Editor’s note: From rising strikeout totals and unwritten-rules debates to connecting with a new generation of fans and a looming labor battle, baseball is at a crossroads.
The first two were decided by a total of three runs, and now Jacob deGrom is on the mound for the Mets in Game 3, while Joe Musgrove has the ball for the Padres.
There have already been 10 games this season with 30 or more strikeouts — including three this month as MLB implements a crackdown on foreign substances for pitchers.
And whether it comes in pleas for more action as yet another strikeout-filled evening unfolds, calls for robot umps after a questionable ball-or-strike decision or even losing interest as teams trade solo home runs, this much is clear: Fans want change.
Former front-office executives Theo Epstein and Michael Hill and former All-Star Raul Ibanez are part of a team at MLB collaborating to examine the game, as well as experiment with it — mostly at the minor league level to start.
“We have to do it in a way that isn’t too far removed from the essence of baseball,” Epstein said recently.
Epstein was quoting a sportswriter from a time in baseball’s history, the 19th century, when pitchers were perfecting the overhand delivery and learning to spin the ball.
To put that into context, that is the same as the career strikeout rates of Sandy Koufax and Nolan Ryan.
The K rate has increased every season since 2008, and the current league batting average of just .238 is the lowest since 1968.
Many in the game point out that while there have been advancements in hitting, the fundamental part of the pitcher-hitter dynamic will always favor the man with the ball.
The results have given those in charge of the sport a clear mandate that leaving the game as is simply is not an option.
“There’s a lot more consensus on the direction of where the game should go,” Epstein said of what fans want to see.
The 0.14 triples per team per game is on pace to be the lowest ever in a full season .
“The extra foot gives the hitter an extra one-hundredth of a second of reaction time, which is the equivalent of a mile and a half of velocity,” Epstein said.
“In these discussions, you keep coming back to this question, which is: Have we perhaps simply just outgrown 60 feet, 6 inches the way pitching has evolved?” Epstein said.
Trying these things on the field is the only way to see what works.
It might not just mean more baseballs getting through to the outfield, it could alter swing paths and habits of players and even the type of prospects teams target in the draft.
The theory goes like this: Smaller pitching staffs mean fewer pitching changes, helping the pace and length of the game.
Those longer outings would create the need for starters to hold something back for late in the game, and smaller relief staffs would mean using each reliever more frequently.
“If you asked a starting pitcher 30 years ago, ‘What’s your job?’ he’d say to finish this game or get close to it,” Epstein said.
Position players were the specialists in the sport before certain roles were eliminated to make room for more bullpen arms. Every team had a few pinch hitters on the bench who would help create late-inning offense, which is also down these days.
Perhaps the current extra-inning rule — starting every inning after the ninth with a runner on second base — could be tweaked to satisfy the die-hard fan as well as the one who wants to go home before the clock strikes midnight.
This has led to a huge increase in stolen bases, but the rule isn’t passing the eye test because catchers aren’t even throwing down to second or even third base as runners easily advance.
“A number of small changes can lead to a more meaningful adjustment, and a different outcome for player selection,” Epstein said.