MLB "plans on testing a rule change in the lowest levels of the minor leagues this season that automatically would place a runner on second base at the start of extra innings, a distinct break from the game’s orthodoxy that nonetheless has wide-ranging support at the highest levels," according to sources cited by Jeff Passan of YAHOO SPORTS. A derivation of the rule has been used in international baseball for "nearly a decade and will be implemented" in the upcoming World Baseball Classic. MLB’s desire to test it in the Gulf Coast League and Arizona League this summer is "part of an effort to understand its wide in-game consequences." MLB Chief Baseball Officer Joe Torre said, "It’s not fun to watch when you go through your whole pitching staff and wind up bringing a utility infielder in to pitch. As much as it’s nice to talk about being at an 18-inning game, it takes time." Passan noted the current plan is to "start with a runner on second base in the 10th and every inning thereafter." Sources said that the possibility of playing under different rules in extra innings is "real enough that MLB sought feedback from both its playing rules and competition committees this offseason." It would "likely take years for the major leagues to adopt the changes" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 2/8).
TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE: MLB.com's Anthony Castrovince noted time has been a "subject of great discourse in the game of late, with the average time of a game creeping back up over the three-hour mark" in '16 after the pace-of-play initiatives had "helped bring it down to 2 hours, 56 minutes" during '15. Castrovince also wondered if "freebie baserunners would lead to quicker conclusions in extra innings," which could "address concerns among players that the travel, media and other demands in a 162-game season are affecting overall performance." The different set of rules in "overtime" is "not exactly without precedent." The NFL and NHL "already operate that way" (MLB.com, 2/8).
COULDN'T HURT TO TRY: Author Joe Posnanski wrote fans "start flooding for the exits" pretty much "every time" a game goes into extra innings. Fans "do not want to stay for extra-inning games." There are "plenty of diehards who will stay to the very end, but that’s just not how most people seem to feel." At the end of "every extra inning, a huge swath of the crowd disappears." Posnanski: "I would never want them to change it for postseason baseball where each game takes on much more meaning. But in a July game in Texas, a hot muggy night, both teams basically out of pitchers, yeah, I’m not sure a fun little gimmick would be a bad thing" (JOEPOSNANSKI.com, 2/8). Fox Sports Exec VP/Research, League Operations & Strategy Mike Mulvihill replied to Posnanski on Twitter, noting, "One counter to this is that ratings peak in extra innings. Who's the priority, the paying crowd or the much larger TV audience at home?"
ROLL OF THE DICE? MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred yesterday confirmed that he is "monitoring the issue" of gambling and "re-thinking pro baseball’s long-held stance" on the issue. Manfred: "There is this buzz out there in terms of people feeling that there may be an opportunity here for additional legalized sports betting." He added betting on games "can be a form of fan engagement, it can fuel the popularity of a sport." Manfred: "Are we better off in a world where we have a nice, strong, uniform, federal regulation of gambling ... or are we better off closing our eyes to that and letting it go on as illegal gambling?" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 2/8)
