Problems and Fixes

Tim Dahlberg of the Associated Press wrote a column the other day on baseball’s lagging attendance at the start of this season.  He thinks a big part of the reason is, “Baseball has changed, and not for the better.”  His culprits include defensive shifts; analytics; a shift in strategy away from the sacrifice bunt to the almighty homerun.  He offered ten changes to improve the game.  Only four of them are outright dumb.

Those would be a ban on shifts and instant replay; a minimum of three batters faced for every pitcher brought into a game; and the requirement every team carry a two-way player like Shohei Ohtani.  Considering the jury is still out on Ohtani, why base such a big change on what one player has done in the first two weeks of the season?  Get back to me at the end of next season.  If Ohtani has 40-plus career wins to go with 40-plus career homeruns, we’ll talk.

But I wouldn’t include a ban on the shift or replay in our conversation.  Every time a team employs a shift, the hitter can beat it by hitting the ball the opposite way—end of shift as a strategy.  But if hitters insist on being as bullheaded as Ted Williams was in facing the shift, well, shame on them.  As for instant replay, anything that shows Joe West to be the mediocre umpire that he is I’m for.

Dahlberg would also limit the number of relievers a club could carry, but, like the shift, the solution is out there, just waiting to be tried.  And it even includes the sacrifice bunt of which Dahlberg is so enamored.  As soon as one or more teams show that you can win more games with extra players—including those who can bunt and run—as opposed to extra pitchers, pitching staffs will undergo a miraculous contraction. 

Now, for the three ideas that make the most sense (and, yes, agree with what I’ve been saying for years).  For starters, free the game of excess commercials.  Dalhberg thinks at least ten minutes could be shaved off the length of a game; I think it’s more if MLB advertisers were made to adapt a crawler format.  In addition, Dalhberg wants umpires to call a uniform, letters-to-kness strike zone; oh, don’t we all.  Lastly, Dahlberg wants every team to play at least four doubleheaders a year so as to start the season in April, not March.

To which I say, what’s wrong with eight twin-bills a season?  Ernie Banks knew what he was talking about.  Let’s play two, a lot.