat of the bottom half of the inning is a home run.