If you want to fix baseball, let’s start with the real problems

ST. PETERSBURG – The football field, just like a century ago, is almost perfect.

The distance between the bases remains the same and the first base moves are still bang-bang. The pitcher is precisely 18 meters from the plate and the curved balls still break painfully out of the reach of a hitter.

In 1939, the Major League Baseball average team scored 4.82 runs per game with 9.49 strokes and 3.44 strokes. In 2019, the average team scored 4.83 runs a match with 8.65 hits and 3.27 paces. Eighty years have passed, and almost no trace of change.

More than anything, this is what differentiates baseball from other sports. Football is almost not the same as it was in the 1970s, let alone in the 1930s. Basketball players from generations ago would not recognize the NBA today.

And maybe that is part of the baseball problem. It did not evolve as the world changed around it. Or maybe – just maybe – the creators of baseball got it right when they imagined the game in the 19th century.

So why is none of this noteworthy this morning?

Because change is coming in baseball. The commissioner’s office has announced a series of minor league experiments this season, and there is no way to pretend that they are not being considered for future MLB seasons.

Secondary league teams in Florida, for example, will use electronic attack zones to assist referees. In other leagues, bases will be increased by seven centimeters and pitchers will be limited to two pickoff pitches per hit in one move to increase base theft. Indoor field players will no longer be allowed to move onto the grass of the outdoor field and can later be confined to their natural side of the field.

I’m not sure if I would call these changes radical, but they are significant. Certainly more than the minimum three hitting rule for pitchers and the visit restrictions on the mound introduced in recent years.

The question is whether these changes will address what really afflicts baseball.

Although races, hits, hikes, stolen bases, mistakes and other statistics have remained relatively static over the years, the game has changed dramatically in three ways.

No. 1, home runs are double what they were in 1950. No. 2, eliminations have basically tripled since 1930. No. 3, and by far the most important, baseball has evolved from a two-hour game to a three-game game. more than an hour.

And I don’t see how defensive changes, pickoffs, larger bases or robotic referees solve any of these problems.

“This game has lived so long because it is exciting and the fans have fun,” said Rays minor league player Taylor Walls. “Small adjustments out of the game to make it faster, faster, more interesting – these things I agree with. But when it comes to trying to control … what’s between the lines … it may be going too far. “

Another experience that is being expanded in the minor leagues this season is worth pursuing. In a Class A league on the west coast, stopwatches in the outfield and between shelters will be used to reinforce the amount of time spent between pitches, between innings and during pitch changes.

If you’ve ever watched post-season game videos from the 1970s, the first thing you noticed is how quickly the pitchers worked. There is no way to walk around the mound, without endless sequences of signals, without hitters coming out of each pitch to adjust their batting gloves. If it takes timers on the smaller ones to get players used to a faster pace, then so be it. And if a fifth referee is needed to monitor the timers, that’s fine too.

“Fans should tell us if we have a rhythm problem. If they think so, then we do it, ”said Rays manager Kevin Cash. “I know they do a lot of polls, surveys, ask a lot of questions and if that is the answer they are getting, then we, as an industry, should start trying to find ways to make changes, because it is (the fans). “

If clocks help with the rhythm problem, there is only the question of the preponderance of home runs and eliminations. And while the MLB has been reluctant to admit the use of juice balls in the past, this problem can probably be done with an adjustment to slightly cushion the baseball. If more flying balls are reaching the warning lane instead of the second row of bleachers, hitters will eventually adjust their swing path.

There is nothing wrong with MLB employees being open to the idea of ​​innovation and change. In fact, they should spend a little more time looking at what the NBA and NFL did with revenue sharing to rid the game of its gross economic disparities.

But, fundamentally, to change a base path from 90 feet by a few centimeters, introducing larger bases? Penalizing an intelligent manager, dictating where he can position his internal players?

Well, allow me to be the old man screaming about getting off my grass (off the field).

John Romano can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow @romano_tbtimes.