Major League Baseball is again looking at ways to speed up and shorten games but again it's missing the big picture and tinkering with things that don't need to be changed.
Unlike pitch clocks, limiting mound visits, forcing hitters to stay in the batter's box and other recent ideas, this latest one makes absolutely no sense. A runner will be placed on second base to start each half inning in extra innings in the Gulf Coast and Arizona leagues this season.
I'm on board with any rules to make the game faster, provided they actually accomplish that and don't dramatically change the game. This rule not only changes the game, it doesn't really make games shorter. Joe Torre claims it would protect bullpen arms and avoid never-ending games, which is a bit silly. There isn't an epidemic of marathon games or anything close to it. Eight out of 2,428 games last season lasted 15 innings or longer, and two-thirds of extra-inning games (122 of 185) were over in the 10th or 11th inning.
There is no need to make a rule change because there is no problem to be solved. Extra innings are not the issue, the pace of the games is the issue.
Changes before the 2015 season led to game time dropping to an average of 2 hours and 56 minutes. That inched back up to 3 hours last season, mostly because of a lack of enforcement. Baseball needs to get serious about pace of play rules again and make a few easy changes that don't change the actual game.
Here are my proposals:
