My attention to baseball has waxed and waned over the years and I haven't picked up a bat or a glove for decades, but I find it quite comforting that baseball keeps plowing forward, evolving, and every now and then grabs my attention again.
There were some truly great performances this season. I am writing this the day after Aaron Judge hit his 62nd home run, passing Roger Maris for the most home runs by a player without a bloodstream full of anabolic steroids. He is also very close to winning the triple crown, something that happens maybe once a decade. Surely one of the greatest seasons in history. Oddly - or perhaps not - there hasn't been the fanfare there was for the record breaking steroid monsters back before the turn of the century. Perhaps a reaction to it not being officially a new record (although it is an American League record), or perhaps a cynical public is waiting for the steroid shoe to drop. I don't think it will. Aaron Judge is a sizable dude, but he doesn't wear the hallmark bloated head and popeye torso of the steroid goons. Oh and also: Ruth (60), Maris (61), Judge (62) -- all Yankees. Why? Deserves analysis by some stat geek doesn't it?
The other Ruth-ian performance this year came from Shohei Ohtani. Ohtani is really the first legitimate two way player (pitcher plus something else on non-pitching days) since the years when Ruth was a pitcher for Boston. Ruth was a first class pitcher and could swing a bat better than just about anyone. Ohtani is the inverse, an elite pitcher who is also a solid designated hitter on his non-pitching days. Ohtani came over to the Angels from Japan after a few successful years with the Nippon Ham Fighters (why would anyone want to fight a ham?). A Japanese import, playing two ways as designated hitter in the National League. A unique thing that only contemporary baseball could produce.
A surprise feel-good story late in the season was Albert Pujols chasing his 700th home run. In his prime with the Cardinals he was the best in the game. He got traded to the Angels and immediately dropped off to be a good, steady, but rapidly aging, hitter. Still he kept accumulating home runs. He got sentimentally traded back to the Cardinals for his final season and started pounding the ball and lifted his total to 703, right behind Hank Arron and Babe Ruth for the non-steroidal #3 position (4th overall). Great story. I love it when old guys make one last stand.
Performances aside, the evolution of the game and its presentation has been fascinating to me, even if I disagree with most of the changes. A number of TV outlets are providing advanced stats live, which I can easily geek out for. ESPN keeps a running list of what pitches are thrown and at what speed as the at-bat progresses.
There have been attempts to speed up the game. Once you reach extra innings you start the top and bottom of each inning with a runner at second, hopefully making extra-inning games less interminable. Also, you can now intentionally walk a batter by just signaling to the ump rather than go through the motions of throwing four balls way outside. Again, an attempt to save a few seconds. Evidence suggests these have been useless in speeding things along.
This year, there is also the option of using something called PitchCom. The catcher wears a device on his wrist with a series of buttons which transmit the pitch call to the pitcher via a speaker in his hat. This is almost certainly a reaction to the Astros sign stealing scandal of a few years back.
All of these, especially PitchCom seem kind of gimmicky. I understand the intent, but all of these just remove a human aspect of the game. You no longer have to work to get a runner in scoring position. You no longer have to worry about a passed ball on a pitch out. You no longer have to be clever about hiding your signals. Unlike, replay which is an attempt to get things right, these just reduce the random variables in the game without any real payoff. Games still average over 3 hours. I could do without all of these and kind of hope they go away, but I admit they've been interesting.
Another development in recent years is something called "The Shift" where teams will make drastic changes in the positioning of the fielders based on the proclivity of the hitter. For instance, for a left-handed hitter who constantly pulls the ball a team will position the third baseman halfway between second and third -- roughly where the shortstop usually plays, the shortstop well to the first base side of second, the second baseman between the shortstop and the first baseman -- probably well back into the outfield, and the first baseman right on the line. It turns out the idea that the batter can cleverly control where he hits the ball is probably false. For the most part, if you have a tendency to hit the ball a certain way, trying to change that just makes you a worse hitter. As a batter, Where you will hit the ball is highly predictable. As a result, The Shift has been enormously successful. So successful at reducing overall offense (despite the individual performances above) that MLB has banned it starting next year. Again, I think it's the wrong decision. If batters don't want to face a shift, they should learn to hit to all fields. Killing The Shift may boost offense, but it will make things a little less interesting for a fan like me.
Back to the duration of games, I'd be remiss if I didn't point to The Savannah Bananas, the Harlem Globetrotters of baseball. Their games move like lighting because they live by their own rules:
1.) Every inning counts. The team that scores the most runs in an inning gets a point. The first team to five points wins.
2.) A time limit of two hours. No inning starts after the game gets to be two hours old. There’s a tiebreaker format if a game is tied when the limit is up (see below.)
3.) No stepping out of the batter’s box. If a batter steps away from the box at any point, it’s a strike.
4.) No bunting.
5.) Batters can steal first. If there’s a wild pitch or a passed ball during any pitch of an at-bat, the batter can go to first.
6.) No walks. If a pitcher throws a fourth ball, the batter takes off toward first base in a sprint. The catcher then has to throw the ball around to every defensive player on the field before it becomes live. The hitter is allowed to advance to as many bases as possible before the ball becomes live. The ball doesn’t have to touch the pitcher or catcher.
7.) A one-on-one showdown tiebreaker. If a game is tied when the time is up, each team picks a pitcher and a hitter to face off, with the defensive team only having a catcher and pitcher in the field. If a hitter puts it in play, he has to make it home to get a point before the pitcher gets the ball and throws it to the catcher. If a pitcher gets a strikeout or throws the runner out before scoring, there’s no point for the hitting team. The first team to prevent the other from scoring wins.
8.) No mound visits from any coaches or players.
9.) If a fan catches a foul ball, it’s an out. Bring your glove!
Sounds crazy right? But good luck getting a ticket to one of their games. I would not want MLB to adopt these rules verbatim, but if they could do something about hitters stepping out of the box or pitchers wandering aimless around between pitches, they could probably cut a half hour of run time on average.
The last thing that I have enjoyed this year is the discovery of Jomboy media on youtube. They provide highlights and commentary for many sports but mostly baseball and do a great job of digging deep into events, lip reading, and comic observations. Probably not for the kids, but better than looking for highlights on ESPN.
I'm looking forward to spending some time following the playoffs. Things are getting interesting.
